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 and 3,900 bikes on eastbound Market between Ninth and Tenth Streets.
A design tweak at the beginning of the year that led the counter to more accurately capture bike trips explains a large chunk of the increase this year. But safety improvements have certainly helped SF's busiest bicycling street continue to flourish as well. A bigger boost could come when turn restrictions for cars between Third and Eighth Streets take effect starting in the summer.
"At this pace, 2015 is looking like the year that San Franciscans will top off the 'bike thermometer' on Market Street and hit over a million rides," said Noah Budnick, executive director of the SF Bicycle Coalition. "The bits and pieces of improved infrastructure there are a down payment on a street that will be transformed."
As city agencies shape the Better Market Street redesign, "Mayor Lee must meet this ever-growing public demand for more and better bicycling by rebuilding Market as a world-class street that is the backbone of a connected, convenient and enjoyable network of safe streets for biking," said Budnick.
San Franciscans may take the throngs of bikes on Market for granted, but Los Angeles Times reporter Laura J. Nelson was stopped in her tracks today when she tweeted this photo across the street from the counter:
Seeing a flood of cyclists everywhere I go in San Francisco during commuting hours. Pretty striking. pic.twitter.com/VJCaibYSGz
— Laura J. Nelson 🦅 (@laura_nelson) April 1, 2015
