Volunteer-advocates learned earlier this month that San Francisco's Commission Streamlining Task Force is recommending the elimination of the city's Bicycle Advisory Committee.
Brandon Powell, Chair of the San Francisco BAC, in an email to Streetsblog, called the recommendation reckless. "Our volunteer committee is the only voice in all of city government that advocates for the safety and accessibility of our streets for people on bicycles," he added.
From the Streamlining Task Force discussion (p38):
The City’s bicycle safety planning and implementation is primarily handled by the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) and occurs independently of the BAC. The MTA has jurisdiction over most bicycle safety issues—bike lanes, street design, speed limits, traffic signals, etc.—and employs full-time staff to plan for improvements and manage these assets and operations.
When the BAC was formed in 1990, the MTA did not yet exist. The Department of Parking and Traffic (DPT) or the Department of Public Works (DPW) may not have planned extensively for bicycle infrastructure. However, the MTA now has a Sustainable Streets Division with teams focused on
active transportation, employs full-time bike planners and engineers, and integrates biking into multimodal planning. While the BAC may have been essential in the 1990s, transportation planning looks very different thirty-five years later, and the BAC may no longer be necessary.
Other advocates who spoke with Streetsblog seemed sanguine or at least resigned to that reasoning.
"About ten years ago, the Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee was disbanded by the MTA," wrote Bert Hill, District 7 Representative for the BAC, in an email to Streetsblog. "Walk S.F. today is doing a pretty good job by actively working with the MTA more effectively, taking over some of the subjects."
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, however, doesn't want to see the BAC eliminated. "This volunteer committee has been actively meeting, and has been instrumental in making sure ordinary voices for people who bike and roll in San Francisco are heard at the Board of Supervisors," wrote Claire Amable, Director of Advocacy for the San Francsisco Bicycle Coalition, in an email to Streetsblog.
The Streamlining Task Force, created by San Francisco voters via Prop. E on the November 2024 ballot, has five appointees. In April of next year, the Board of Supervisors is to hold hearings on the recommendations. The bike committee would be eliminated via a combination of actions by the Streamlining Task Force and the Board of Supervisors, according to an analysis by SPUR.
The other issue for safe-and-livable streets advocates is the recommendation on the SFMTA board of directors. While the Streamlining Task Force would keep the SFMTA board, it's recommending that the mayor be given the ability to remove directors. It also suggests that mayoral appointees to the SFMTA Board should not have to be confirmed by the Board of Supervisors.
"These proposed changes are ridiculous and will do nothing to 'streamline' the SFMTA," wrote the San Francisco Transit Riders' Dylan Fabris, in an email to Streetsblog. "Giving the mayor essentially complete control over the SFMTA is a disaster that will lead to further politicization of the agency, which was initially created in its current state to intentionally isolate the agency from petty politics and allow board directors to focus on their crucial job of running San Francisco's transportation system."
That said, "streamlining" the SFMTA board is far more complicated. The board is part of the city charter and changing it would require approval by the voters, possibly via the November 2026 ballot.
As to the possible elimination of the BAC, Powell was clear that he thinks it's reckless. "This recommendation shows zero vision and serves only to streamline the deaths of San Franciscans on our streets."
For more on the Task Force, check out Mission Local's coverage or SPUR's analysis.
