By Thomas K. Pendergast

A dozen new bike-share stations were rolled out throughout Golden Gate Park last month to fill gaps in the overall network of Lyft’s Bay Wheels, according to city officials at the opening ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 7.

The original pilot program for the bike-share program started in 2013. It was expanded in 2017 and eventually included at least 320 stations and 4,500 bicycles. It has since been rebranded as Bay Wheels, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA).

“These bike stations are going to help fill a critical gap in the Bay Wheels network, allowing people to use bikes every day to commute, to go visit friends and family and to move around the City far easier than can be moved in a car,” SF Recreation and Park Department General Manager Phil Ginsburg said at the ceremony.

The newest version of Bike Share will be integrated with the Clipper Card system and feature a Bike Share for All program, in an effort to ensure everyone has access to the network.

“I’m thrilled to welcome the new Bay Wheels stations to Golden Gate Park which will expand ways for people to enjoy one of San Francisco’s most beautiful spaces,” said SF Mayor London Breed in a press release. “I want to thank Lyft for their partnership to invest in San Francisco to help create a safer, more sustainable and welcoming city to get around.”

According to the mayor’s office, the addition of the Golden Gate Park bike share stations builds on Bay Wheels’ latest expansion to the Sunset neighborhood south of the park, which was announced in May. The five classic bike share stations and seven virtual stations now stretch from east of the Conservatory of Flowers to the westernmost edge of the park near Ocean Beach.

Virtual or “stationless” bike sharing does not rely on fixed docking stations. Stationless bikes would be parked at a bike rack or in the “furniture zone” of the sidewalk, which is the section of the sidewalk between the curb and pedestrian through zone where bike racks and other typical amenities – such as lighting, benches and utility poles – are usually located.

The “classic” stations will be installed on Pompei Circle (at the Dahlia Garden east of the Conservatory of Flowers); Martin Luther King Drive at Seventh Avenue; JFK Drive at Eighth Avenue and Music Concourse Drive; JFK Drive at Ocean Beach and at Spreckels Lake.

The “virtual” stations will be located on JFK Drive at Lloyd Lake; JFK Drive at Chain of Lakes Drive; MLK Drive at Chain of Lakes Drive; Bowling Green Drive north of the parking lot; Stow Lake; JFK Drive at Lindley Meadow near 30th Avenue and JFK Drive at the Service Road between Speedway Meadow/Hellman Hollow and Marx Meadow.

“As a District 4 supervisor, I’m excited because I want all the people visiting Golden Gate Park and getting on these bikes to come and explore the Sunset District, which is just adjacent to the park, and to discover all of our amazing restaurants and interesting places in the Sunset,” said District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio.

“As a city supervisor, I have to work on a lot of daunting issues in San Francisco, so it’s great to be here to celebrate some joy,” he said. “Because, San Francisco, we have a lot to work on, but we have a lot of joy in this city and we’re going to create more of it. And this is the start of creating our best San Francisco.”

The Bike Share for All campaign launched in early 2016 and features: A one-time $5 annual membership, then $5 per month in the second year with a small additional cost for e-bikes; bikes that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year in San Francisco; rides extended from 30-minute maximums to 60 minutes; in-person enrollment at select locations and no credit or debit card requirements.

“Our organization believes bike-share is a key component to our transportation system,” the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition director of advocacy Claire Amable said at the Golden Gate Park station opening. “It offers the convenience of biking without the hassle of worrying about locking and storage. It opens the door to a new audience of people who either didn’t have access to bikes in the past, don’t have space for bikes in their homes currently or don’t consider biking as a convenient option.

“More people on bikes means fewer cars on the road, more space on Muni and a greener San Francisco,” she said. “It makes so much sense for bike-share stations to be here on JFK Promenade and in Golden Gate Park. Now no one needs to get hit with that $25 penalty fee and they get to end their ride at one of the most beautiful parks in our City,”

In 2022, according to the mayor’s office, there were 237,000 unique riders across the five cities in which Bay Wheels operates; San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville and San Jose. In San Francisco alone, there were 2.4 million rides.

“Every additional ride that people make on a bike in San Francisco reduces air pollution, reduces traffic congestion and gives cyclists an opportunity to get some of that joy that Supervisor Engardio was talking about,” said SFMTA Director of Streets Division Tom Maguire. “We want to see more of that kind of sustainable joyful transportation and we’re grateful for the partnership of Rec. and Park, the supervisor and Lyft for bringing that to reality.”