BICYCLE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Monday February 23, 2015
6:30 p.m.
City Hall, Room 408
Regular Meeting
MINUTES

1. Roll Call – Determination of Quorum

● Present: District 1- Kevin Dole (secretary), District 3 - Marc Brandt (7:03 arrival),

District 4 - Edward Nicholson, District 5 - Morgan Fitzgibbons, District 6 - Richard May,

District 7 - Bert Hill (Chair), District 11 - Casey dos SantosAllen

● Absent: District 2 - Winston Parsons, District 8 - Timothy Doherty

The meeting was called to order at 6:41 PM.

2. Announcements & Acknowledgments

● Chair: There are vacancies on the Committee for D9 & D10

● After four years of daily cycle commuting, Dole was “doored” for the first time heading eastbound on 14th St at Duboce.

3. Approve Minutes - January 26, 2015 BAC Meeting

● Motion: Fitzgibbons

● Second: dos SantosAllen

4. Public Comment : (Discussion Item)

● Lisa Dougherty, Outer Sunset: SF resident for 25 years, cyclist for 10. Works at Battery & Vallejo, commute takes through Broadway Tunnel. Safety improvements needed in tunnel. Motorists regularly speed and run red lights. Suggested the following

improvements:

○ sharrows in tunnel to “validate the fact cyclists are allowed to use the roadway.”

○ Repair the “Bikes in Tunnel” sign which doesn’t always flash.

○ A bicycle traffic signal with a 15-30 second “jump” on the westbound side

○ Widen the elevated pathway which has 14 inches of extra space

● Chair introduced Doherty to Brandt, whose district includes the tunnel

● Ben Jose, SFMTA: Post2011, tunnel speed limit was reduced from 40 mph to 35 mph and a magnetic loop counter was installed. Sharrows considered in the eastbound lane and the plan remains on file at SFMTA. Project could be reintroduced under Vision Zero.

● Chair requested he be CCs on any emails. Suggested a 311 request.

● Nicholson: Committee has discussed issues in the tunnel before before, but stopped considering it for improvements after the flashing sign was installed. Glad to see it revisited.

● dos SantosAllen invited Dougherty to address the Committee in the future on the subject

5. Committee Member Reports (Information)

● Chairman's Report: the Junipero Serra side road access is a used by SF State students and is a much safer alternative to the official bike route. The last block should have a contraflow lane installed to fully connect the route.

● Committee Member Reports:

○ Fitzgibbons: Recent NOPA Neighborhood Association Newsletter called for separated bikeways alongside the Panhandle. Hopes this has been brought to SFMTA attention and calls for quicker action.

○ Nicholson attended a D4 survey ride with former Committee member Andy Thornley.

■ The group witnessed a near accident at 34th & Lincoln where there is a crosswalk but no signal or stop sign.

■ At 20th Ave & Lincoln the Southbound path is narrow and crowded by shrubbery which needs to be removed.

■ 20th & Taraval needs traffic calming. 20th is 6 ft wider than other avenues with room for a bike lane.

○ Brandt: the facility managers for school on Masonic expressed interest in ebike rental for their employees,

6. Governmental Reports

a. MTA Bicycle Program Report

Ben Jose, SFMTA, Livable Streets:

● SFMTA is on target to complete a large vehicle training program by the end of April. The Chair has been involved in the production of this 25 min video.

● No answer to how much parking would be lost if every intersection in the city were daylighted, but can definitively state that there are 18,500 intersections.

● Division/13th Street Safety Project emerged from 2014 Spot Improvement Workshop.

( http://www.sfmta.com/projectsplanning/projects/division13thstreetsafetyp...)

● Embarcadero Enhancement Project only has funding for conceptual design phase, further funds need to be identified for implementation ( http://www.sfmta.com/embarcadero )

● Howard Street Buffered Bikeway Project

○ May: There are at least 3 construction projects in the bike lane between 6th St and 10th St. When complete?

■ Jose: March 6

b. BART Bicycle Advisory Task Force

● Dr. Shirley Johnson:

○ BART threatened with lawsuit by disability community over accessibility on new cars. Conflict over placement of center pole. BBATF requests BAC ask support for resolution.

