Janna Cordeiro is a strategic planning consultant who lives in Bernal Heights and loves biking to school with her eight-year-old daughter, Ava, and her neighbors.

Seven out of ten San Franciscans ride a bike in our wonderful city.

Here is a profile of one person enjoying bicycling in San Francisco, and just one of the many responses the SF Bicycle Coalition has received from members and the public at large. These are just a few of the many people we hear from each week, the people who use our streets every day and are impacted directly by all of our work. I hope you enjoy meeting them and hearing their stories and questions as much as I do.

How has Bike to School Day and Safe Routes to School improved biking for you?

Janna Cordeiro: Bike to School Day this past year inspired my family and our neighbors to try biking to school for the first time. We had been regularly walking together but Bike to School Day gave us the extra push to try something a bit out of our comfort zone. None of us had been regularly biking on SF city streets until then so it was a new adventure. I tried out a route ahead of time that was a little less hilly than our walk and made sure the traffic wasn’t too bad. At first, the kids needed to push their bikes up one part, and rode part of the time on the sidewalk. But now that we’re all more comfortable, we ride most of the way on the street. We found that most people we encounter — both driving or walking — are very accommodating and supportive when they see us coming.

Bike to School day encouraged us to try something new and we discovered we loved it!

What is your favorite thing about getting around San Francisco by bike?

Janna, Mom: My favorite thing about biking to school is not having to find parking in the morning when we’re rushed to get to school and that we’re helping to make the streets around the school less congested.
Ava, age 8: It’s faster and more fun than walking and it doesn’t pollute our city.

What are your next steps for promoting biking at your school?

Janna: I’m planning on reaching out to other families in our neighborhood and encouraging them to ride with us. We hope to ride two to three times a week and walk the other days. We’ll let other families know we’re biking by making an announcement our school’s morning circle, putting a note in the newsletter, and telling our story on the school’s website. Also, we got a bike blender for the school and I’m hoping to use that to promote the power of bicycling!

Comment of the Month
“I am really in awe of all the things the city accomplishes … I can see it every time I ride, or even on the occasions that I do drive my car. I’m always pointing out new things I see, improvements, and things that could use some improvement.”
– SF Bicycle Coalition Member on the recent installation of protective posts on the San Jose Avenue bike lanes.