Mission Shares Nationwide Pedal Passion

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From Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District to South Sixth Street in Minneapolis and Center Avenue in Pittsburgh, an increasing number of commuters are jumping on bikes to get to and from work: 15 percent more in San Francisco, 49 percent in Minneapolis and 38 percent in Pittsburgh between 2006 and 2007, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency 2007 Citywide Bicycle Counts Report and the US Census.

Portland, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco, and Oakland are the five cities with the most bike commuters according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. But even places such as Pittsburgh and Washington D.C. are seeing more riders.

Thanks to a recently approved federal tax break, employees who use bicycles to get to work will be eligible for $20-a-month tax-free from their employers starting in January.

“It will help biking be considered as a viable form of commuting,” San Francisco Bike Coalition spokesperson Teri Gardiner said. The more people you see take up bicycling to work, the more likely you are to give it a try, Gardiner explained. “There’s a comfort in that number.”

Fred Clements, executive director of the National Bicycle Dealers Association, agreed and said that already other factors have put drivers on bikes. “With high gas prices we’re seeing more beginner cyclists looking to use bikes for commuting and utility use, which is a good thing,” he said.

In the past, recreational users dominated the market, but an increasing number of urban bike lanes, gas prices and a green ethos are also pushing the increase in bike commuting. While no national numbers are available, individual cities now offer a significant number of bike lanes: there are now 126 miles of bike lanes and paths in San Francisco, and Minneapolis has 40 miles of bicycle lane and 82 miles of off-street bicycle paths.

At 22nd and Valencia Streets, the 20-year old Valencia Cyclery bike shop is seeing the benefits of the growing trend.

“Bike sales have gone up–especially entry-level bikes for commuters, the hybrid street type bikes,” Owner Paul Olszewski said. “I would say a 10 percent increase in the last year.”

A few blocks away from Valencia Cyclery, at 21st and South Van Ness, Yuri Friedland, operations manager at Pedal Revolution, is noticing the same thing. He’s seeing more people coming in looking to ride to work.

“That brings a different type of customer,” Friedland said. “There’s an increase in people who look more like regular people rather than dedicated bicyclists.”

Some roads saw a 300 percent increase in cycling traffic ,according to the Bicycle Counts Report.

At 17th and Valencia Streets, there’s been a 23 percent increase from 2006 to 2007. On a recent Friday morning, the San Francisco Bike Coalition set up a Gas-Free Friday warm-up station at the intersection, to encourage more people to ride their bicycles to work and stop for a cup of coffee.

Jessica Servin, 24, who has been riding four miles to work every morning since the beginning of the year, considers herself a role model.

“I’ve inspired people to start riding,” she said smiling, “I’m on the day shift now so I’m going to start taking a longer route. I keep having to buy bigger pants because my thighs are getting bigger.”

Adrian Jonhson, 35, rides 22.5 miles to work and acknowledges the money she saves, but says there are other motives in play and they don’t add up to a big savings. “I used to pay $10 for 12 gallons in 1988, and now it’s $60–so yes it’s a factor. But at the same time I just paid $1,000 for a new bike,” she laughed, explaining she chose to switch to a bicycle commute to keep fit.

In Minneapolis, “the increase in general in non-bicycle items is 15 percent in the last year,” said Bill Kempton, buyer at Freewheel Bike, a bike shop that opened in the 1970s.

Josh Klauck, a Freewheel Bike employee, said many new riders are pulling old bikes out of their garages and bringing them in to be serviced.

In Pittsburgh, Scholl’s Bicycle Center did more repairs this summer. “I couldn’t say offhand how much more, but we’re doing more repairs than bike sales,” manager Mark Milbert said. Millbert explained that people are taking out old bicycles and getting them fixed. The sales he’s seeing are also for commuter bicycles.

Referring to the peak in bicycle sales in the 1970s, Clements said “That peak was based on gas shortages and was short-lived. The industry did not have as much variety of products in those days. There was a boom, but it did not sustain itself. Today the market is much more mature, with many unique types of bicycles, and much more of a base of recreation and fitness riders to better protect us from a boom-and-bust scenario.”

Indeed, riders can get bicycles that fold up to the size of carry-on luggage and weigh a little more than 20 pounds. Some companies are going the extra mile to encourage cycling. Clif Bar, based in Berkeley, offers up to $500 to employees who commute to work by bicycle. Tina Reid, 27, took advantage of that and bought herself a folding Dahon bike that she can take on the train.

The organization has seen a growing interest in their introductory Learn to Ride a Bike class, Gardiner said. “Surprisingly, there are a lot of adults who have never learned to ride a bike.”

Standing next to the San Francisco Bike Coalition booth on Valencia Street, Charlie Jonas, 58, said, “Look at folks going by in cars, “it’s push push push. People on bikes they smile,” he laughed.