San Franciscans want to ride Muni more, walk more, and cycle more. To enable that, our city should invest in making public transportation faster and more reliable, and increasing pedestrian safety infrastructure.
Unfortunately San Francisco and Bay Area transportation systems are facing massive shortfalls in revenue compared to pre-Covid times, driven by work-from-home, fare evasion, and other causes. It's critical we don't let our public transportation systems fail and find ways to close the funding gap.
Increased pedestrian safety infrastructure would be a big win for all residents because it helps not only San Franciscans who commute via walking, but also cyclists, public transport users, and drivers.
GrowSF’s goal is to deliver results for San Franciscans through more effective city government. As part of that effort, we run a city-wide poll every quarter and publish the results to make sure city officials know San Franciscans’ concerns.
How SF Gets AroundDo you regularly, at least two or three times per week, use any of the following modes of transportation? For any purpose, including commuting to school or work, running errands, or recreation.
How satisfied are you with your current mix of transportation methods?
San Francisco is a city where most residents get around through a combination of walking, driving, and taking public transportation. Despite our many options, the reality is that driving continues to be the city's most popular non-walking transit option.
How SF Would Like to Get AroundWould you ideally like to use each of these modes of transportation more often, the same amount, or less than you currently do?
How do you rate the importance of these potential investments in improving SF's transportation system? The percent of responses that rate each improvement "extremely" or "very" important are shown.
While most residents said they are "satisifed" with how they move around the city, there's an overwhelming desire to drive less in favor of public transportation, walking, and biking.
Respondents indicate they’d increase their Muni and BART usage if it was more convenient and frequent. Unfortunately, with Muni and Bart ridership still lower than pre-pandemic levels, these systems have massive revenue shortfalls. Without action, we're heading towards a future of service cuts rather than increases.
Improving pedestrian safety infrastructure is another broadly supported area for improvement with lacking investment from the city. Residents who use public transportation, bike, and even drive also walk, so investing in pedestrian safety is a great way to improve transportation for everyone.
SafetyHave you or anyone you know been injured by a car when walking, biking, or riding a scooter?
How safe do you feel crossing the road on foot at a crosswalk in San Francisco?
How safe do you feel when biking in San Francisco? (Asked of bikers.)
What prevents you from biking as often as you would like to? (Asked of Those Who Would Like to Bike More.)
San Franciscans tell us that car injuries are not isolated freak incidents, and could easily happen to you. 4 out of 5 don’t feel ‘very safe’ while crossing the street, with no notable differences between people who own cars and don’t.
61% of current cyclists feel unsafe when biking in San Francisco, with almost all of them reporting unsafe cars and drivers are the reason. For those who want to bike more, the main thing stopping them are safety concerns.
Cycling is the transportation mode with the best upside: each conversion of car to bike takes a car off the road, which improves safety, congestion, and the climate. The growing popularity of e-bikes to help navigate hills and school drop-offs opens up more trips as well.
Safety Infrastructure and EnforcementWill there be consequences if you do something illegal while driving a car in San Francisco, such as speeding, running red lights, or ignoring stop signs?
Do you support increasing SFPD enforcement for violations like running red lights, speeding in residential neighborhoods, and participating in sideshows, even if it means fewer resources are available for non-violent crime investigations and neighborhood patrols?
How important are these potential infrastructure improvements?
Are you aware that you are not allowed to park within 20 feet of a stop sign or crosswalk and that fines for violations will start in 2025 (known as "Daylighting")?
Do you support or oppose increasing the number of protected bike lanes in San Francisco?
A shocking 38% of residents do not believe there will be consequences for breaking the law while driving. This is probably due to our complete lack of traffic enforcement.
Most residents believe we should increase SFPD enforcement of traffic violations, and invest in infrastructure improvements which will slow traffic and keep people safer.
Gender, age, and parenting status matter on this topic. Support for overall increases in traffic enforcement is close to 90% of parents of children under age 18. When looking at the details of considered traffic measures, women support many of them at substantially higher rates than men.
Awareness is low of the recently passed ban on parking close to where people cross streets. The city needs to paint curbs, educate the public, and enforce the law otherwise this law will have little effect.
Even with only 27% of San Franciscans reporting they bike regularly, 64% support increasing the number of protected bike lanes.
Car-Free SpacesDo you think that making JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park a car-free street has been good or bad for the city?
Since January 2020, private vehicles have not been permitted to drive on Market Street. Only buses, Muni trains, taxis, bicyclists, and delivery vehicles are allowed to use the street. Do you support or oppose this policy?
Formerly controversial measures like car-free JFK and Market Street now have majority support.
We are big fans of the idea of car-free Market Street, but believe the city hasn’t done enough to activate the space and make the road better for bikes since shutting it down to cars.
The Direction of San FranciscoWould you say things in San Francisco are going in the right direction, or would you say they are off on the wrong track?
"Right Direction” improved by 7 points since our last poll in February, outside the margin of error. San Franciscans remain quite unhappy, but perception is heading in a positive direction for the first time since COVID began.
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Methodology
Methodology
