Sorry, Portland! San Francisco Tops the List of 10 Most Bike-Friendly Cities in the U.S.

November 23, 2013 at 12:48 pm

That’s a bit of surprise.. One would expect a city like Portland to top this list..Nonetheless, it is good to see the number of cities expanding their biking infrastructure.

San Francisco is the most bike-friendly city in the United States. With 5.6 miles of dedicated bike lanes, multiuse bike paths and signed bike routes per square mile (263 miles in total), the Californian metropolis offers the best biking infrastructure in the country. most-bike-friendly-cities-in-the-us

You will find more statistics at Statista

Job Alert: Community Organizer – San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

August 7, 2013 at 7:11 pm

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is seeking a seasoned, effective organizer to work on expanding bicycling and bicycling infrastructure in San Francisco. If you are passionate about bicycling, and passionate about increasing the diversity of bicycling, this is your chance to help improve the lives of huge numbers of San Franciscans.

  • Hours: Full time. Hours may be flexible. Position will entail some work on weeknights and weekends, in order to attend community meetings and events.
  • Reports to: Deputy Director

You will work with all parts of the organization, members and volunteers to develop and win support for key bicycling infrastructure improvements (bikeways, neighborhood greenways, spot improvements, paving, etc). This work will entail working closely with community groups, businesses and elected officials to develop grassroots and grasstops support for new and improved biking infrastructure. You will also be responsible for helping create and support member-led campaigns.

JOB COMPONENTS

You should be comfortable with street-level organizing as well as grasstops outreach. Responsibilities may include, but will not be limited to:

  • Campaign strategy and outreach for campaigns to build more, better bikeways throughout the city in line with our Connecting the City initiative.
  • Organizing on the street and other forms of grassroots outreach.
  • Developing and supporting member-led campaigns.
  • Working with city agencies and elected officials to advance campaigns.
  • Connect with new and deepen existing relationships with community partners.
  • Representing the organization at public meetings and community meetings.
  • Communicating two-way with members about our work at all steps in the campaign process.
  • Hiring and managing a team of diverse interns.

QUALIFICATIONS

  • Deep commitment to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition mission.
  • Fluency in a Chinese language or Spanish strongly encouraged.
  • At least two years of experience as an organizer.
  • Strong interpersonal and relational skills.
  • Ability to take initiative and lead advocacy efforts within the organization.
  • Demonstrated track record of successful project planning, management, base-building and strategy implementation.
  • Ability to work individually and as part of a team.
  • Excellent communicator with a wide variety of types of audiences.
  • Experience sourcing and managing a diverse cohort of interns and volunteers.
  • Desire and ability to implement systems that will allow your work to scale quickly and significantly to be able to reach more people.

SALARY AND BENEFITS

Salary is to be determined, depending upon experience. This package includes strong benefits.

HOW TO APPLY

Send a compelling cover letter and resume to Kit Hodge, Deputy Director, at kit [at] sfbike DOT org. Please include “Community Organizer Candidate, YOUR NAME” in the subject line, and be sure to mention where you saw the job advertised. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled. People of color and women are strongly encouraged to apply.

San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, age, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political orientation.

http://www.sfbike.org/?jobs_comm

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A Storify Story: BART fire smokes commute between East Bay, S.F.

June 15, 2012 at 2:59 pm

Here is a storify post by George Kelley about the recent fire on San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) that stranded commuters and the reactions on twitter.

Live in SFO? Own a Bike too? This might be just for you – Classes help make own bicycle repairs

August 25, 2010 at 6:34 pm

It is always good to learn these things because you never know when and where you will be stuck.. Oh, and it saves a bag load of cash too.

Amplify’d from www.sfgate.com
If you’ve ever paid to have your bicycle serviced or repaired, you know a bicycle is worth more than the sum of its parts. Over the eight years I had my last bicycle, I probably paid for it three times over in tune-ups, tires and, most recently, a new drive train and other service that set me back significantly, even after my discount for being a member of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

If you have ever felt inadequate when taking your bike in for repairs, you are not alone. Fortunately, San Francisco has a wealth of resources for people looking to learn bicycle maintenance skills. Between sporting goods stores and your neighborhood bike shop, it’s easy to find classes and seminars that fit your schedule – for free or on the cheap – including:

This nonprofit storefront provides employment and job training for at-risk youth and offers free in-store clinics – including a lecture and demonstration – geared to the experience and needs of the participants. Clinics cover basic topics such as flat repair, bike maintenance, bearing adjustment and wheel repair. 3085 21st St. (415) 641-1264, www.pedalrevolution.org.

The Bike Kitchen is a do-it-yourself bicycle resource run by volunteers. On the second and fourth Fridays each month from 6-9 p.m., the group offers classes for “women, trans/gender queer folks, femmes, or anybody else that has had gender be a barrier to learning mechanics.” No one is turned away. The Bike Kitchen also has basic and advanced classes for nominal fees. 650H Florida St., (415) 647-2453, www.bikekitchen.org.

