San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
Encyclopedia
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) is a California 501(c)(4) nonprofit public benefit corporation established to "transform San Francisco's streets and neighborhoods into more livable and safe places by promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation." Founded in 1971, dormant through much of the 1980s, and re-founded in 1990, the SFBC in 2011 has a dues-paying membership of over 12,000 and is considered to be one of the most influential membership-based advocacy organizations in San Francisco.
and San Francisco Tomorrow. One of its first victories was car-free Sundays in Golden Gate Park
, inspired by a similar closure of streets to motor vehicles in New York's Central Park
. When Market Street
was reconstructed in the early 1970s to install the Bay Area Rapid Transit
and Muni Metro
rail systems underground, the SFBC lobbied for protected bike lanes to be constructed. They would be built between the sidewalk curb and parking spaces, along with landscaped medians and left-turn pockets. In 1972, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
voted 10-1 to approve this project, but the idea was opposed by the San Francisco Department of Public Works
and the protected bike lanes were never built. Although failing to win political support for the installation on bike lanes, the SFBC was able to gain access for bicycles through the Broadway Tunnel
, on Skyline Drive, the Golden Gate Bridge
, and along with the East Bay Bicycle Coalition
, to the Bay Area Rapid Transit
system.
The SFBC was inactive for most of 1980s, and was re-founded in October 1990 with the first issue of its newsletter, then called the "Tubular Times" (the newsletter is called the "Tube Times"). By 1996, the group had 1,000 members, its first paid staff member (Executive Director Dave Snyder), and its first office at 1095 Market Street. San Francisco's 1997 Bicycle Plan resulted in additional bicycle lanes on many city streets, including Arguello and Marina boulevards, Seventh Avenue, and Howard, Oak, Fell, Polk, Fifth, Second, and Cesar Chavez streets. In 2000, the SFBC entered electoral politics, changing its non-profit tax status to be able to endorse candidates. It conducted member surveys to determine which candidates for the Board of Supervisors to support, and organized volunteers by district to ensure that cycling issues were discussed during elections. In 2003, the SFBC led a community outreach effort to involve thousands of San Francisco residents and neighborhood groups to be included in the planning process for the update to the 1997 Bicycle Plan. This five-year plan bundled together 60 bicycle route network improvement projects and was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors in June 2005. However, a lawsuit that resulted in requiring an Environmental Review and re-approval of the plan delayed its implementation for four years.
In 2007 the SFBC successfully led a coalition of neighborhood and environmental groups to build support for Healthy Saturdays, the goal of which was to re-establish a car-free weekend day in Golden Gate Park (this event having lapsed since the 1970s). A similar series of events, called Sunday Streets, in which streets were closed in different neighborhoods, was instituted in 2008. Both of these events helped the SFBC develop new advocates for cycling, and even build partnerships with neighborhoods groups that sometimes opposed bicycle projects, in particular, merchants' associations. By 2009 the SFBC had over 10,000 members, and the former 2005 (now 2009) Bicycle Plan was finally approved with its required Environmental Review. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency began constructing the 34 miles of bicycle lanes in August 2010. By early 2011, the SFBC became the largest city-based bicycle advocacy organization in the United States with over 12,000 members. The SFBC's current highest-profile campaign, "Connecting the City", calls for a 25-mile network of three fully traffic-separated bike paths to be constructed by 2015. The paths, called "bikeways", are intended to be safe enough that anyone "from ages 8 to 80" would feel comfortable cycling on them.
The SFBC also supports efforts to improve street maintenance, decrease bicycle theft, and slow the speed of car traffic, as well as events such as the annual Bike to Work Day. The Bicycle Advisory Committee
, which consists of 11 members appointed by the Board of Supervisors, makes recommendations to the board and other public agencies on bicycle transportation projects and policies.
and Mayor Gavin Newsom
unanimously approved the San Francisco Bicycle Plan
, which would add bike lanes, require commercial developers to provide bike parking, and outfit Muni
buses with bike racks. A June 2006 preliminary injunction stopping all physical improvements for bicycles (including bike lanes, bike parking, and sharrow
s) was upheld on November 7, 2006, by Superior Court judge Peter Busch pending the completion of a full environmental impact report (EIR). This EIR was finished in June 2009 and certified by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
in August 2009. The injunction was finally lifted by judge Busch on August 6, 2010. On August 9, 2010, Mayor Newsom, MTA Board Chairman Tom Nolan, neighborhood groups, and business owners celebrated the lifting of the injunction by helping stripe the first new bike lane on Townsend Street.
