Call to Action: Bike Plan would remove even more traffic lanes and parking from streets

The Plan deliberately makes the use of private vehicles in San Francisco more difficult. The SF Bike Coalition argues that the plan is "not ambitious enough." Make your voice heard!

UPDATE: on 15 February 2025: This post was originally published 18 January 2025. The Bike and Roll Plan has been removed from the SFMTA Agenda for 18 February and is now likely to be included in the 4 March 2025 agenda. You can still send feedback to the SFMTA and also speak during general public comment at the 18 Feb 2025 SFMTA meeting. Details at the bottom of this article. No other information in this article has changed since the original post.

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The Biking and Rolling plan is on the agenda for the SFMTA Board’s Tuesday 21 January 2025 meeting before it goes to a vote in February 2025. The plan was initially presented at the SFMTA Board Meeting on 19 November 2024. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has a more aggressive proposal, which it is actively promoting.

Will anyone else speak up with alternative perspectives? Make your voice heard. Keep reading to learn more about the plan and how to provide feedback to the SFMTA.

Image: Data from my review of the 19 November 2024 SFMTA Board Meeting recording.¹

What is happening? And why should you care?

The draft San Francisco Biking and Rolling Plan outlines the San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority’s (SFMTA) vision for the next 10-15 years for bicycle (and other forms of rolling) transportation.² The plan deliberately makes use of private vehicles more difficult in accordance with the San Francisco Climate Action Plan that states the goal to have 80% of all travel in San Francisco to not involve private vehicles by 2030.³

The plan includes three key elements:

1. Structural bicycle lanes - to separate bicycles from motor vehicles. This includes the removal of street parking and/or reduced lanes of traffic flow.

2. Slow streets - structural barriers and other measures to reduce the volume and speed of traffic on targeted streets.

3. Programs and policies to expedite the plan - Including measures to overcome or bypass opposition by local residents.

The Biking and Rolling plan is on the agenda for the Board’s 21 January 2025 meeting before it goes to a vote in February 2025.⁴ The plan was initially presented at the SFMTA Board Meeting on 19 November 2024. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has a more aggressive proposal, which it is actively promoting.⁵

Will anyone else speak up with alternative perspectives? Make your voice heard. Public comments at SFMTA meetings are a permanent public record.

The draft Biking and Rolling Plan itself is a massive 249 pages, including multiple appendices. This post is my initial read of (most of) that document together with the San Francisco Bike Coalition’s response and observations from watching the video recording of the related 19 November 2024 SFMTA meeting.⁶

Immediate Call to Action

1. Read this article to learn more about the Biking and Rolling Plan.

2. Share this article with everyone in your network and on social media.

3. Plan to make a public comment at the SFMTA Board Meeting on SFMTA Board Meeting - Tuesday, January 21, 2025, 1pm. (Details at the end of this article)

4. Send an email to the SFMTA on or before Monday 20 January 2025 for inclusion in public record for this meeting. CLICK HERE for a quick pre-populated email that you can modify as you see appropriate before sending.

5. Encourage your network to speak up and be heard.

Introduction: I Identify as a Cyclist!

…and as a motorist, a pedestrian, a passenger on public transportation, and as someone who relies on goods/services being delivered by vehicles to businesses and my home. I have been an avid cyclist for most of my life. Until the age of 40, I did not depend on driving myself to work. For many years of my adult life, I did not own a car. I was a member of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, but I let my membership lapse in 2013. In short, I have empathy for cyclists. I was raised with the understanding that bikes and cars should “share the road” and safety is everyone’s responsibility.

What are the Stated Goals of the Plan?

The goals of the plan are described a bit differently on the SFMTA’s Biking and Rolling main home page compared to the plan itself. The primary themes are:

1. Safety - “for people of all ages and abilities”

2. Access for All - Citywide connected cycling network

3. Climate Action - “Shift to biking and other active modes [of transportation]”.

4. Equity - “with a focus on historically marginalized communities”.

5. Results and New Approaches - “Deliver projects rapidly”

What’s in the Plan?

Let’s look at each of the above in the plan and related documents further.

Safety

The focus of the infrastructure plan is building out a “connected network of all-ages-and-abilities bikeways.”⁷ The plan defines these bikeways as having some structural separation from vehicles or are routes on a street that has structural restrictions to the flow of traffic - also referred to as “traffic calming.”

Streets that have a painted bike lane but no structural separation are not included in the map of existing bikeways and are not considered to be part of the current cycling network.

For example, Market Street from 9th to Steuart is excluded from the map below. This section of Market Street is closed to private vehicles for nearly two miles, but it does not meet the criteria of an “all-ages-and-abilities bikeway.”

