In every election, an endorsement from the SF Bicycle Coalition is widely coveted by candidates thanks to our 10,000-plus engaged members. Our straightforward endorsement process means people trust us to carefully select the candidate that will do the most to further our mission of promoting the bike for everyday transportation.

Our Board endorses the best candidates for a bike-friendly San Francisco thanks to detailed candidate questionnaires that focus on both the immediate priorities and the long-term vision for our city and to the direct feedback from our members. This year we are adding another component to this process: a comprehensive election Policy Platform.

From fair enforcement to bike share, our Policy Platform reflects what our members care about the most. By explicitly framing our vision for San Francisco, we hope to guide potential civic leaders to make the right decisions to make our city even better for people biking.

Read our Policy Platform below, visit sfbike.org/vote over the coming weeks and – most importantly – this November 3, get out and vote!

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s 2015 Policy Platform

Creating Safe and Affordable Transportation Choices For All San Franciscans
Thanks to our 10,000-plus members and over 50 staff members, the number of people regularly biking San Francisco has doubled in the last five years. It is no coincidence the City has also added more than fifty miles of bike lanes over that period.

Promises Require Action. Work remains, however, if the City is to achieve its own goal of doubling the number of people biking today by 2018 and eliminating traffic deaths by 2024. The safety improvements needed to accomplish these objectives will also improve transportation options for everyone who uses our streets and improve access to jobs, schools and other opportunities.

To provide San Francisco the affordable, safe and healthy transportation options residents and visitors deserve, our city needs every elected official to stand behind these four common-sense priorities:

 1.) Data-Driven Enforcement Eliminates Traffic Deaths.
Civic leaders must embrace Vision Zero — the goal of eliminating all traffic deaths and severe injuries by 2024 — and support enforcement against illegal and dangerous traffic behaviors. Traffic law enforcement resources must be focused on the behaviours most likely to kill and injure people on our streets: speeding, failing to yield, and running red lights and stop signs. Civic leaders also need to ensure that reckless, lawbreaking drivers are held accountable for killing and maiming people walking and biking.

2.) Protect People Biking and Walking on High-Injury Corridors.
To ensure that everyone can use San Francisco’s streets comfortably and safely, civic leaders must expand and promptly implement safety improvements for people who bike and walk, particularly along identified High-Injury Corridors. San Francisco requires no less than 15 miles of protected bike lanes annually for the next three years, particularly along these dangerous roads.

3.) As Biking Increases, So Should Funding for Safety and Capacity Improvements.
To ensure that our city’s infrastructure keeps up with the increase in biking and walking, civic leaders must address our long-term transportation funding gap and support ballot measures like the 2016 Vehicle License Fee increase.

4.) Expand Bike Share Without Delay.
To give people who live and work in San Francisco healthier, more accessible transportation options, civic leaders must support the planned Bike Share expansion and advocate for policies and funding to ensure that it is implemented within two years. Bike Share expansion is an extremely cost-effective means to improve transportation access in our City and should be accessible to all San Franciscans, regardless of their incomes or neighborhoods.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is committed to helping solve our city’s transportation and affordability challenges, and making San Francisco a better place to live, work and raise a family. This policy platform is based on our 2012-2017 Strategic Plan, which was developed with robust input from our active membership throughout the city. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition encourages candidates to support our platform to build a better San Francisco for everyone.