At 11th and Harrison streets in SoMa, we recently made a subtle but important safety upgrade for people biking and boarding Muni. While this street design is common internationally, it’s still fairly novel for American cities, but we're looking to make improvements like these to make our streets easier to navigate.
As part of Muni Forward upgrades for the 9 San Bruno route last month, we “flipped” the southbound bus stop and bike lane on 11th Street: The bike lane now runs between the sidewalk and a new transit boarding island.
This improvement eliminates the tussle that occurs with the conventional arrangement: buses crossing the bike lane to get to the curb. This usually requires people on bikes to merge with vehicle traffic to pass while bus passengers board.
Now, it’s all smooth sailing: Bus operators, people biking and people getting on and off the bus can get where they need to go without conflict.
We’re just getting started with implementing this type of improvement where there are opportunities around the city. But it’s not our first: In 2012, we brought this configuration to Duboce Avenue and Church Street, a busy junction for both bike riders and N Judah riders.
In the words of the organization People for Bikes, the “self-regulating sidewalk ballet” at Duboce and Church works “beautifully.”
Check out their video of that intersection:
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