Similarly, streets that today have signage as part of the San Francisco Bike Network but do not have any road markings or structural barriers to vehicles are not included in the map of the current “all-ages-and-abilities bikeways.” For example, Corbett Street, in the Twin Peaks neighborhood, runs parallel to Market Street from 17th Street until it merges into Portola. As Market Street carries the through traffic, naturally there is far less traffic on Corbett. But as Corbett does not feature any structures that restrict traffic flow today, it is not included in the current “all-ages-and-abilities bikeway” map.

Image: Intersection of Corbett and Clayton looking south on Corbett. The signage and street painting indicates that Corbett is part of the current bicycle network in San Francisco, but it is not identified as a current route in the Bicycling and Rolling Plan .

All proposed bikeways in the plan include structural modifications to city streets, such as barriers to separate the bikeway from traffic or restrictions to the flow of traffic on slow streets.

Image: San Francisco Biking and Rolling Plan, first draft - page 12.

Access for All

At the core of the plan is a “Northstar Network” map where all of San Franciscan residents would have access to a connected network of “all ages and abilities” bikeways.⁸

The map (below) shows a target future state in comparison to the existing state (above). The planned changes are described only in text in the plan, but no related map is provided.⁹

In addition, the plan prioritizes San Francisco K-12 schools for access to the bikeway network.

Again using Corbett Street as an example, there are two K-12 schools on that street. The proposed changes would introduce structural changes to restrict the speed and volume of traffic (aka “traffic calming”) with the expectation that families and children would/should travel to school via bicycle. For those who are not familiar with this area: Corbett Street is a) on the eastern slope of Twin Peaks, one of the most significant hills of San Francisco, and b) this street runs parallel to the Market Street artery, therefore does not experience much traffic volume today.

Image: Northstar Network Map from the San Francisco Biking and Rolling Plan First Draft - page 31

Climate Action

The introduction of the Biking and Rolling plan includes the following statement:

A strong biking and rolling network supports a safe and connected transportation system and aligns with SFMTA’s Transit First Policy, the City and County of San Francisco’s Vision Zero Policy, and San Francisco’s Climate Action Plan and its goal that 80% of trips are made on low-carbon modes by 2030.¹⁰

The above references “low-carbon modes” of transit. The San Francisco Climate Action Plan is more specific:

The Plan articulates strategies that get us to our goals of… making 80% of all our trips outside of our cars¹¹

These strategies are explained further in the San Francisco Climate Action Plan:

This can be done by redesigning streets to prioritize efficient movement of transit vehicles and reimagining streets as places for people of all ages and abilities. Examples of this include transit-only lanes, protected bikeways, HOV/carpool lanes, shared spaces, car-free roads in parks, and slow streets.¹²

All of the above strategies restrict the movement of private vehicles and remove available parking. This is in alignment with San Francisco’s Transit First Policy, as it is explained in the Climate Action Plan:

San Francisco’s Transit First policy, which was added to the city charter in 1973, prioritizes land uses and street space for transit, walking, and explicitly discourages inefficient cars and parking.¹³

Regarding additional restrictions on the use of private vehicles in San Francisco, the Biking and Rolling Plan states:

This plan does not remove cars from any street currently drivable in San Francisco.

This is factually correct at face value, as the plan does not specify any new street closures to private vehicles like JFK Boulevard and the Upper Great Highway. The plan does, however, state that future network enhancements will be “opportunistic” and may include changes beyond that which is stated in the plan.¹⁴

In addition, all of the future cycling network scenarios under consideration include removal of street parking.¹⁵ This is mentioned briefly in the appendix, but it is not accompanied by any analysis of potential number of parking spaces to be removed nor related impact to the community.

In short, the Biking and Rolling plan is designed to promote San Francisco’s Climate Action Plan and Transit First Policy not just by making cycling more attractive, but also by ensuring that use of a private vehicle is more difficult.

Equity

The terms “equity” or “equitable” appears in the draft plan 85 times. Much attention is given in the plan to ensure that the proposed network and related programs prioritize “Equity Priority Communities,” which are defined as “census tracts with a higher concentration of under-served populations, including households with low-income and people of color.” The plan and related supporting documents cite historic injustices to people in these communities, including housing displacement and racial bias and notes that trust in the planning process and related government agencies is low.

In each community, the message was similar: we support biking and rolling and want to see improvements to the network, but before we can move forward, there are other past harms that should be addressed.¹⁶

One example of the plan’s response to the above: Goal 1, Policy 6 of the plan is to “Support eliminating discrimination and racially biased policing.” This policy includes the proposal:

Action 1.6.2 Support decriminalization of active transportation and related violations that do not connect to collisions and injuries.

