San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) today announced that riders surpassed 4 million Lyft Bike trips for 2026 in San Francisco. The new record surpasses the city’s previous annual record of nearly 4 million bikeshare rides set just last year, with three months of 2026 still to go. San Francisco's current 364-station network connects riders to Muni, BART, and Caltrain.
The milestone builds on a record-breaking summer for the bikeshare system, formerly known as Bay Wheels. In June, Lyft Bike riders took more than 500,000 trips in a single month for the first time in the program's history and have continued each month since. San Francisco ridership has roughly tripled since 2018, the system's first full year, when riders took 1.3 million trips.
“As we strengthen Muni and make our streets safer, bikeshares like Lyft are giving residents and visitors another affordable way to get where they need to go,” said Mayor Daniel Lurie. “In San Francisco, there is so much to do and see, and we’re excited that bikeshare continues to bring energy to our streets and make it easier to explore everything our neighborhoods have to offer.”
"Four million trips this year shows how many people are counting on bikeshare to get where they need to go," said Julie Kirschbaum, SFMTA Director of Transportation. "Lyft Bike is connecting more people than ever to transit, jobs and neighborhoods across San Francisco. We’ll continue working to make our streets safer for everyone who bikes, walks, and rides transit in our city."
"San Francisco is Lyft's hometown, and this city has embraced bikeshare," said Greg Chung, Lyft Bike General Manager. "Hitting 4 million rides before October is a credit to our riders and to our partnership with the SFMTA and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). As more and more San Franciscans are returning to work, we're adding e-bikes and stations so even more people can make Lyft Bike part of their routine."
Closing the last mile to downtown jobs
The busiest station in the system is at 4th and Townsend Streets, outside the Caltrain station, where commuters arriving from and departing to the Peninsula and South Bay pick up bikes for the last leg of their trip, and commuters down to the Peninsula drop off bikes for the first leg of their trip. Bikeshare has become a core part of how people use transit in the region: Four of the top five bikeshare stations in the system are at a major transit hubs like BART and Caltrain. Citywide bike counts, including Lyft Bike and personal bike trips, show cycling during morning and evening commute hours rose 52% in 2025 over 2024.
Popular San Francisco areas for bikeshare commutes include neighborhoods around the Panhandle, the Marina, Cow Hollow, the Mission, North Beach, and the Polk Street corridor. Stations in these places routinely empty during the morning rush as Financial District stations rapidly fill up. The hybrid option to park outside of stations and new additions of virtual stations around established bike rack clusters help provide more options to end trips.
Prioritizing safety as ridership grows
As more people choose to bike, the SFMTA continues to invest in safer streets for everyone. The Embarcadero Bikeway, which carries many of the system's waterfront trips, reduced sidewalk riding by about 70%. The city's bike network now spans more than 470 miles, including 50 miles of protected bikeways. Through a renewed vision, the City's Street Safety Initiative, the SFMTA and city partners including the San Francisco Police Department and the Department of Public Health are combining safer street design, speed reduction, and public education to prevent serious traffic injuries citywide.
Some of the SFMTA programs designed to support this effort include Automated Speed Enforcement cameras and traffic calming to reduce vehicle speeds and make city streets safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.
More stations, more access
The milestone comes as the system grows under a five-year contract extension through 2032 between Lyft, the SFMTA, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. The new investment in the system has already begun rolling out and will continue in San Francisco and across the system over the next few years. In addition, Lyft is also expanding eligibility for its Bikeshare for All reduced-cost membership to Medi-Cal recipients, so that more residents can access the program. Members of the program took nearly 200,000 trips in 2025 in SF, and the program has already surpassed this milestone this year.
“We’re proud that our outreach and education efforts have reached thousands of San Franciscans, teaching them how to use Lyft Bikes, helping them sign up for membership, and explaining the eligibility guidelines for Bike Share for All,” says Cecilia Vega-Mayer, director of community programs at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. “Bikeshare works best when people feel empowered to use it. This milestone demonstrates that San Franciscans understand how convenient, reliable, and safe bikeshare can be, and we’re really looking forward to continuing to promote bikeshare and the Medical eligibility expansion.”
A front-row seat to the waterfront
The bikes are also popular with San Francisco’s recovering tourism economy. One of the system's most traveled routes runs along the Embarcadero between Fisherman's Wharf and the Ferry Building. The segment has grown busier with the opening of Alioto's Plaza and other waterfront improvements, and San Francisco is on track to break its pre-pandemic record for tourist spending this year.
Today, Supervisors Danny Sauter and Stephen Sherrill joined SFMTA Streets Director Viktoriya Wise, Lyft Senior Policy Manager Laura Krull and community members to celebrate the opening of the Beach Street quick-build, which adds to the city’s extensive and growing bicycle network, making bicycling a viable transportation option for residents, commuters and tourists.
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About the SFMTA
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), a department of the City and County of San Francisco, is responsible for the management of all ground transportation in the city. The SFMTA has oversight over the Municipal Railway (Muni) public transit, as well as bicycling, paratransit, parking, traffic, and taxis. Established by voter mandate in 1999, the SFMTA aggregated multiple San Francisco city agencies, including the Department of Parking and Traffic, Muni, and, since 2007, the Taxi Commission