In recent years, more elected city officials have participated in Bike to Work Day to show their support for the cycling community. Mayor Gavin Newsom
and Supervisors Tom Ammiano
, Chris Daly
, Bevan Dufty
, Sean Elsbernd
, Ed Jew
, Jake McGoldrick
, and Ross Mirkarimi
were among the thousands of cyclists who participated in San Francisco's 13th Annual Bike to Work Day on May 17, 2007.
During the 2007 Bike to Work Day, bicycles made up a majority of street traffic travelling eastbound on Market Street from 8:00 to 9:00, comprising 54% of overall traffic. Automobiles made up 42% of traffic, and transit vehicle and taxis were 4% of traffic. Traffic counts were conducted by Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) staff.
's Bike SF 2010
, a set of comprehensive goals to track the progress of bicycle improvements to San Francisco's streets.
History
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition was founded by Jack Murphy in 1971 with the sole mission of "promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation". It was a volunteer-based coalition of representatives from eight clubs including the Sierra ClubSierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
and San Francisco Tomorrow. One of its first victories was car-free Sundays in Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...
, inspired by a similar closure of streets to motor vehicles in New York's Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. When Market Street
Market Street (San Francisco)
Market Street is an important thoroughfare in San Francisco, California. It begins at The Embarcadero in front of the Ferry Building at the northeastern edge of the city and runs southwest through downtown, passing the Civic Center and the Castro District, to the intersection with Corbett Avenue in...
was reconstructed in the early 1970s to install the Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
and Muni Metro
Muni Metro
Muni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway , a division of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency...
rail systems underground, the SFBC lobbied for protected bike lanes to be constructed. They would be built between the sidewalk curb and parking spaces, along with landscaped medians and left-turn pockets. In 1972, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco, California, United States.-Government and politics:...
voted 10-1 to approve this project, but the idea was opposed by the San Francisco Department of Public Works
San Francisco Department of Public Works
The San Francisco Department of Public Works is responsible for the care and maintenance of San Francisco’s streets and much of its infrastructure...
and the protected bike lanes were never built. Although failing to win political support for the installation on bike lanes, the SFBC was able to gain access for bicycles through the Broadway Tunnel
Broadway Tunnel (San Francisco)
The Broadway Tunnel is a roadway tunnel in San Francisco, California. The tunnel opened in 1952, and serves as a high-capacity conduit for traffic between Chinatown and North Beach in the east and Russian Hill and Van Ness in the west...
, on Skyline Drive, the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
, and along with the East Bay Bicycle Coalition
East Bay Bicycle Coalition
The East Bay Bicycle Coalition, also known as EBBC, is an Californian non-profit organization that worked since 1972 toward "promoting bicycling as an everyday means of transportation and recreation" in Alameda and Contra Costa counties...
, to the Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
system.
The SFBC was inactive for most of 1980s, and was re-founded in October 1990 with the first issue of its newsletter, then called the "Tubular Times" (the newsletter is called the "Tube Times"). By 1996, the group had 1,000 members, its first paid staff member (Executive Director Dave Snyder), and its first office at 1095 Market Street. San Francisco's 1997 Bicycle Plan resulted in additional bicycle lanes on many city streets, including Arguello and Marina boulevards, Seventh Avenue, and Howard, Oak, Fell, Polk, Fifth, Second, and Cesar Chavez streets. In 2000, the SFBC entered electoral politics, changing its non-profit tax status to be able to endorse candidates. It conducted member surveys to determine which candidates for the Board of Supervisors to support, and organized volunteers by district to ensure that cycling issues were discussed during elections. In 2003, the SFBC led a community outreach effort to involve thousands of San Francisco residents and neighborhood groups to be included in the planning process for the update to the 1997 Bicycle Plan. This five-year plan bundled together 60 bicycle route network improvement projects and was unanimously approved by the Board of Supervisors in June 2005. However, a lawsuit that resulted in requiring an Environmental Review and re-approval of the plan delayed its implementation for four years.
