Eight bicycles fill this bicycle corral using space which would otherwise accommodate one motor vehicle. Photo credit: San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
San Francisco is undoubtedly setting the bar high for fellow Bay Area cities looking to become more bike friendly, spearheading innovative infrastructure treatment like painting bike lanes green and creating protected bike lanes. However, the city has also been moving ahead with a more subtle change to embrace cycling– since San Francisco started implementing it’s Bike Plan in mid-2010 the city has converted 30 curbside car parking spaces into over 300 bike parking spaces!
336 bike parking spaces to be precise, according to SF Streetsblog who originally covered this impressive milestone. In a city as densely packed as San Francisco, this move maximizes efficiency of existing space and provides more parking near local businesses. As bicycling continues to grow in the Bay Area, perhaps more cities will turn to on-street bike parking as an inexpensive and effective solution to meet parking demand.