The plan includes many other proposals for changes in policies and additional programs directed specifically at the Equity Priority Communities in order to overcome expected resistance for the bicycle network.

Image: Map of neighborhoods identified as Equity Priority Communities per the SFMTA¹⁷

Results and New Approaches

The SFMTA has stated its intention to deliver rapidly against the Biking and Rolling plan.¹⁸ Approval of the plan itself, however, does not authorize any specific infrastructure project. Each individual street modification will need to go through the standard city planning process, which requires public outreach and engagement.

The section which outlines the approach to plan execution, includes the following statement.

Maintaining trust and beginning a project when there is community readiness will substantially reduce staff time and project costs.¹⁹

The potential lack of “community readiness” is described further as:

Many people feel that other needs, such as pedestrian safety, parking, and driving mobility, should be prioritized over bikeways, especially if efforts repair historic injustice. Depending on the amount of effort, and resources, given to work with these communities to address their existing concerns and build trust, the timeline for building some sections of this network is variable.²⁰

The SFMTA proposes to overcome this expected resistance to the structural projects through engaging “community partners.” The plan calls out that community partners are of particular importance in Equity Priority Communities which may have a low level of trust in city planning activities.²¹ The plan suggests that the SFMTA has concluded paid contracts with these partners to engage with their communities to ensure that the plans are ultimately accepted.²² This means that in neighborhoods that may not want bicycle infrastructure changes, taxpayer money is being used to promote the outcome desired by the City of San Francisco: approval of projects that will reduce the ability to use of private vehicles.

Despite these efforts to influence the perspectives of those in the community, barriers to plan implementation are expected to remain. As a contingency, the plan contains a policy proposal to:

Study reforming and streamlining regulatory and approval processes that reduce administrative burdens while preserving and uplifting public participation.²³

In short, the SFMTA is anticipating that there will be community resistance to proposed changes and is looking for opportunities to reduce the legal requirements for public input. In related news, on 15 January 2025 State Senator Scott Weiner proposed new legislation exactly for this purpose.

Related Public Outreach

I became aware of the Biking and Rolling Plan in late November 2024 while participating in an SFMTA outreach event in the 9th and Irving area. I would guess that there were more than 180 people at this event.²⁴ The organizers clearly were not expecting so many members of the public to turn out. I only spoke with a few people there, but all were strongly opposed to any changes that would result in traffic or parking restrictions in the neighborhood.

A few days later, there was an event in the Marina for input on the proposal to place parking meters in a residential area. I wasn’t at that event but many people I know participated in this. They estimated that at least 200 people showed up. Again, this appeared to be far more than the organizers had expected. The participants were almost universally opposed to the proposed changes. The SFMTA later announced that, based on this community feedback, it was canceling its plan for these parking meters.²⁵

Turning back to the draft Biking and Rolling Plan:²⁶

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition supported outreach and engagement on a citywide level, ensuring planning workshops and open houses were broadly noticed in public spaces.²⁷

This statement suggests that the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition was paid to support the outreach effort. As I noted above, Poder confirmed that they had a contract to facilitate for outreach, so I believe we can assume that the other partners for this initiative were paid as well. (I have not had the opportunity to confirm or refute this and welcome all related evidence in the comments.)

Among other activities, a series of 10 Open House events were held throughout Summer 2024 with an estimated 486 total participants.²⁸ The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition promoted these events actively to their members on their Social Media accounts, but it is not clear how these events were otherwise publicized.

Why did two events in late November 2024 average participation of about 190 people per event, while the Biking and Rolling Plan Open Houses attracted approximately 49 people per event? Are San Franciscans suddenly more interested in SFMTA’s projects? Or were people widely aware of these engagement events, but chose not to participate? I am curious about your thoughts.

San Francisco Bicycle Coalition: The Plan needs to be more “Ambitious”

The draft Biking and Rolling Plan was initially published on 14 November 2024. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition launched its own related advocacy campaign ten days earlier on 4 November 2024.²⁹

The SFBC rallied their members to make public comment at the 19 November 2024 meeting when the Biking and Rolling Plan was initially presented and provided them in advance with core recommended talking points.³⁰ As a result of this effort, bicycle advocates turned out in force.

Of the 20 people who made public comment, 14 individuals either were employees of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition or echoed their core talking points:

1. The plan must be revised to be more “ambitious.”

2. Far more protected bike infrastructure is demanded beyond the current draft plan, including a comprehensive north-south and east-west grid.

