Breed promises more protected bike lanes with better enforcement

At this year’s Bike to Work Day in San Francisco on Thursday, Mayor London Breed directed the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency to “double its pace” of installing new protected bike lanes.

Breed is assigning the SFMTA to create 20 miles of new protected bike lanes in The City over the next two years. Breed said in a statement:

“Since 2006, bicycling in San Francisco has almost tripled. As our city continues to grow, we know we need more protected bike lanes, not only to keep people safe, but also to encourage more people to bike in the City and reduce congestion. That is why I am directing the SFMTA to double our pace of creating new bike lanes in San Francisco.”

She continued:

“While we work to create the bike infrastructure we need, we also need to make sure that we’re keeping cars and trucks out of the bike lane so that bicyclists are not forced into traffic.”

The mayor has already told the SFMTA to streamline the process for safety projects and to quickly install near-term improvements back in March.

Breed is also asking the transit agency to step up enforcement on vehicles blocking the bike lane. She wants the SFMTA to increase citations by 10 percent over the next six months.

The SFMTA approximately issued 27,000 citations for vehicles blocking the bike lane.

Breed joined the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and community members to bike to City Hall from the Mission District. The mayor rode an electric bike through the new protected bike lane on Valencia Street, the Mayor’s Office said.

Brian Wiedenmeier, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, said in a statement:

“On San Francisco’s biggest biking day of the year, Mayor Breed has issued a bold challenge to the SFMTA to quickly close the gaps in our citywide protected bike lane network.”

Wiedenmeier added:

“Building out our infrastructure is the best way to improve safety and make it easier for people to bike to work, school or wherever they may need to go. We will need more of this kind of leadership moving forward if we want to grow the number of people biking, achieve Vision Zero by 2024 and meet our ambitious climate goals.”