On San Fran’s Market Street Bikes Outnumber Cars for a Day

Gavin_Newsom.jpg 

From the San Francisco Chronicle via Carfree USA:

For the first time ever, at the height of the morning rush hour there were more bicycles than cars heading downtown on Market Street in San Francisco, officials said.

Mayor Gavin Newsom, in a black track suit, survived the ruts on Valencia Street on his loaner mountain bike and made it to City Hall, where he was joined by a half dozen supervisors on bikes.

"You should see the potholes in this town,” the mayor said.

Newsom seized the day to unveil the city’s new cycling strategy, a 10-point plan now being held up pending an environmental review.

"Turnout was huge,” said Leah Shahum, executive director of the bicycle coalition. "We gave away 3,000 canvas bags and we’re down to our final bunch of bananas.”

Photo: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Leah Shahum of the SF Bike Coalition, by Drew Rogers via Flickr 

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Market Street Bike Count Off to a Record-Breaking Start in 2015

|
The Market Street bike counter tallied 97,302 people rolling by in March — the highest monthly total yet. Last year, the monthly count rose steadily until October, so bike ridership on Market is expected to keep breaking records. April could be the first month to break the 100,000 threshold. Throughout March, typical weekday ridership ranged between 3,200 […]
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Parking–Not Bike Advocates–Trumped Fire Department Concerns on Upper Market

|
It was celebrated as a victory for safety by cycling and walking advocates when the SFMTA voted last week to approve plans to add safety enhancements on Upper Market, including parking-protected bike lanes. But not, apparently, by San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross. “Bikes win, Fire Department loses in Market Street redo” was the […]