3. Lack of “community readiness” should not be an obstacle to implementation.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition claims the plan must be more ambitious in order “to empower the 80% of SF residents who want to bike and roll.”³¹

At the same time, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is advocating that the SFMTA should not only move forward regardless of known opposition, but also argues that the SFMTA should have an even more aggressive plan to remove traffic and parking from our streets in favor of structural bike lanes.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Director of Advocacy, Claire Amable, went on to state that it would be “inequitable” to not build out protected bike infrastructure in “Equity Priority Communities” such as the Bayview, due to the “lack of readiness.”³²

Image: Claire Amable, Director of Advocacy for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, speaking during public comment at the 19 November 2024 SFMTA Meeting.

I do not use the term “community readiness” in my every day conversations. Until I started to research the San Francisco Biking and Rolling Plan, I had honestly never heard of this term.

My attempt to translate her position into plain English is:

The SFBC acknowledges there is opposition to the proposed projects to restrict private vehicles and install bike infrastructure in the Bayview. Those who oppose these projects do not know what is best for them, but we (the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition) have the correct vision for the future of San Francisco. We demand that these projects should move forward despite this known local opposition.

What is your interpretation of her statement?

Senior Citizens voice Opposition and Concerns during Public Comment

As noted above, 20 individuals made a public comment after the initial presentation of the draft San Francisco Biking and Rolling Plan. Only three people, all of whom were senior citizens, made public comment with concerns about the Biking and Rolling plan. They were the only senior citizens who made public comment at the meeting despite the SFBC’s position that the Biking and Rolling Plan is inclusive for “all ages and abilities.”

My summary of their concerns:³³

1. Senior citizens are not cyclists. Senior citizens rely on private vehicles and/or public transportation.

2. Public transportation in San Francisco is currently neither safe nor reliable. SFMTA should focus their attention there if the goal is to reduce dependency on private vehicles.

3. The “traffic calming” measures proposed can actually make streets more dangerous. One speaker pointed to the traffic barriers which were recently installed on Kirkland that direct traffic into to head on collisions.

Image: Traffic barrier on Kirkham Street near 9th Avenue which was recently installed as part of SFMTA’s “traffic calming” project. Image is from this post on Next Door which currently has 353 comments, most of which are hostile to this traffic barrier.

Call to Action: On or before the SFMTA meeting - 21 January 2025

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition will turn out in numbers at this meeting. San Franciscans with other perspectives need to make your voices heard.

1. Prepare your Response

• The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition states that “80% of San Franciscans want to Bike and Roll.” Do you believe this is truly representative of San Franciscans?

• Implementation of the Bike and Roll plan would result in substantial reduction of available parking and restrictions to the flow of traffic in every neighborhood, but no assessment of this impact is provided. What do you believe this impact would be on the quality of life and cost of living in San Francisco?

• Implementation of this plan would consume substantial resources of the SFMTA with the construction of structural bike lanes and additional barriers to create and reinforce “Slow Streets.” The SFMTA budget is already running a significant multi-year deficit. Is implementation of this plan an appropriate use of SFMTA funds? Where should the resources of the SFMTA be focused?

• The Bike and Roll Plan proposes funding for programs to promote “community readiness” to overcome expected local resistance to the implementation of the plan. Is this an appropriate use of your taxpayer dollars? How is this consistent with the statement that 80% of San Franciscans want to Bike and Roll?

• The Bike and Roll Plan recommends legislative and policy measures be passed to expedite the implementation of the plan. Do you agree with this? If not, then why?

2. How to Participate in the SFMTA Meeting

• Tuesday 21 January 2025, 1pm - Agenda Item #12

• San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, CA, Room 400, Floor 4.

• Prepare your comments in advance and plan to speak for a maximum of two minutes. Don’t be shy! Every speaker counts!

• Supporting materials for the session are HERE, including the most recent version of the Biking and Rolling Plan.³⁴

NOTE: The Agenda is subject to change without advanced notice. Also, come prepared with water and snacks. These meetings generally run for several hours.

3. How to Send your Feedback via Email

• Deadline: Monday 20 January 2024, noon

• Email to: mtaboard@sfmta.com and BikeRoll@SFMTA.com with the subject line: Biking and Rolling Plan.

• Jotform: CLICK HERE for a quick pre-populated email that you can modify as you see appropriate before sending.

NOTE: The email address you send from will be visible in the public record.

4. Share with your Network

• Encourage friends and family to attend SFMTA Board meetings and email comments to SFMTA, and share this information onwards.

• Share this information on social media and with everyone you know and encourage them to do the same!

