measuring the state of the city for bicycling

2008 San Francisco State of Cycling Report

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) has published their first SF State of Cycling Report to provide a snapshot of cycling in San Francisco and to identify ways that the city can increase safe bicycling.

Among many other facts and figures contained in the 2008 report:

About 6% of trips in SF take place by bicycle every day
About 128,000 trips in SF take place by bicycle every day
Bicycle traffic in SF has grown 43% in two years (2006-2008)

Learn more about the state of bicycle transportation in SF from the 2008 State of Cycling Report (and watch for the 2010 edition next year).

2008 SF Bicycling Report Card

How's this city doing for bicycling? Are we getting better, losing ground, or just coasting? When the SFBC published the first-ever SF Bike Report Card in 2006, we promised we'd be back in two years to re-survey the cycling population and present a fresh scorecard on the state of bicycling in the city—and that time has come.

We've surveyed over 1,800 SF cyclists during the month of April 2008, and the results of that survey have come together with a variety of other measurements and statistics in the 2008 Report Card on Bicycling in San Francisco, a critique of the state of cycling in our fine city. Download a copy of the 2008 Report Card and find out the score!

(a thousand thanks to Fabian and George for their exceptional design and production work on the Report Card!)

Bicycling and Walking 2007

Lack of funding linked to obesity and traffic fatalities

Providing long anticipated data on the state of bicycling and walking nationwide, the Thunderhead Alliance has released its Bicycling and Walking in the U.S., Benchmarking Report 2007.

The report compares, for the first time ever, bicycling and walking levels, investment in bicycling and walking, and public health. The most striking findings reveal major disparities between cycling and walking levels, traffic fatalities, and federal funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects.

According to the report, bicycling and walking make up 9.6 percent of all trips. Yet bicyclists and pedestrians represent 12.9 percent of all traffic-related fatalities, and only 1.5 percent of federal transportation dollars are spent on bicycling and walking projects.

In addition, the report illustrates the inverse relationship between walking and biking and levels of obesity over the past 40 years. As walking and biking levels have dropped, obesity levels have soared.

Bicycling and Walking in the U.S. was made possible by support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Bikes Belong Coalition.

Read our Press Release (PDF format)

Graphics highlighting the obesity findings, pedestrian and cyclist fatality risks, and San Francisco's pedestrian fatality rate compared with other cities. All in Illustrator CS2 format (3MB).

"Bicycling and Walking in the U.S." the full Benchmarking Report in PDF format (19MB).

2007 Urban Transportation Report Card

Report compares SF transportation with other US cities

With transportation being responsible for 20-60% of carbon emissions in major US cities, four leading transportation advocates from four large cities (San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Seattle) prepared this report to rate their cities' progress on greening their transportation systems.

The Urban Transportation Report Card compares the four cities' green transportation efforts—from how each city is fighting congestion and cutting carbon to how they are improving alternatives and trying to prevent pollution from the start.

Although San Francisco scores high in some areas, such as miles of bike lanes and number of bike racks, over 50% of the city's total carbon emissions still come from transportation. And while 95% of San Franciscans live within a 5-minute walk of public transit, only 31% percent of all trips are on public transit.

Download our press release and the Report Card

2006 SF Bicycling Report Card

How are we really doing for cyclists in the city?

In May 2006 the SFBC published SF's first-ever Report Card on Bicycling in San Francisco—over 1100 cyclists took the Survey of Bicycling in SF, and we compiled the results of that effort to offer a valuable look at the state of cycling in San Francisco through the eyes of those riding the city's streets. Both "hard" figures, such as mileage of bikes lanes striped, and "soft" measures, such as how safe bicyclists feel and how satisfied bicyclists are with SF cycling facilities, come together in a comprehensive report for citizens and decision makers to help understand and guide the city's efforts to improve bicycling and meet the goals of the San Francisco Bicycle Plan.