Through day-to-day advocacy, education, and working partnerships with government and community agencies, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is dedicated to creating safer streets and more livable communities for all San Franciscans.
Our active 12,000 members represent San Franciscans of all ages, from all neighborhoods, who are working towards more safe, efficient, and green ways to move around our city. The SF Bicycle Coalition is the largest city-based bicycle advocacy group in the nation and one of the largest membership-based groups in San Francisco. Our members donated over 16,000 volunteer hours in 2011.
Our Mission
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is transforming San Francisco's streets and neighborhoods into more livable and safe places by promoting the bicycle for everyday transportation.
Recent San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Successes:
- 71% increase in the number of people bicycling between 2007 and 2011. Counts were taken by the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) at 33 intersections across San Francisco.
- Worked with BOMA and Supervisor Avalos to craft the Employee Bicycle Access legislation, which was signed into law in April 2012. The law gives San Francisco workers the strongest workplace bike access in the nation.
- Partnered with the the SFPD, WalkSF and SFMTA to launch the comprehensive Safe Streets initiative.
- Created the Family Biking Guide, a free how-to manual for all stages of family biking.
- 45 bike projects got the green light from the SF Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors in June 2009. These projects, which will nearly double the miles of bike lanes, will propel San Francisco to become one of America's most bicycle-friendly cities.
- San Francisco's first bicycle traffic signal was installed in 2008 at the notoriously dangerous intersection of Fell and Masonic Streets. The SF Bicycle Coalition helped lead the campaign for this important safety fix.
- SF Bicycle Coalition worked with Mayor Newsom's office and a coalition of groups to launch Sunday Streets in 2008. The SF Bicycle Coalition continues to organize the 200 volunteers that are required for each event.
- SF Bicycle Coalition led campaigns to double the number of bike lanes in San Francisco on Market, Valencia, Howard, Arguello, and Potrero Streets. City counts show bicycling increases, on average, by 50% after a bike lane is added, including the following increases: Howard St. (300% increase); Valencia St. (144%); Arguello (67%).
- SF Bicycle Coalition led the campaign to win Healthy Saturdays recreational space in Golden Gate Park, expanding on the popular car-free Sundays in Golden Gate Park.
- Gaining 24-hour bicycle access on the Golden Gate Bridge
- Winning bicycle access on mass transit such as BART, Muni, and Caltrain
including on Market, Valencia, Howard, Cabrillo, Arguello, and Potrero streets
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition in the Community
- Offers free Urban Cycling Workshops that teach thousands of people each year how bike confidently, respectfully and lawfully on city streets. (in partnership with the SF Municipal Transportation Agency. ) Classes are offered in Cantonese, Spanish and English.
- Distributes hundreds of free bike lights and helmets to adults and children in underserved communities.
- Host an annual Family Bicycling Day, where kids can learn how to ride a bicycle and can learn bike safety skills on a car-free stretch of Golden Gate Park
- Joined a coalition of groups to campaign for the removal of the Central Freeway and the better Octavia Boulevard that exists today.
- We provide free, valet bike parking at San Francisco Giants games, and major festivals and events throughout San Francisco.
Our Partnerships:
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has working partnerships with major government and community agencies to improve the overall transportation network and livability of San Francisco:
- SF Municipal Transportation Agency: Co-sponsored "CoExist" campaign encouraging people driving and bicycling to share the road. We also partner to host the successful Bike to Work Day, teach Urban Cycling Workshops and distribute thousands of free bicycle lights.
- SF Dept. of Public Health: Partner on the Safe Routes to School Program alongside the ShapeUp SF Coalition, Presidio Community YMCA, SF Unified School District, SF Police Department, and the SF Municipal Transportation Agency. This program aims to make biking and walking to school easier for parents and kids through education, safer streets and incentives.
- Caltrain: Worked together to open new bike parking station at Caltrain 4th & King.
- BART: Worked together to expand bike access on trains and to open the Embarcadero bike parking station, where commuters can securely lock their bicycles.
- SF Police Department: Co-produced a first-ever, police training video educating officers of bicyclists' rights and responsibilities on the road.
- YMCA: Partner together on middle school, after-school bike education program.
- Senior Action Network & Walk SF: Work together to improve street safety for people walking and bicycling at intersections such as Fell and Masonic and Market and Octavia.
- San Francisco Giants: The SF Bicycle Coalition provides free valet bike parking at all home Giants games.
Our Vision
Moving around San Francisco is enjoyable, with streets and sidewalks that are inviting, safe, social spaces. Bicycling is commonplace: people of all ages easily and comfortably ride bicycles to school, work, play, and shop. Our neighborhoods, commercial corridors and job centers are well connected by continuous, crosstown bikeways that are physically separated from auto traffic to the greatest extent possible. Many people use reliable public transit, and walking is easy. Vehicles travel at safe speeds, creating more welcoming streets for all. Our communities have more green and inviting public space. The wide sidewalks are bustling and alive, full of children playing and adults interacting with neighbors.
Our Values
- URBANISM: Our vibrant streets and public spaces; our diverse people & neighborhoods; and our capacity for bringing people together to create a better city.
- EQUITY: A balanced transportation system that works for people of all means and offers equal access between communities.
- SUSTAINABILITY: Our environment, and belief that our impact on it must be sustainable.
- HEALTH: The health of our bodies and our communities.
- FUN: We see the bicycle not as an end, but as a joyous means to living our values and celebrating San Francisco.
Our History
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is one of the oldest bicycle advocacy organizations in the country. Founded in 1971 by a group of activists representing a coalition of environmental and neighborhood groups, the SF Bicycle Coalition started the convention of calling an advocacy group a "coalition" while riding groups were known as clubs. It quickly evolved into a powerful alliance of individuals working for a more bicycle-friendly city, winning bike lanes on upper Market Street, removing the ban on bicycling through the Broadway Tunnel, and gaining access to the Golden Gate Bridge and, along with the East Bay Bicycle Coalition, gaining access to BART. Mostly defunct throughout the 1980s, it was rejuvenated in October 1990 with the first issue of the newsletter, then known as "the tubular times." Operated entirely by volunteers for the first several years, it has been dominated by a grassroots volunteer ethic ever since, growing into one of the strongest bicycle advocacy organizations in the country. Its biggest victory in the 1990s were the bicycle lanes on Valencia Street, supported by the Board of Supervisors despite a Department of Parking & Traffic Director who declared "they'll be bike lanes on Valencia Street over my dead body." The SF Bicycle Coalition, in conjunction with the Bicycle Advisory Committee, was also responsible for some of the strongest requirements for indoor bicycle parking and public event attended bicycle parking in the country.
