SF Has Turned 30 Car Parking Spots Into 336 Bike Parking Spots

Bike corrals are popping up so quickly around San Francisco, who can keep track anymore?

The SF Municipal Transportation Agency has installed 27 corrals since it started rolling them out in 2010, adding 168 bike racks without taking up any sidewalk space. That means 30 on-street spaces normally reserved for one parked car each can now accommodate 336 bikes.

One of the newest corrals, added at 18th and Guerrero Streets in the Mission, freed up some space on a heavily crowded sidewalk. Between the scores of people walking to Dolores Park, patrons eating and waiting for tables at jumping restaurants, and bikes locked to every rack and pole available, the corner was regularly filled to the brim on weekends.

The new corral added 12 bike parking spaces off the curb in front of Pizzeria Delfina, replacing one former car parking space. Andres Burgos, a chef at Delfina who bikes to work, said that by taking bikes off the sidewalk, the corral has made a lot more room for people while helping to meet the high demand for nearby bike parking.

“Most of my co-workers, the first day it got put in, everyone was ecstatic,” said Burgos. “We filled it up the first day. Everyone just went straight for the corral.”

The SFMTA also recently installed a corral with 22 spaces in front of Zeitgeist, a bar on the corner of Valencia Street and Duboce Avenue. A smaller corral was previously installed on the Valencia side of the corner, but it was often filled beyond capacity, and it was removed after a driver damaged some of the racks. The new corral was placed on the Duboce side, where it has the added advantage of making it easier for drivers to see pedestrians crossing the street.

SF’s first five bike corrals were installed along Valencia in 2010 in former bus stops after Muni cancelled the 26-Valencia line. Since then, the SFMTA has installed corrals by request from businesses. Each location is surveyed for suitability and must be approved at a public hearing.

San Francisco isn’t the nation’s leader in bike corrals, however. Portland, Oregon has 85.

The SFMTA’s current application period for bike corrals ends on July 15. An agency report [PDF] says corral applications submitted within that time will be reviewed from July to September, then installed between October and December. The SFMTA has also installed 161 sidewalk bike racks this year.

A full list of bike corral locations, as well as sites being surveyed for new corrals, is available on the SFMTA website.

Note: The number of car spaces was corrected from 27 to 30 because some corrals occupy multiple spaces.