San Francisco in Essence

Well, I don't feel that there is a necessity for a quote in this blog post, but I feel that i can rant on about my feelings towards what I feel they are describing in this article. Though, the article seems to be a very much Pro-San Francisco text, it brings up good points and ideas for other cities to latch on to and grow from.

Momentum is the magazine/internet source i got this from and they talk about all of the activism, events, community, and culture that surrounds the Bay area and its inhabitants that bike. They say of the 800,000 people living in the city that 120,000 of them say they ride a bike, and roughly 5% of them claim it being their primary mode of transportation. So that means at least 40,000 people ride a bike through the cities streets a day. The text also talks of how the city is and has always been a cultural hotbed ever since the 1950s and 60s when the beatniks and hippies arrived. They continue to say that since 1970, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC), became an advocacy group for bikers everywhere. They've fought for bike lanes and easier access to cross-transit for bikers, meaning that they got the city to allow bikes on their trains and regional transit systems, buses, and forced the city to create new infrastructure for bikers only.

The article is pretty upfront about its point though, it really seems that they want every city to be like San Francisco, and from what i've heard about it, I can't blame them it seems like an awesome place, but i digress. Cities and communities of bikers should learn from this city and understand that it takes a long time for cities to respond to demands for people that don't invest their money in vehicular transportation, but people still need to push on and fight for their rights to share the roads with cars, trucks, and buses. People must fight for a safe coexistence of bikers, pedestrians, and vehicular traffic. Bike Lanes are a must for safety (cough...cough...RICHMOND, VA). With a surging populous of people putting their car keys down and dusting off their old bikes and pedaling to work, cities must respond to the growing concerns of ecological disaster. The mayor's of any city must realize that being a vehicle centric society is causing our cities to become ugly, muggy, and full of pollution and traffic. If they realize that they can clean up their city by making biking and its infrastructure a priority, then in turn the city will clean up its act.

I don't think people realize the true beauty of the places they live, weather it's in a big metropolis, a college town, a rural village, or anything in between, until they bike through it on a warm sunny day.


Steele, Kristen. "San Francisco | Momentum - The Magazine For Self Propelled People!" Momentum - The Magazine For Self Propelled People! 1 Nov. 2008. Web. .