I’m in San Francisco on business today and an article in yesterday’s USA Today (“Big Cities Try to Ease Way for Bicyclists” by Charisse Jones) noted that mayor Gavin Newsom wants at least 10% of all trips in the city with within three years to be made by bicycle. Other than its infamously calf-busting hills, I can’t imagine there are too many other major American cities as friendly to bicyclists as San Francisco.
Dedicated bike lanes and racks appear everywhere (city buses even have front-mounted racks for bikes) and bicyclists themselves are such a fixture that vehicular traffic actually seems to expect and respect the riders, as opposed to New York City, where cyclists are treated by motorists like large annoying insects.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is even voting next month on a contract to create a bike-share program similar to ones popular in European cities. A bit behind the times, NYC’s most recent bike advancement is a vague pledge to add 200 miles of bike lanes by 2010 as well as the creation of a special bike lane, between the sidewalk and parked-car lane on a stretch of Ninth Avenue, that will make it much more of a challenge for cars to sideswipe cyclists but just as fun for the latter to get doored.