Read more at www.sfgate.com

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How expensive is your parking karma – San Francisco Rolls Out Supply-and-Demand Pricing for Parking Meters

August 11, 2010 at 2:01 pm

Gone are the ancient days of stodgy parking meters that ate coins and often malfunctioned. These days parking meters are getting some hi-tech love from Transportation Managers around many U.S.cities.

Apart from San Francisco, many U.S. cities are currently testing and trying out new methods to allow people to find and pay for parking. One among them is Washington, DC, which is now testing out a pilot program that allows for paying for parking via cellphones.

If that is not enough, hi-tech companies like Google are helping people land some good parking karma. Google’s Open Spot application for its Android-powered phones (running OS version 2.0 or higher) lets you know where people are leaving their parking spots.

At the end of the day, the general public should be feeling happy to know there have some help on the way to locate and pay for the much-vaunted parking spots in the busy downtown neighborhoods.

Amplify’d from www.good.is

To reduce congestion, San Francisco is aiming to have one spot open at all times on every block. Here’s how the plan works: A network of wireless sensors lets the city keep track of which parking spots are empty. If a particular block never has available spots, the city raises the meter rates until it does. In places where parking is plentiful, rates fall. As an added bonus, this information-age system lets residents check the rates and availability of parking online before deciding to drive.

The system is expected to increase revenue from parking meters, but decrease revenue from traffic tickets. How this will balance out for the city budget is unclear. Also unclear: Just how high the prices will go. Will there be $10 per hour parking?

Read more at www.good.is

 

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s (Muni) chief operating officer steps down

August 4, 2009 at 4:44 pm

(Source: SF Gate)

Image Courtesy: Apture

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s chief operating officer handed in his resignation today, an announcement that comes in the wake of two high-profile accidents involving city streetcars.

Kenneth McDonald said he will give up his post effective Oct. 9.

“I promised when I came here that I would give three years,” McDonald told The Chronicle. He said Oct. 9 is his three-year anniversary with the agency.

McDonald said he is proud of his accomplishments and those of his operations team during his tenure, citing improvements in on-time performance, vehicle availability, safety and training. The number of missed runs is down and discipline for problem operators has been toughened.

“We have done an excellent job in improving operations,” he said.

McDonald would not say whether the recent accidents, in particular a collision between two Metro trains at the West Portal Station July 18 in which nearly 50 people were injured, played into his decision to leave.

The resignation was in the works prior Monday evening’s crash in the Castro District that involved two historic streetcars and an SVU, according to several city officials.

Nathaniel Ford, Muni’s executive director, praised McDonald and downplayed any suggestion that his top operations manager was being forced out. Ford steered clear of laying blame on McDonald for the recent collisions, or two others last year involving rail vehicles that sent several people to the hospital.

In the July 18 incident, local, state and federal investigators are looking at why the operator of the Metro streetcar that slammed into another one turned off the automatic train control system prior to the collision, an apparent violation of Muni policy. The driver told investigators he blacked out before the crash.

In Monday night’s incident, it appears that another Muni rule was violated when a historic streetcar collided with an SUV, which then plowed into another historic streetcar on the F-line. Muni policy calls for streetcars to travel at least 250 feet apart. The crash near Market and Noe streets injured six people, none seriously, officials said.

Click here to read the entire article.

Pranksters Install Swings on BART Public Transit System in San Francisco

May 6, 2009 at 2:42 pm

(Source: Laughing Squid via TransitFan@Twitter)

swings on BART

photo by Audrey Penven

Some brilliant pranksters installed beautiful swings on BART last night. What apparently happened, according to witnesses, was a team of six or so people hopped on to a north-bound train from 24th Street station in San Francisco around 8:30 p.m. last night, installed three matching red swings, and then exited at 16th Street leaving their swings behind for public consumption.Luckily, photos were taken to record the event.

BART Swings

photo by Neiltron

Note: TransportGooru, though amused by this prank, is definitely happy for the BART riders who had a little more “fun” on their trip, courstey of these pranksters.  Now wishing for some of these folks to show up here in DC’s Metro system, which sorely lacks any form of entertainment (inside and outside).   Commuting by metro in DC, though tranquil, lacks the fun element, except when some frustrated passengers get into fist fights.

Pedestrian Malls: Back to the Future

March 3, 2009 at 7:32 pm

(Source: Room for Debate, a New York Times blog)

New York City

(Photo: Librado Romero/The New York Times) In Times Square, pedestrians often find themselves maneuvering among cars blocking the intersections.

The pedestrian mall, the urban planner’s failed attempt to revitalize Main Streets during the 1960s and 70s, is back!

This week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that cars would be barred from several blocks of Broadway, including Herald Square and Times Square. He said the changes would relieve traffic congestion and crowded sidewalks – far different problems from what spawned the pedestrian malls of the 70s. And it’s not just New York that’s rethinking this old idea. San Francisco is considering restrictions on private cars on Market Street, the city’s main artery.

When do these car-free zones succeed? And why have they left streets deserted and unappealing in the past?

Click here to read more.