Bike Rack Effort Ramps Up in Tandem with Safety

On Monday, SFMTA staff installed a new bike corral at the corner of Sanchez and 16th Street in an existing red zone, with the support of Supervisor Mandelman. This corral is part of a city-wide commitment to expand bike parking, and an effort to assess how bike racks can help to supplement pedestrian safety efforts like daylighting at intersections.

“We’re hard at work to make it easier and safer for people to get out of cars and onto bikes or scooters instead,” said Mayor London N. Breed. “The installation of this new bike corral will add much-needed bike and scooter parking, while also supporting pedestrian safety. I’m looking forward to seeing more corrals installed throughout the city.”

With more emerging mobility options, like scootershare and bikeshare, along with a general increase in bicycling, demand for racks is growing. Stationless permits include a rack fee based on operator fleet sizes. These funds are going towards labor and materials for more racks. Working with the Mayor's office, our agency has committed to installing 100 racks per month, both by requests and proactively in high demand areas. Corrals like this one, which place bike racks in the street against the curb, ensure that more scootershare and bikeshare trips start and end in the street, which encourages users to avoid riding on the sidewalk altogether.

“When we add options to get around our city, we need to make sure we’re adding capacity to safely secure bikes and scooters,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman. “The commitment announced today is a good start, and I look forward to working with the SFMTA and bicycle and pedestrian advocates to add racks everywhere they are needed in San Francisco.”

This effort will also look at how to optimize daylighting red zones with bike parking. The increased visibility with red zones at intersections can sometimes be obstructed by illegal vehicle parking, and it can allow vehicles to turn closer to the curb than desired. Combining racks and daylighting could simultaneously help to address these issues while increasing the number of racks.

Bikeshare and scootershare aim to provide mobility options that supplement transit as a real alternative to private vehicle trips. Bike racks are a big part of organizing these modes to keep sidewalks clear. If you’d like to request a bike rack or a bike corral, you can make a request here.