Street Fight: The Politics of Mobility in San Francisco

5. “We Are Not Blocking Traffic, We Are Traffic!”: The Politics of Bicycle Space in San Francisco

112 CHAPTER 5 “We Are Not BlockingTraffic, We AreTraffic!” The Politics of Bicycle Space in San Francisco Bicycle space—an interconnected, coordinated, multifaceted set of bicycle lanes, paths, parking racks, and accompanying laws and regulations to protect and promote cycling—has been extremely difficult to implement in the United States, even in San Francisco.1 Detractors often object to bicycle space because they claim bicycling is childish or not a legitimate form of transportation, or that Americans will simply never replace driving with bicycling because it is too hot, too cold, too rainy, or too hilly or because most places are too far to get to by bicycle. Despite what seem like insurmountable arguments in opposition, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) has twelve thousand members, is a formidable force in electoral politics, and has been at the leading edge of redefining the politics of possibilities for an urban space that is not dominated by automobiles.2 The local political establishment, from the mayor and the Board of Supervisors to city department heads, has committed itself to a goal of dramatically increasing the mode share in cycling for all trips within the city. This goal is the result of determined and passionate advocates in San Francisco who have successfully promoted bicycling, and their story offers lessons for advocates around the nation. 113 “We Are Not Blocking Traffic, We Are Traffic!” Why Bicycling? Bicycling makes up a tiny share of daily travel in the United States: 1–2 percent of all trips.3 But in the face of increased gasoline prices and congestion , more public awareness of the relationship between global warming and driving, and interest in physical activity, bicycling has experienced a small boom in many cities since 2000. Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, Pittsburgh, Portland, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and many smaller university cities like Boulder and Madison have seen increases in utilitarian bicycling .4 In 2010 an estimated 3.5 to 6 percent of all trips in San Francisco were made by bicycle, 9.3 percent of adults used bicycles daily as their main mode of transportation, and 16 percent of adults rode a bicycle at least twice a week.5 This amounts to roughly 128,000 bicycle trips made within San Francisco each day, of which 66 percent are for utilitarian purposes such as shopping and commuting, not for recreation. Bicycling surged in San Francisco during the period 2005–10, rising 71 percent citywide, and on some streets in the Victorian Belt more than 15 percent of trips are by bicycle.6 On weekday mornings bicycles outnumber cars on segments of Market Street near Van Ness. In parts of Hayes Valley, the Mission, and Upper Market areas almost 10 percent of commuting is by bicycle.7 In San Francisco and throughout the United States, bicycling is well suited to be a substitute for many short-range automobile trips and has enormous potential to contribute to reductions in VMT. Nationally, some 72 percent of all trips shorter than three miles in length are by car, a spatial range that an average cyclist can cover easily.8 In the Bay Area, 67 percent of all trips are less than five miles long, and for an average adult five miles amounts to a thirty-minute bicycle ride.9 The bicycle can be practical for running many errands, especially in compact cities but also in conventional , lower-density suburbs. Bicycling is compatible with rapid transit, particularly for the “last mile” segments, and there are opportunities to integrate bicycle parking at major transit nodes rather than expensive, land-intensive car parking. Bicycles do not require costly, long-term capital investment or operating funds like those of transit and can be deployed quickly. In many respects bicycling is among the most equitable forms of urban transportation because it is affordable and accessible to almost everyone.10 If the many advantages of bicycling are to be realized, space must be allotted to it, and that includes bike lanes and paths that are separated from car traffic and that are direct routes to where people need and desire to go; it includes as well comprehensive traffic calming along bicycle routes, 114 Chapter Five modification of conventional street intersections to allow so-called bike boxes with advanced stop lines for cyclists far ahead of stopped cars, special bike lanes for turning, turn restrictions for cars, extra green traffic signal phases for bikes, the retiming of...