Businesses and Bicyclists Align for Better Market Street

Market Street is undergoing major transformations. More people than ever before are biking on Market Street while small, local retail businesses are springing up on the underused Central Market. All of this is happening underneath a rapid tech boom that is quickly changing the city’s landscape. Meanwhile, the City is taking steps to make Market Street safer for bikes and pedestrians. Starting this summer, they are planning to transform Market Street into a world-class transit, bike and pedestrian boulevard.

It’s therefore no surprise that in February and March a group of Central Market businesses, with support of the Central Market Community Benefit District and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, organized a series of workshops to grow both biking and small business on Market Street. Over the course of three lunchtime sessions at Huckleberry Bikes, Market Street businesses and regular bicyclists collaborated to come up with improvements that can benefit both. Through interactive programs, participants devised strategies for improving bike parking, bike connections, way-finding, signage and business visibility for bicyclists on Market Street. You can see the results of the sessions, which were presented to the City at the final meeting, here or in the slideshow below.

Study after study (after study) has shown that better biking means better business — and that investing in bike infrastructure is also an investment in the local economy. On average, people who bike spend more than people who drive because they shop more frequently. They also support local business more often and put less stress on our roadways and public transit networks, saving the City money at the same time. As Market Street improvements move forward, it’s exciting to see businesses embrace the economic power of our growing bike movement. Contact paolo@sfbike.org to learn more about our business programs and campaigns.

See below for the recommendations from the workshop:

   Workshop Findings

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