What could the Bay to Beach route look like?
Feeling Safe and Comfortable Biking
Growing numbers of people, like this Richmond District family, are using bicycles to get around the city. However, like many people, they want to feel confident that their children will be safe biking on San Francisco Streets. In the not too distant future, this family and many others will feel safe and comfortable biking thanks to Connecting the City’s bikeways.
Freedom for the Kids
Chiara, age six, and Luca, age four, love biking to get to and from the library, school, the doctor and dance classes and that makes Stephanie’s daily life easier too. Like so many stay-at-home parents, each day is full of activities and she’s found that days are simpler and more fun when she and kids can use bicycles to get to and from the places they need to go.
Door-to-Door Biking Access
Stephanie is much more comfortable now that her husband is able to commute downtown on the Bay to Beach bikeway which provides safe, door-to-door biking access to his job and a lot of the places they love to go. A couple of days a week Joe and Luca bike to school together via the JFK Drive bikeway. This protected bikeway gives Luca the freedom to experience the joy of biking and he loves greeting passing commuters by dinging his bike bell, and Joe is able to ride worry-free alongside. After Joe drops Luca off, he reconnects with the comfortable bikeway on Oak Street, which is physically separated from moving vehicle traffic with a buffer of parked cars, and joins a large group of commuters all headed downtown. He continues on the traffic-calmed streets of the lower Haight and Duboce Triangle neighborhoods and seamlessly connects with Market Street’s bikeway, where smooth, reliable Muni service runs alongside. Joe checks his bike into a bike parking station in the mid-Market area, grabs a coffee and walks the final few blocks to his Financial District office and is on time for another work day.
Taking Advantage of City Life
On the weekends, the family takes advantage of a rich city life and access to places like the Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, the DeYoung Museum and playgrounds. Biking to the playground in Golden Gate Park, Stephanie feels at ease knowing her family is protected in the buffered bikeway on JFK Drive. The line of parked cars between her kids and faster moving traffic gives her the confidence that everyone is safe. And their joy in biking as a family is contagious. Using their bikes to live and shop in the city is affordable and being able to bike side-by-side with the kids means mom and dad have more time with them — and the kids love it too.