In 2007 the SFBC successfully led a coalition of neighborhood and environmental groups to build support for Healthy Saturdays, the goal of which was to re-establish a car-free weekend day in Golden Gate Park (this event having lapsed since the 1970s). A similar series of events, called Sunday Streets, in which streets were closed in different neighborhoods, was instituted in 2008. Both of these events helped the SFBC develop new advocates for cycling, and even build partnerships with neighborhoods groups that sometimes opposed bicycle projects, in particular, merchants' associations. By 2009 the SFBC had over 10,000 members, and the former 2005 (now 2009) Bicycle Plan was finally approved with its required Environmental Review. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency began constructing the 34 miles of bicycle lanes in August 2010. By early 2011, the SFBC became the largest city-based bicycle advocacy organization in the United States with over 12,000 members. The SFBC's current highest-profile campaign, "Connecting the City", calls for a 25-mile network of three fully traffic-separated bike paths to be constructed by 2015. The paths, called "bikeways", are intended to be safe enough that anyone "from ages 8 to 80" would feel comfortable cycling on them.
San Francisco Bike Network
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's primary goal is a city-wide network of bike lanes, bike paths, or traffic-calmed streets interconnecting every neighborhood in San Francisco. The SFBC states that the whole city will benefit from the bike network due to safer streets, more choices for mobility, less congestion, easier parking, benefits to the local economy, and better health. Ironically, no physical improvements for bicycles could be made to San Francisco's streets from June 2006 until August 2010 due to a full environmental impact report.The SFBC also supports efforts to improve street maintenance, decrease bicycle theft, and slow the speed of car traffic, as well as events such as the annual Bike to Work Day. The Bicycle Advisory Committee
San Francisco Bicycle Advisory Committee
The San Francisco Bicycle Advisory Committee consists of 11 San Francisco voting members appointed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, each of whom resides in one of the 11 supervisoral districts and is nominated by their district's supervisor...
, which consists of 11 members appointed by the Board of Supervisors, makes recommendations to the board and other public agencies on bicycle transportation projects and policies.
San Francisco Bicycle Plan
In May 2005, the San Francisco Board of SupervisorsSan Francisco Board of Supervisors
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco, California, United States.-Government and politics:...
and Mayor Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom
Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician who is the 49th and current Lieutenant Governor of California. Previously, he was the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, and was elected in 2003 to succeed Willie Brown, becoming San Francisco's youngest mayor in 100 years. Newsom was re-elected in 2007...
unanimously approved the San Francisco Bicycle Plan
San Francisco Bicycle Plan
The San Francisco Bicycle Plan is the current guiding document for near-term bicycle transportation improvements in San Francisco, and was adopted unanimously by the Board of Supervisors on August 11, 2009. The overall goal of the plan is to "increase safe bicycle use" over an expected...
, which would add bike lanes, require commercial developers to provide bike parking, and outfit Muni
San Francisco Municipal Railway
The San Francisco Municipal Railway is the public transit system for the city and county of San Francisco, California. In 2006, it served with an operating budget of about $700 million...
buses with bike racks. A June 2006 preliminary injunction stopping all physical improvements for bicycles (including bike lanes, bike parking, and sharrow
Sharrow
For the village in North Yorkshire, see Sharow. For the shared lane roadway marking, see Shared lane marking.Sharrow is a district of Sheffield directly south west of Sheffield city centre....
s) was upheld on November 7, 2006, by Superior Court judge Peter Busch pending the completion of a full environmental impact report (EIR). This EIR was finished in June 2009 and certified by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is the legislative body within the government of the City and County of San Francisco, California, United States.-Government and politics:...
in August 2009. The injunction was finally lifted by judge Busch on August 6, 2010. On August 9, 2010, Mayor Newsom, MTA Board Chairman Tom Nolan, neighborhood groups, and business owners celebrated the lifting of the injunction by helping stripe the first new bike lane on Townsend Street.
