Bike-To-Work Day Draws Thousands Of Bay Area Commuters Out Of Cars
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - Thousands of people around the Bay Area have taken to bicycles Thursday to celebrate Bike to Work Day, with cities in the region helping to promote bicycling with pancake breakfasts and other events.
Oakland was hosting a pancake breakfast outside of City Hall Thursday morning, with a free bike valet, bike fixing and diagnostics, and other giveaways available.
Berkeley was among the cities that had energizer stations in multiple locations to provide giveaways and informational resources about bicycling.
San Francisco did as well, and Mayor London Breed announced at a news conference Thursday morning that the city plans to double its pace in creating bike lanes and will create 20 miles of new protected bike lanes over the next two years.
Breed, who rode with bicycle advocates and community members to City Hall from the Mission District, has also asked the city's Municipal Transportation Agency to increase citations related to blocked bike lanes by at least 10 percent in the next six months.
"While we work to create the bike infrastructure we need, we also need to make sure that we're keeping cars and trucks out of the bike lane so that bicyclists are not forced into traffic," she said in a news release.
Breed wasn't the only Bay Area mayor to take to the streets for Bike to Work Day.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, who fractured vertebrae and his sternum when a vehicle hit him as he rode his bike on New Year's Day, was back on his bike Thursday morning.
Liccardo wrote on Twitter, "Thrilled to be back on my bike, and just in time for .BikeToWorkDay!"
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