My blog posts have been long lately so here’s a short one with a bunch of photos. I went up to San Francisco on Monday for the opening ceremonies of ThinkBike a two day workshop collaboration between cycling infrastructure experts from the Netherlands and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. Building on a week long trip some city officials did last year to the Netherlands with Bikes Belong this session allowed city officials to highlight three specific areas that are slated for cycling improvement; Market Street; Polk Street and the Wiggle.
It goes without saying that this type of collaboration is exactly what we need to jump start bike infrastructure development in American cities. But the truth is that these events will not happen without a lot of work and it takes a very committed group of people to accomplish this huge change in attitudes toward transportation. In this case it included; the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition; the Board of Supervisors (the president of the board David Chu joined the trip last summer); the Department of Transportation (the new head XXX XX also joined the trip); the majors office (new Major XXX Lee is an unashamed supporter of cycling for San Francisco; the Dutch consulate; the Dutch cycling union (CROW); Bikes Belong; and countless overs who worked to help make this happen.
I look forward to following the progress of the committee recommendations as they work to make San Francisco an even more cycling friendly city. In just the two short years since a moratorium on cycle track development was lifted the city is way more bikeable. Here are some of the things I saw:
Large group of Dutch cycling experts, city employees and SFBC staff head out to inspect the different areas of study. Interesting to note no one is wearing cycling specific clothing. Being able to create a way for people to ride to work in work clothing is paramount to making a city more cycle friendly.
Newly painted green bike lanes on Market Street. What a difference some color and plastic dividers make to increase the confidence level of cyclists. With safety as the main concern for cycle commuters, these small changes have a huge effect.
In the past sharrows (arrows with bike logos) were painted in intersections. By adding the green box the sharrow becomes so much more visible.
Everything isn’t perfect yet – but with a plan in place to create bike lanes, bus lanes and vehicle lanes the city will continue to make the trip up and down Market Street a key way to access the city from the bay.
Of course any trip to the city isn’t complete without expensive hipster coffee at Blue Bottle and an almost perfect day to sit outside and enjoy it. By creating a bike lane all the way from the Ferry building up to City Hall the city is further increasing the transportation options for people who don’t want to drive their car into the city. Imagine a commute that involved a ferry and a bike ride rather then 45 minutes in your car every day. Awesome.
Thank you Globe Daily for taking me on another city adventure. I love your basket, your riveted-saddle and your single speed. May we have many more adventures together. Now if only I can figure out how to keep my white tires white…
Comments