San Francisco’s Biking and Rolling Plan is on the SFMTA Board of Directors’ agenda on Tuesday, November 19. The packed agenda also includes a vote on the Valencia Street side-running protected bikeway, a proposal to continue the Shared Space on Hayes Street, and Muni service changes and reductions.
After two years of planning and community outreach, the SFMTA is updating the City’s bike plan for the first time since 2009 with what is now called the “Biking and Rolling Plan.” The much-anticipated draft outlines a lofty “Northstar goal”: a “complete, well-connected, and safe biking and rolling network” bringing “All Ages and Abilities bikeway facilities within a quarter mile of all San Franciscans.” This vision could revolutionize mobility in the City, ensuring access to safe, protected routes for everyone.
Yet reading beyond the ambitious goal, advocates point out the plan is both wordy yet vague, introduces treatments that feel like a step backward, leaves glaring gaps that disrupt connectivity, and inexplicably omits bike infrastructure already on the ground. The Slow Streets Stewards, a group of volunteers championing their neighborhood Slow Streets that includes KidSafeSF and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBike), have composed a joint letter to SFMTA asking for more.
What Advocates Are Asking For
1. Connectivity and Bold Standards
The Slow Streets Stewards’ letter emphasized the need to rely exclusively on high quality facility types that ensure safety, comfort, and accessibility for all users–protected bike lanes, Slow Streets and car-free paths. This vision contrasts sharply with the draft plan’s reliance on “traffic-calmed” streets or "Neighborways" –treatments that may fail to meet All Ages and Abilities standards. Combined with significant gaps in the proposed "Northstar Network," these shortcomings reflect a plan that falls short of delivering the safe, connected network the Stewards envision.
KidSafeSF echoed this sentiment, highlighting disparities in protections across neighborhoods, questioning why children biking to school on Lake Street receive the benefits of Slow Street speed and volume metrics, while children on Oakdale Avenue or Ortega Street would face more and faster traffic and less protection under the plan. Their recommendation: ensure all streets in the "Northstar Network" meet All Ages and Abilities standards.
2. Equity Requires Action, Not Excuses
Advocates demand greater prioritization of Equity Priority Communities (EPCs), which historically have the city’s most dangerous streets and lowest density of safe bike infrastructure. However, SF Bike’s template letter warned that the plan’s vague reliance on “community readiness” risks perpetuating inequities, particularly in EPCs like the Bayview, where both of 2024’s bicycle-related fatalities occurred.
The Slow Streets Stewards called out recent failures to engage all members within the EPCs meaningfully, calling out a recent cancellation of a Mission community meeting with safe street supporters. They urged the SFMTA to prioritize citywide safety and sustainability over local objections that could block necessary improvements, and emphasized that public feedback should inform decisions, not veto them.
3. Accountability and Action
A recurring critique is the SFMTA’s track record of weak follow-through. The advocates all highlighted the agency’s failure to bring existing Slow Streets into compliance with its own safety metrics.
“It’s been two years since the SFMTA Board adopted Slow Street safety metrics,” writes KidSafeSF, “and 18 months since the Slow Streets Evaluation Report determined that nearly all Slow Streets exceeded speed targets, with widespread ‘egregious speeding.’” Most Slow Streets remain out of compliance. Meanwhile, yet the draft plan proposes weaker standards for streets shared between cars and vulnerable road users, eroding trust in the agency’s commitment to safety.
To rebuild trust, advocates called for transparent progress tracking, regular public updates, and ambitious goals for completing the network within five years.
4. A Visionary, Not Defensive, Approach
SF Bike observed that the draft plan seems designed to preempt opposition rather than propose bold solutions. This defensiveness, they argue, undercuts the city’s potential to secure funding and deliver on its promises.
KidSafeSF urged the SFMTA to think bigger: “Expand the vision of what our streets can be… with proven strategies from around the world, including woonerfs, thriving car-free commercial spaces, low-traffic neighborhoods, raised cycle tracks, and new car-free promenades and multi-use paths.”
The Broader Context
The stakes for the Biking and Rolling Plan are high. With population and transportation needs growing, the City faces mounting pressure to meet its climate commitments and Vision Zero goals. Yet, as the advocates’ submissions highlight, incrementalism won’t cut it.
As KidSafeSF aptly put it, "This plan gives San Francisco the opportunity to build a connected network of streets designed for everyone to use safely." But that opportunity can only be realized if the SFMTA heeds the call for stronger standards, equity-focused implementation, and unwavering accountability.
To be clear, advocates are eager to work with the SFMTA to achieve this vision. SF Bike challenged the SFMTA to rise to the occasion: “Those who bike and roll, those who want to, and the advocates who lift up their voices–will work tirelessly alongside you to make the Plan a reality.”
Will SFMTA Rise to the Moment?
The coming months will test whether the agency is ready to move beyond another plan destined for a shelf. Advocates set a high bar, grounded in their lived experiences of San Franciscans navigating dangerous, disconnected streets daily.
San Francisco deserves a biking and rolling network that serves everyone, not just those behind the wheel. For decades, cars have dominated infrastructure investments—it's time to shift priorities toward sustainable, active transportation that benefits all users. If the SFMTA steps up, this plan could usher in a safer, healthier, and more connected future for the City.
The question is whether they will seize this moment—or let it roll by.
Advocates are encouraged to attend Tuesday’s meeting and provide public comment on the Valencia side-running bike lanes, the Hayes Street shared streets proposal and the Biking and Rolling Plan:
Meeting Details:
SFMTA Board of Directors Meeting
Date: Tuesday, November 19, 2024
Time: 1:00 PM
Location: City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 400, San Francisco,
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Trish and Zach are San Francisco advocates for safer streets and sustainable transportation who were members of the Policy Working Group that provided feedback to the SFMTA on the Biking and Rolling Plan
