A recent visit to Copenhagen helped open Supervisor Jane Kim’s eyes to the possibilities of accessible biking.
“I noticed there that just as many women riding bikes as men,” which is not yet true in San Francisco, “where women are outnumbered two-to-one by men when it comes to biking”, Supervisor Kim told us. “More women would ride bikes if they felt safer, and more bike lanes — especially protected bike lanes — will make that possible.”
Supervisor Kim wasn’t always the champion for safer, more comfortable biking that she is today. “I only learned to ride a bicycle a few years ago,” she shared. “The busy streets of New York City, where I grew up, intimidated me. Now, I am happy to say that I ride my bike regularly.”
Supervisor Kim’s accomplishments for making San Francisco safer are considerable, including co-sponsoring SF’s Bike Yield Law, pushing for the City’s commitment to eliminate traffic deaths, and funding bike lanes on Folsom, Polk and Sixth Streets. “Safety for people walking and biking is one of my top legislative priorities, including encouraging more residents — especially women — to ride their bikes instead of driving their cars,” Supervisor Kim said.
Joined by Timbuk2’s Vanessa Christie and SF Yellow Bike Project co-founder Mary Kay Chin, Supervisor Kim is speaking at the first anniversary of our Women Bike SF program. We founded the program to build and grow our community of women, trans* and female-identified individuals who bike in San Francisco.
“Organizing women around biking is important to the improving safety for people who bike and growing our expanding network of bikes lanes in San Francisco,” Supervisor Kim said.
For more from one of our city’s top advocates for safer biking and walking, please join us at the first anniversary celebration of Women Bike SF.
