SFMTA

The SFMTA painted the Embarcadero bike lanes green yesterday, which will hopefully help signal to drivers that it's not a parking lane. The SFMTA Livable Streets team wrote on its Facebook page that the Port of SF helped get the paint on the ground in time for the Fourth of July and America's Cup later this month.

Bay Area Bike Share just got more official with a new website, Facebook and Twitter account.

Just after our look at the faltering pace of plaza expansions under San Francisco's Pavement to Parks program last week, we get another glimpse of New York City's ongoing efforts to reclaim street space for people and improve safety using low-cost, temporary measures like posts and gravel epoxy.

The SFMTA has installed 40 temporary wayfinding signs at 27 locations to guide people walking and biking to the America's Cup races starting next month, according to agency spokesperson Ben Jose. Though the SFMTA installed wayfinding signs for walking during the preliminary races last summer, this may be the first time the city has provided estimated travel times and distances for people on bikes.

In a continued push for a car-free Market Street, SFMTA board member Malcom Heinicke urged the agency to not waste time and money on phasing in more forced turn restrictions, instead calling for a full ban on private autos on lower Market.

Update: It seems there's no way to edit the map directly via the link because Google's Maps Engine Lite, which is still in beta, may have some issues to be worked out. So to add your marker to the map, you can either email me at abialick@streetsblog.org and I'll add it for you, or you can add it yourself (if you have a Google account) by first clicking here, then here. The map should open with some editing tools at the top. Click the marker icon labeled "Add marker," next to the hand icon, and place your sighting.

When it comes to reclaiming street space for people, San Francisco's Pavement to Parks program has paved the way with a national model showing how cities can embrace community-driven parklet projects. But when it comes to installing plazas, there seems to have been little movement since the first handful were created on "excess" road space in the program's first year. Advocates and some city officials say the program needs to become a greater priority for city leaders.

Leona Bridges is no longer a member of the SFMTA Board of Directors, for reasons which remain unclear. At the start of this week's board meeting, which Bridges didn't attend, chairperson Tom Nolan announced that she'd been sworn in as a member of the city's Retirement Board. Appointments to both boards are made by Mayor Ed Lee.

SF editor's note: This video features plenty of examples of San Francisco's stressful bicycling streets -- the kind that the SFMTA hopes to transform in its Bicycle Strategy. The agency has determined that only 10 percent of the city's bike network is "comfortable for most people."