Date of Award

Spring 4-2010

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Abstract

The myth that bicycling in San Francisco is only for recreation and for courier messengers is long gone. With all the health, cost savings and environmental benefits it brings, and with the city's temperate year-round climate and relatively small radius, bicycling in San Francisco has never been so popular. Making bicycling as a safe and viable alternative to automobile transportation by providing bicycle facilities has become one of the higher priorities for transportation improvements in the city for over a decade. Proposing bicycle lanes in San Francisco presents a great challenge to city planners and engineers. The streets are already built out, the traffic lanes are congested and parking is scarce. There is a competition for street space between pedestrians, bicycles, buses, automobiles and taxis and there is no room to paint bicycle lanes for the majority of the city streets without removing either parking or travel lane or even both. This is especially true for the dense South of Market Area (SOMA) in the city. It is where bicycling is most prominent, yet lacks bicycle facilities to be considered as having a comprehensive bicycle route network. Implementing bicycle facilities in expense of parking and travel lane removal has become a controversial issue to stakeholders and has been known to make or break a political career at City Hall.

"Research is a systematic process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information (data) in order to increase our understanding of the phenomenon about which we are interested or concerned" (Leedy & Ormrod, p. 2). This research proposal considers the feasibility of implementing bicycle lanes on Mission Street between The Embarcadero and South Van Ness Avenue in the SOMA. It takes into account the socio-economic impacts of adding bicycle lanes in the central business district of Mission Street in addition to the traffic safety improvement for all modes of transportation, and the health and environmental benefits of replacing automobile trips with bicycle trips. In conducting interviews with bicyclists, pedestrians, merchants and transit operators on Mission Street, this study provides quantitative and qualitative data from a random representation of the population on Mission Street. This data can be used by decision makers so that they can make informed decision towards implementing bicycle lanes in the SOMA and potentially other neighborhoods in the city faced with similar considerations.

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