Man, just 10 seconds of that video is all it takes to send me into a panic fit.  Let's hope the city moves forward with SF Bike Coalition's Connecting the City project soon, because their plan seems far more sensible than the mess we have now.

BART's rush hour(s) bike blackouts remain one of the most annoying obstacles for any cyclist trying to get to Oakland (excluding The Bay itself, I guess).  And after two fairly successful pilot periods of lifting the blackouts—the latest trial showing 77% of BART riders support allowing bikes on BART at all time—many in the cycling community had hoped the BART Board of Directors would vote last night to end the ban permanently.

Instead, the BART Board has remained squeamish about allowing bikes, fearing they might scuff some pants or their owner's will be rude and inconsiderate or something.  So the Board has authorized a third, five month trial period beginning in July.  If bikers obey the following rules without significant incident, BART will then look towards ending the no-bikes rule outright:

Starting July 1, bikes will be allowed on trains, but during peak commute hours (7 am to 9 am and 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm) bikes are not allowed to board the first three cars of any train to provide options for those who want to avoid bikes altogether.

Other safety rules relating to bikes will still apply such as: no bikes are ever allowed in the first train car at any time, bikes are never allowed on crowded trains, bicyclists must yield priority seating to seniors and those with disabilities, bikes are not to block doorways or aisles and are not allowed on escalators.

Sensible stuff.  And we're sure cyclists won't suddenly start mowing over grannies to board trains (that's only something we do while debarking from the Google Bus, thank you very much), we're confident this will go well.

[Photo by On Transit]

Why carelessly park your car in the bike lane when you can simply lay down over the curb and brush your hair?

Proving that San Francisco still fetishizes the throwback stylings of Geocities-era hit counters, the city is installing a real-time bike counter right on Market Street.  From the SF Bike Coalition's press release:

More people are biking in San Francisco than ever. Just how many more? We’ll soon know — on a daily basis. Today, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors publicly announced that San Francisco will receive its first automated real-time bike counter, to be installed on Market Street.

The new automated bike counter, also known as a bicycle barometer, will be installed on the sidewalk on the south side of Market Street between 9th and 10th Streets and record all bikes heading eastbound. Counts are visibly displayed, showing daily and annual compilations.

“The bike counter will underscore the huge and growing number of people biking on our city’s main corridor,” said Leah Shahum, the SF Bicycle Coalition’s Executive Director, who helped find sponsorship for this project. “Market Street is already one of the busiest bicycling streets in the country with very little dedicated bike space. It will be exciting to track further growth as we focus on improvements to Market Street to boost access to jobs and a stronger economic vibrancy in San Francisco.”

While it's not totally clear how this will underscore the city's cycling boom—since the signage is bit too small to be seen by cranky motorists, which are the real problem—everyone does love stats and gadgets.  And when this is installed in early May for a Bike To Work Day transparent statistic celebration, fellow cyclists will be able to drop our jaws at just how many people ride their bikes on warm days.

All this needs is a prosthetic hand to high-five as we ride past.

[SF Bike]