The routine with a stethoscope at the doctor’s office is simple, but important. “Take a deep breath,” the doctor says. “Now hold it.”
That’s good practice for humans and good for cities. San Francisco just took a very deep breath — it banned private cars on the downtown portion of Market Street for the first time since Market became the city’s main drag 147 years ago.
Now only buses, streetcars, delivery trucks and taxis can travel on Market east of 10th Street. It’s not just private cars that are banned. Lyft and Uber drivers are banned, too. This is serious, folks. Anyone who drives on the car-free section of the street can get a ticket. The fine: $327.
Market Street is a big deal in San Francisco, always has been. All of the city’s major events happen on Market. The best parades, the biggest demonstrations, the most fierce riots. Presidents, premiers and heroes have ridden up Market Street in triumph. If the 49ers win the Super Bowl, the victory parade most surely will be on Market.
So banning cars on Market Street is a big deal, too. It is supposed to make transit run faster and is most of all a victory for bicycle riders, who have campaigned for years to ban cars on the street. It was “something we’re often told we’ll NEVER see in North America,” Brent Toderian wrote in a tweet.
“Today marks the start of a new era,” Brian Wiedenmier. executive director of the Bicycle Coalition, said Wednesday.
But there may be less to a car-free Market Street than meets the eye. Private car drivers have avoided Market for years; it was too crowded, too many buses, too many bikes, pedestrians jaywalking, no room for anybody else. Only a dope drove on Market Street.
But now, the car-free advocates have taken aim at another street — Valencia Street, which links the Mission District to downtown and the rest of the city. And now, maybe, it’s time for a pause. It’s time to hold our breath.
Last week, Malcolm Heinicke,chair of the powerful Municipal Transportation Agency, which runs everything from Muni to parking garages and streets, described his vision of the new era. “I’m not very patient here,” he said. “I want the next one ... one street cries out to me, and that’s Valencia Street.”
Valencia Street? Holy bike lane! Valencia is one of San Francisco’s most interesting streets. It’s vibrant, it’s lined with restaurants and shops. It has an Irish pub and a funeral home and 826 Valencia, an incubator for the Bay Area’s writing scene. Valencia has also been a major street for bike riders, with long battles to get protected bike lanes. One city estimate says that 20% of workers in the Mission District commute to work by bike. And that means Valencia. Mission Street has too many buses, and parallel streets like Guerrero and Dolores are too steep.
But what would banning cars do for Valencia Street? Jonah Buffa, vice president of the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association, said it would be “devastating for our business.” He runs a high-end barbershop, and a lot of his customers come by car, or Lyft or Uber. There is no public transit on Valencia.
Other car-free advocates have their eyes on banning cars on the Embarcadero and in Golden Gate Park.
And why not? Aren’t cars the enemy? Why not just ride bikes or take Muni?
I’m a California guy, have a car myself, but I drive sparingly. I take Muni nearly every day, and I see for myself what it’s like. It’s crowded. It’s slow. You share the bus with an occasional dog, or a baby stroller the size of a small car. There are times when I need to use my car, to run an errand or to go to the grocery store.
Sometimes, like a lot of other people, I have to go out of town, and like a good public citizen, I try to take transit. In the past two weeks, I made three trips to Marin County; two by public transit, one by car. The transit trips took twice as long.
You have to hand it to the bike advocates. Though only 4% to 5% of all trips to work in San Francisco are made by bicycle, groups like the Bicycle Coalition have been extremely effective in making their case. They are organized and get results, as you can see for yourself, on Market Street and soon a major street near you.
So what’s the solution? Should we close off streets like Valencia, or the Embarcadero, eliminate parking and declare war on private cars?
I think we should wait and see how Market Street works out and then slowly and carefully work out a plan so that private cars, bikes and scooters can share the streets, which, after all, belong to all the people.
Carl Nolte’s column appears Sundays. Email: cnolte@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @carlnoltesf
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Banning cars on SF’s Market Street changes little. But Valencia Street is a different story - San Francisco Chronicle
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