SF Bicycle Coalition, lawmaker call for 2,000 new bike racks this year

Outside of Maxfield’s House of Caffeine, one of San Francisco’s few remaining cafes that hasn’t fallen victim to subway tiles and kouign amanns, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, along with Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, pressed the city Wednesday to install more bike racks. Specifically, they would like to see roughly 2,000 new racks installed by year’s end.

According to the cycling advocacy group, there are thousands on bike racks sitting in SFMTA’s warehouses, which could be used around the city to provide spots for people to park their bicycles or scooters.

Without proper spots to dock one’s Miyata or Public Bike, cyclists are forced to lock their two-wheelers to parking meters, street signs, or posts.

Brian Wiedenmeier, executive director of the SF Bicycle Coalition, says, “The scarcity of bicycle racks is becoming a citywide transportation issue, especially as more shared transportation options become available. Today, we’re pushing for a systemic change to get more racks in the ground.”

The issue with installing new bike racks is similar to the one affecting San Francisco’s glacial housing growth: bureaucracy.

“It’s not rocket science—you drill eight holes and bolt the thing in,” notes Charles Deffarges, senior community organizer at the SF Bicycle Coalition.

And with that, the coalition is asking people who want racks installed in the city to identify places that need them and fill out SFMTA’s “request a bike rack” form.

SFMTA has yet to make a formal response to the coalition or Mandelman’s request.