Eyes on the Street: On-Street Bike Parking Striped on Valencia Street

The future home of the city's newest on-street bicycle parking. Photos: Matthew Roth.

Preparations began today for the installation of new on-street bicycle parking on Valencia Street in former bus zones, which were vacated when the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency terminated the 26-Valencia line.

The SFMTA's paint crews painted on-street bike parking spaces in the former bus zones and painted additional yellow loading zones in several locations to facilitate commercial deliveries. The bike racks will be added to the on-street facilities in the next day or two.

In exchange for the increased bicycle parking, businesses like The Freewheel Bike Shop have agreed to maintain the new facilities. Freewheel's owner Carlos Corujo said he thought this reflected a larger improvement in San Francisco and the effective advocacy of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

"I like the wide sidewalks we see down
Valencia Street, I like the bike lanes, I like the improved lanes and
this thing is just over the top, it's great," he said.

Asked whether he would miss vehicle parking in front of his store, he said, "Oh hell no, are you kidding me? Let's get rid of all these parking spots and put bikes there."

Bicycle commuters were predictably enthusiastic as well. Maddie Oatman, who regularly commutes by bicycle on Valencia from the Mission to Alamo Square, said San Francisco was a good biking city and said Muni "seems very broken right now."

Though she said she understood that parking a car can be difficult, she noted that increased bike parking could achieve a mode shift. "Maybe it will encourage people to ditch the cars and grab a bike if there's more bike parking."

The future on-street bike parking space in front of Freewheel.