Roundup: Hopkins Petition, Safety Report Card

The City of Berkeley has an exciting opportunity to bring safety and more mobility choices to all when Hopkins is repaved later this year. Berkeley City Council approved pedestrian safety features, transit improvements, and protected bike lanes for eastern Hopkins (from Sutter Street to Gilman Street) in May 2022. In April 2023, Council will decide how far west of Gilman to extend the improvements. Berkeley can’t afford to miss this opportunity to make Hopkins safe, sustainable, and vibrant!

Unfortunately, a vocal, organized group of neighbors is trying to derail the plan, asking the City Council to prioritize car parking over safe routes to schools and shops on Hopkins for all Berkeleyans.

Every 15 hours on average, someone is taken to San Francisco General Hospital after being severely injured in a traffic crash. In 2022, 37 people lost their lives in traffic crashes in San Francisco. That’s because many of San Francisco’s streets are dangerous, especially for people walking. There are around 160 miles of streets designated as ‘high-injury’ because crashes happen so frequently.

Since 2014, the City has made notable progress in redesigning many high-injury streets to better protect pedestrians and bicyclists, plus bring down driver speeds. But dozens of miles have yet to receive any safety improvements.

Staff seek authorization for the Executive Director to negotiate and enter into a sole source contract with Lyft, subject to funding being allocated, to expand shared electric bikes (e-bikes) in the Bay Wheels bikeshare system. The capital investment will include additional e-bikes, spare parts, docking stations, and infill docks in all five Bay Wheels cities and a station electrification pilot in San Francisco, with potential opportunities to expand the pilot to other member cities. This contract would also include a subsidized low-cost membership program for college students, and a new price accumulator for monthly memberships.