■ May: What are issues with pole?

■ Shirley: seeing eye dogs don’t acknowledge pole, wheelchairs have difficulty navigating around them. Positive side, short and elderly people like pole for support.

○ BBATF request bike rack in seat space. Some BART directors concerned about seat loss: new carts have less seats in general.

c. Report on PSAC Joint Initiatives

● Morgan Fitzgibbons:

○ Fitzgibbons has been invited to a D6 pedestrian safety group that is interested in establishing connections outside the district.

○ MUNI Forward presented to PSAC on “complete streets” improvements to Haight St. fitzgibbons will try to get Sean Kennedy to address the Committee.

d. SFPD Report on Safety and Security Issues

No Report

e. 311 Subcommittee Report – Subcommittee Organization and Actions

● Dole questioned the continued need for the Subcommittee as the volume of 311 requests from Committee members is low. The Subcommittee members agree on a report on the relative effectiveness of the 311 tool and related Subcommittee along with recommendations to 311 and SFMTA. The report will be prepared by the Subcommittee Chair and presented for review at the 3/18/15 Subcommittee meeting before being presented to the Committee of the Whole.

● Dole presented preliminary findings that will go into the report. The Committee has submitted 29 requests total, 18 of which have been “closed.” Of these 18, 50% were incomplete at the time of the meeting. 33% were verified complete, with the remaining 17% unverified.

● Dole requested updates of work on requests as it it happened prior to their being closed.

● Nicholson discussed how poor communication results in diminished use of the system.

● The Chair requested more info on what “closing” a request means. The submitter should get input on the definition of closure as relates to the request.

● Fitzgibbons: The 311 Subcommittee was an experiment. It was good for some things. The final report will include a formal list of suggestions to refine the system. The Subcommittee has concluded that 311 is inappropriate for major projects and will propose alternatives, specifically a semiannual Spot Improvement workshop.

● Nicholson requested an “in process” tag since some items labeled as closed are in process.

● dos SantosAllen: system seems good for small projects but the Committee needs a different mechanism for projects like the Broadway Tunnel. Thanked the Subcommittee for their work and requested a regular Spot Improvement meeting be held during a Committee meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENT

● Hasbrouck shared his experience with 311 reporting signals that do not detect bicycles.

casey: thanks to 311 committee for data gathering and extra work, req spot meeting occur at BAC meeting

f. Vision Zero Coalition Report – Winston Parsons

Parsons was absent so no report.

PUBLIC COMMENT

● Hasbrouck: Vision Zero only counts injuries and death but does not record noncontact offenses against cyclists like 3 Foot Rule violations, and intentional swerving by motorists. Advocated creating an offense category of crimes against cyclists and a database of vehicle license plates who are frequent offenders, which is done in other municipalities.

○ Chair: CHP District 4 has a system of reporting but it is nonfunctional

7. BART’s Trial Train to Test Two Bike Racks – In response to concern from the disability community, the latest design for the trial car will move wheelchair locations to the center areas.

Consequently, the bicycle rack will be moved to one end.

Action: Resolution - BAC Recommendations for Trial Train Bicycle Rack Locations. Sponsor: Dr. Shirley Johnson, BBATF; and Marc Brandt, BAC District 3

● Motion: May

● Second: Fitzgibbons

The resolution passed unanimously.

8. Bosworth Review

The Chair shared a video of a ride of Bosworth from Diamond St until it becomes O’Shaughnessy highlighted shortcomings in the infrastructure the route. There was no vote on a resolution.

PUBLIC COMMENT:

● Hasbrouck’s partner was “almost killed” in an adjacent section Bosworth two years ago hitting a pothole and suffered a concussion. The pavement along the route is subpar in the bike lane.

○ The Chair discussed a DPW program for special paving of bike lanes and suggested a 311 request

● Brandt asked if Boswroth was on the repaving.

9. Adjournment

● Motion: Dole

● Second: Brandt

The meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM.