San Francisco officials want safer bike lanes

  • 2018-05-26
Earlier this month, San Francisco celebrated ‘Bike to Work Day’ for the 24th year, and officials took part to encourage residents to make riding a bike part of their daily routine.

Mayor Mark Farrell and other officials rode through the city on the morning of the event, finally returning to City Hall to encourage others to make bicycling a habit.

Mayor Farrell noted that former Mayor Ed Lee wanted to set a goal of having half of all trips in the city made by sustainable means by 2020, and that goal has already been met: 54% of the trips are now sustainable. Farrell wants to set a new goal of 80% of all travel being made sustainably.

Part of that process is to make sure bike-only lanes are protected. Farrell’s ride began on Market Street, where San Francisco’s Better Market Street Project will create a protected bike lane 2.2 miles long, between Octavia Street and the Embarcadero. After cruising Market, the mayor and Brian Wiedenmeier, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, rode along Turk Street, again using a protected lane.

Jane Kim, a city supervisor, noted that the city has been able to do a lot to protect the lanes because of the cooperation among community members, officials, and the bicycling community.

Since efforts like this impact many residents, officials might work with a flyer printing company to create a mailer about the project, as well as encouraging people to use bikes more often.