Bike to Work Day
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition sponsors the annual Bike to Work Day to encourage commuters to try bicycling as a healthy alternative to driving by organizing groups of cyclists to ride together starting from various neighborhoods, matching new bicycle commuters with more experienced "Bike Buddies", and providing free snacks and coffee at "Energizer Stations" along the busiest bike routes.In recent years, more elected city officials have participated in Bike to Work Day to show their support for the cycling community. Mayor Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom
Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician who is the 49th and current Lieutenant Governor of California. Previously, he was the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, and was elected in 2003 to succeed Willie Brown, becoming San Francisco's youngest mayor in 100 years. Newsom was re-elected in 2007...
and Supervisors Tom Ammiano
Tom Ammiano
Tom Ammiano is an American politician and LGBT rights activist from San Francisco, California. Ammiano is a Democrat who has served as a member of the California State Assembly since 2008, representing the 13th district...
, Chris Daly
Chris Daly
Chris Daly is a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He represented District 6, on which he served from 2000 to 2010...
, Bevan Dufty
Bevan Dufty
Bevan Dufty is an American politician and former Member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He represented San Francisco's District 8, encompassing the 71,000 residents of Ashbury Heights, Buena Vista, The Castro, Diamond Heights, Dolores Park, Duboce Triangle, Glen Park, Noe Valley,...
, Sean Elsbernd
Sean Elsbernd
Sean Elsbernd is an American politician currently representing District 7 for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. District 7 includes neighborhoods west of Twin Peaks, the Villas at Parkmerced, Lake Merced, Harding Park Golf Course, San Francisco State University, City College of San...
, Ed Jew
Ed Jew
Edmund "Ed" Jew is an incarcerated former Chinese American politician based in San Francisco. He graduated from San Francisco State University with a degree in economics and later earned a masters degree in business administration at Golden Gate University...
, Jake McGoldrick
Jake McGoldrick
Jake McGoldrick is a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.He represented District 1, known as the Richmond District neighborhood of San Francisco. McGoldrick was elected in 2000 as part of the progressive majority of candidates that were swept into office that year...
, and Ross Mirkarimi
Ross Mirkarimi
Ross Mirkarimi is a member of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco, California, a marijuana legalization advocate, and co-founder of the Green Party of California. He was elected in 2004 to represent District 5...
were among the thousands of cyclists who participated in San Francisco's 13th Annual Bike to Work Day on May 17, 2007.
During the 2007 Bike to Work Day, bicycles made up a majority of street traffic travelling eastbound on Market Street from 8:00 to 9:00, comprising 54% of overall traffic. Automobiles made up 42% of traffic, and transit vehicle and taxis were 4% of traffic. Traffic counts were conducted by Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) staff.
Bike SF 2010
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition supports Mayor Gavin NewsomGavin Newsom
Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician who is the 49th and current Lieutenant Governor of California. Previously, he was the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, and was elected in 2003 to succeed Willie Brown, becoming San Francisco's youngest mayor in 100 years. Newsom was re-elected in 2007...
's Bike SF 2010
Bike SF 2010
Bike SF 2010 are a set of 10 milestones established by San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom on San Francisco's Bike to Work Day, May 17, 2007. The milestones are the first-ever set of comprehensive goals to measure the progress in making bike improvements to streets in San Francisco.- Bike SF 2010...
, a set of comprehensive goals to track the progress of bicycle improvements to San Francisco's streets.
See also
- San Francisco Bicycle PlanSan Francisco Bicycle PlanThe San Francisco Bicycle Plan is the current guiding document for near-term bicycle transportation improvements in San Francisco, and was adopted unanimously by the Board of Supervisors on August 11, 2009. The overall goal of the plan is to "increase safe bicycle use" over an expected...
- Cycling in San FranciscoCycling in San FranciscoCycling in San Francisco has grown in popularity in recent years, aided by improving cycling infrastructure and community support. San Francisco's compact urban form and mild climate enable cyclists to reach work, shopping, and recreational destinations quickly and comfortably...
- List of United States bicycle advocacy organizations