Bicycle Commuting

In parts of San Mateo County, a quiet street with a bike lane can abruptly lead a bicyclist onto a dangerous six-lane traffic sewer with no bike infrastructure or wayfinding signs. Pedaling over a highway overpass or traveling to and from Caltrain can also be a daunting trip.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced $600 million dollars in TIGER II grants today and the only project in Northern California to make the cut was the East Bay Regional Park District's proposal to fill in seven key gaps on the 200-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail system that runs across Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

It's no secret that many bicyclists pedaling through one of San Francisco's most popular bicycling corridors, The Wiggle, often run the red light turning onto Fell Street from Scott. Whether you agree it's a dangerous move to do so, considering the speeding traffic that thunders down Fell, the intersection has not been designed to give left-turn bicyclists signal priority, even though the SFMTA earlier this year installed a left-turn bike lane and green bike box on Scott. As it stands, bicyclists have 30 seconds to turn left on the green, but only if there's no southbound automobile traffic.

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of dispatches from Copenhagen and Amsterdam from Leah Shahum, the executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition who is on sabbatical in Europe. 

Cyclists who routinely ride on Market Street from Gough Street eastbound have no doubt noticed a steady stream of changes to the bicycle lanes as the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has been adding safe-hit posts and creating the impression of greater safety and dignity for cyclists on the corridor. 

Most cities in the Bay Area are gearing up for Bike to Work Day this Thursday, with numerous activities to encourage people to make riding to work a more enjoyable and routine part of life. In San Jose, the city has planned a whole week of events.

Despite Google making headlines recently with the addition of bicycle directions in Google Maps, a New York City startup called Ride the City had already been offering their bicycle mapping service for two years, earning a loyal following among cyclists there. Now, Ride the City is live in San Francisco, with route maps and features they hope will earn the respect and loyalty of San Francisco bicycle riders. 

When trying to find San Francisco parents who take their kids to school by bike or on foot, we often hear this refrain: It's all well and good to ride your bike while you're single or recently married, but once you have kids, you have to have a car. It's just too much trouble, they say, to ferry your kids by bus or bike and still make it to work and run errands at the end of the day.