Welcome Dockless Bikeshare Riders!

Hi! It’s Bike San Diego.  We’re the friendly local advocacy group fighting for safe streets to bicycle on – whether you’re going to work, school, the gym, or the park.  If you haven’t bicycled around the neighborhoods of San Diego in the past we’d like to welcome you the the fun and enjoyment that is riding a bike.  Congrats on taking the first step!  You’ve made a wise choice and one that is great for the environment, your health, building community, and driving our regional economy.  That’s the good news.

The bad news, as you may have already noticed, is that San Diego has very little support for people looking to bicycle – including in our most “walkable” neighborhoods.  Take a ride through North Park, or Pacific Beach, Little Italy, La Jolla, or pretty much any community.  Notice any bike lanes? Probably not.  You may find some sharrows but likely won’t find any sort of accommodation for safely and comfortably biking in our city.  High speed roads, speeding drivers, and a lack of dedicated bicycle lanes can make it intimidating to bicycle here, even for short trips.

But fear not! There is a large (and growing) community of people that support better bicycle infrastructure here and want to see more people reaping the benefits of biking.  This community is called Bike San Diego – BikeSD for short – and we’d like to welcome you with open arms to join us.  You can join our email list.  You can become a member and support us financially to continue our work.  You can attend a quarterly member meet-up and connect in-person with other San Diegans passionate about a healthier, happier city.  Heck – go for the bonus round and do all three!

As anyone who has spent time on our roadways in the past month, you’ve probably noticed a large increase in the number of bicyclists on our roads.  As three new dockless bikeshare companies have commenced operations in the City of San Diego (LimeBike, Mobike and Ofo), many thousands of new riders have embraced the bicycle as a fun and efficient mode of transportation.  LimeBike reported 55,000+ rides in just the first two weeks of operation.  While local media has focused on the learning curve for users and bikeshare companies, we think more attention should be paid to the tremendous increase in bicyclists on our roadways – and how to accommodate them safely.

This surge in riders has given the City of San Diego an incredible opportunity to reach its ambitious Climate Action Plan bicycle mode share goals.  The best way to do that is through a network of safe, connected bike lane infrastructure for bicyclists of all abilities.  Yet the City has recently announced a multi-year delay to the Downtown Mobility Plan, suggested slashing funding for bicycle improvements, and admitted that there is little support for bike projects among city staffers (this has been quite apparent among the city’s traffic engineers).  Like any new bicyclist, these bikeshare riders are likely encountering unsafe conditions, which can result in them opting for the Uber/Lyft app instead of the Limebike/Ofo/MoBike apps.  Let’s not squander this opportunity.

Welcome Dockless Bikeshare Riders and join BikeSD in the fight for safe streets.  Enjoy riding in San Diego and help make it more approachable, safer, and comfortable now and for the future.