Here's a look at San Francisco's path to becoming a bicycle-centric city
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Truth be known. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has a perception problem. You know, they're the ones that run Muni buses and trains, enforce parking regulations, and promote the use of bicycles.
At a recent SFMTA Board meeting, one could hear a few people say, "I don't trust SFMTA," or "I smell a rat."
Despite this skepticism, the board of directors unanimously adopted the city's Biking and Rolling Plan.
Beginning now and for the next 20 years, San Francisco will start linking hundreds of bike lanes to form a continuous route throughout the city. Think of it as one big bicycle network.
"I truly believe that if they build it they will come, as we've seen in other great cities around the world," said one supporter of the plan.
We thought we'd get on a bicycle with their Street Division Director to understand more about the plan.
"I think the goal of the plan is to have a long term vision for what the bicycle network could look like in the future," explained Viktoriya Wise who is the SFMTA's Director of Streets.
MORE: SF's controversial bike lane being removed after 18 months; new design raises concerns
In other words, there is no plan, yet. It's a work in progress.
SFMTA does have a goal which is to put anyone, anywhere within a quarter of a mile from that bicycle network.
For that, the agency expects to put up barriers like these to existing lanes, install speed bumps and extend crosswalks to protect pedestrian as well.
Schools will eventually be a quarter of a mile or less from that network.
"Many parents of my children's school have expressed to me the desire to bike with their children but they are afraid to do so without a connected network of bike lanes or protected bike lanes," expressed a parent.
MORE: Advocates fight to keep controversial bike lanes in San Mateo from being cleared for more parking
It may seem like a sensible plan, except that some San Franciscans argue the SFMTA hasn't always been that forthcoming and tends to favor the bicyclists over drivers.
Mistakes have been made, like creating a bikeway smack in the middle of Valencia street. It took an entire community of business owners to force the SFMTA to get rid of that bikeway.
That bikeway has been removed and replaced with a side-running bike lane.
The two-way bicycle lanes on Battery Street opened in 2023, when many people were still working from home. This is an example of "they built it and only a few came."
Because of these lanes, cars are not allowed to make a left-hand turn and traffic is heavy even at 1 o'clock in the afternoon.
Perhaps a better alternative would have been to build the lanes one block over on Sansome street where only commercial vehicles are allowed.
"That's one of my primary goals is to stay flexible and to stay innovative and figure out what's working and what's not and make adjustments on our roadways," promised Wise.
Then there's the controversial proposal to add a bike lane on Oak Street next to the panhandle.
Neighbors are asking why add a lane if bicyclists already use the mixed-use path inside the panhandle for both bicyclists and pedestrians.
"We have heard from many people that it is very difficult when there are bicyclists and pedestrians using the pathway and it's not comfortable at all," added Wise.
But we asked if that would create a lot more traffic on Oak Street.
"We've done a lot of modeling on Oak Street before we proposed that bike lane, as our engineers always do, and we actually don't anticipate to see significant amount of back up as a result of putting that bike lane in," said Wise.
"There is so much space for people to drive. We just want a little bit more so that people biking can be safe," said Chris White, of the Bicycle Coalition.
Now there is a new administration.
SFMTA's Director of Transportation took on the new role in March with the goal of of building trust in the community.
"And that takes a lot of listening in some cases it many mean slowing things down or changing our approach and were going to work with different communities to figure out what's the right fit for them," said Julie Kirschbaum, SFMTA's Director of Transportation.
The transit agency says grants and propositions that voters already passed will help fund it. Except that right now, there is no price tag for what these projects could cost over the next 20 yeas. It's important to note that each, single project must be approved by the Board of Directors and the community must weigh in.