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Information for 18 February 2025 SFMTA Board Meeting - Bike and Roll Plan is noton the agenda

1. How to Participate in the SFMTA Meeting

• Tuesday 18 February 2025, 1pm - Agenda is HERE. Bike and Roll Plan is NOT on the agenda, therefore the public can make comments on the plan during the “general comment” portion of the agenda.

• San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, San Francisco, CA, Room 400, Floor 4.

• Prepare your comments in advance and plan to speak for a maximum of two minutes. Don’t be shy! Every speaker counts! See above suggestions for how to prepare your response.

2. How to Send your Feedback via Email

• Deadline: Monday 3 March 2025, noon

• Email to: mtaboard@sfmta.com and BikeRoll@SFMTA.com with the subject line: Biking and Rolling Plan.

• Jotform: CLICK HERE for a quick pre-populated email that you can modify as you see appropriate before sending.

This is my third post on what is happening in San Francisco.

Last, but not least, please share your thoughts below. (In addition to, not instead of, sharing your thoughts with the SFMTA!)

Footnotes and additional information are below. I am still cleaning up some of the references. All references to the Biking and Rolling Document are based on the First Draft of the plan from November 2024. The page numbers refer to the PDF (for ease of finding the page quickly), not the printed number in the document image.

1. Recording of 19 November 2024 San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Board Meeting. The Biking and Rolling Plan presentation begins at 5h16m25s. The public comments begin at approximately 5h45m30s. Demographic data is based on my interpretation of the video footage. While most of those advocating for a more aggressive Biking and Rolling Plan cited the talking points of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, only 9 identified as affiliated with the SFBC. NOTE: I welcome correction/alternative perspectives on this point in comments.

2. San Francisco MTA Biking and Rolling Plan Home Page. As of today, 18 January 2025, this plan includes links to the second draft of the plan which was published a few days ago. My feedback is based on the first draft of the plan.

3. Biking and Rolling plan First Draft - PDF page 3.

4. As of the time of publication, the date vote in February 2025 has not been published. The SFMTA Board typically meets the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month. Official SFMTA information for the time and location of the meetings is HERE.

5. San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s response to the Biking and Rolling Plan.

6. Recording of 19 November 2024 San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Board Meeting. The Biking and Rolling Plan presentation begins at 5h16m25s. The public comments begin at approximately 5h45m30s.

7. Bike and roll plan - page 30

8. Bike and Roll plan - page 4.

9. UPDATE: find bike and roll plan page reference for text description of planned changes. (this is just after the Northstar map)

10. Bike and Roll plan - page 3.

11. San Francisco Climate Action Plan - page 5

12. San Francisco Climate Action Plan - page 75

13. San Francisco Climate Action Plan - page 76

14. Bike and Roll plan - page 28. Action 2.7.3

15. Bike and Roll plan - page 187.

16. Bike and Roll plan - page 33.

17. From the Slide Deck used in the Biking and Rolling Plan Open House Outreach effort, Summer 2024, page 7.

18. Update: Bike and Roll Plan Home page link.

19. Bike and Roll plan - page 42.

20. Bike and Roll plan - page 42.

21. Bike and Roll plan - page 6.

22. Bike and Roll plan - page 23. “PODER/Bicis Del Pueblo was contracted for the role of engagement and co-developing projects in neighborhoods where past bike network projects have been particularly divisive with historically marginalized communities.” This is the only organization that references a contract with the city in their community action plan. I am assuming that all of the community partners have similar contracts.

23. Bike and Roll plan - page 40. Policy 20, Action 4.20.3.

24. The event was held in the Auditorium of the San Francisco County Fair building which has a seated capacity of 280 or a standing capacity of 400.

25. UPDATE: Find reference to SFMTA canceling the parking meters in the Marina residential area.

26. Biking and Rolling Plan, page 8

27. Bike and Roll Plan, page 6.

28. Bike and Roll plan - page 188.

29. San Francisco Bike Coalition Instagram post. 4 November 2024.

30. San Francisco Bike Coalition Instagram post. 18 November 2024

31. San Francisco Bike Coalition page promoting advocacy for Bike and Roll Plan at the upcoming 21 January 2025 SFMTA meeting. During the November 2024 SFMTA public comment for the Bike and Roll Plan an SFBC representative stated that this number comes from the SFMTA’s own data.

32. The Bayview is identified as an “Equity Priority Community” by the San Francisco Biking and Rolling Plan.

33. This is my interpretation of viewing the video of the 19 November 2024 SFMTA meeting public comment. Anyone with alternate interpretations are welcome to submit observations in the comments.

34. This article reflects my read of the Biking and Rolling Plan and related materials for the 21 November 2024 meeting. I have not had the opportunity to read the updated materials.