Active Communities Plan
September updates for the Active Communities Plan!
We're moving into the next phase of the Active Communities Plan! Check out our September project update, listen to an episode of the "Hot & Bothered" podcast featuring the Active Communities Plan, explore our interactive analysis map, or attend one of our events listed below. If you'd like us to participate in an upcoming event or meeting, please reach out to the team: ActiveCommunities@sfmta.com
Upcoming Outreach Events
- September 15: SF Bike Bus, JFK Promenade at Conservatory of Flowers, Ride starts 7:45AM
- September 19: SFMTA Board of Directors - Information Item
- September 24: Western Addition Sunday Streets, Golden Gate Ave between Webster St. and Laguna St., 11AM-4PM
- September 26: SFCTA Board of Directors - Information Item, City Hall Room 250, 10AM
- October 2 - October 6: Walk & Roll to School Week
- October 3: D8 Walk & Roll to School Week Ride with Supervisor Mandelman, meet at Upper Noe Rec Center at 7:45AM, walk and roll to Dolores Huerta Elementary School
- October 13: Bayview National Night Out, Bayview Opera House (3rd & Oakdale), 4-6PM
- October 15: Phoenix Day, Excelsior, Mission St (Avalon St to Geneva Ave), 11AM-4PM
- October 21: Bike Fair with Assemblymember Phil Ting, Grattan Elementary School (165 Grattan St.), 10AM-1PM
- October 28: Outer Mission & Excelsior Workshop, details TBD
- October 29: Great Hauntway Halloween Parade, Great Highway from Judah to Taraval, 1-4PM
- October 30: Bayview-Hunters Point Workshop, details TBD
- November 9: Western Addition & Fillmore Workshop, Honey Art Studio, 6PM-8PM
- November 18: SOMA Pilipinas Workshop, details TBD
The San Francisco Active Communities Plan (ACP) is a 2-year planning process to develop a new plan for active mobility in San Francisco. The new plan directs SFMTA future investments in the active transportation network, support facilities, programs, and policies for the next 10-15 years. This new planning effort includes all devices that can legally use the active transportation network and elevates the voices and needs of equity priority communities.
This plan comes at a pivotal moment for San Francisco: much has changed since the last Bicycle Master Plan was adopted in 2009. Vision Zero and the SF Climate Action Strategy now guide our work and lend it urgency. Through strong and collaborative community partnerships, the plan forges a shared vision reflecting community needs and advancing city goals.
The ACP involves an inclusive year-long outreach process to engage residents citywide about biking, scooting, rolling, and how it can, or should, evolve. The plan’s wide-ranging engagement includes focus on the disability community, monolingual communities, youth, and women/trans/nonbinary people. Outreach starts in January 2023 and ends at plan adoption in March 2024.
The ACP includes targeted engagement in communities that have been historically excluded and underserved by transportation planning: Bayview-Hunters Point, Outer Mission/Excelsior, The Mission, SoMa, the Tenderloin, and Western Addition/Fillmore.
Plan Goals
The Active Communities Plan creates a new vision for active transportation in San Francisco: guiding investment where it’s needed most, delivering new programs to support biking and rolling, and enacting policy changes to achieve a connected, citywide network. These goals guide the Plan:
Advance equity: Address past harms and inequities that have limited transportation choices and access; support an equitable transportation future in which all communities have access to travel choices that meet their needs.
Support safety for all road users: Prioritize safe active transportation routes that can be comfortably used by people of all ages and abilities.
Support climate action: San Francisco needs to make low-carbon transportation a viable option for all residents. Support a citywide shift to biking and other active modes.
Support access for all: Make active transportation accessible to all by building a citywide network of low-stress streets and connecting people to electric mobility devices and other emerging technologies. Make the active transportation network inclusive, accessible, and welcoming to users with disabilities.
Deliver real results: Secure funding and deliver projects rapidly; demonstrate urgency and respect for the participation of residents in the plan process.
Develop new approaches: Streamline project development and identify methods to hold City agencies accountable.
Equity at the Center
The SFMTA acknowledges that many previous transportation projects in San Francisco have contributed to inequities, causing harm, trauma, and displacement for communities of color. A safe, welcoming, and equitable transportation network requires that we rebuild trust and center the voices and needs of those historically excluded. The Active Communities Plan focuses on engagement and co-developing projects in neighborhoods where past bike network projects have been particularly divisive with historically marginalized communities. The ACP must rebuild trust and align future projects with community values.
Priority Communities + Partners:
- Bayview-Hunters Point: Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates
- Mission District & Outer Mission/Excelsior: PODER Bicis del Pueblo
- Tenderloin: The Tenderloin Community Benefit District
- Western Addition: New Community Leadership Foundation
- SoMa: SoMa Pilipinas
How to Get Involved
This plan is an opportunity to advocate for improvements in your neighborhood, including:
- New and improved network for people using wheelchairs, scooters, and bikes
- More bike parking and amenities
- New community programs and policies to make it easier for you to get around
The SFMTA team, with staff support from the SF Bicycle Coalition, is hosting a year of outreach and engagement events during 2023 to understand transportation needs at the neighborhood level and citywide. In the first phase of outreach input focuses on residents’ experiences and their hopes and dreams for the future. This input directly informs Active Transportation network recommendations and policy/program proposals shared with the public during the second phase of outreach.
There are dozens of opportunities during the 2023 calendar year to meet directly with project staff and share thoughts and feedback, with our outreach schedule regularly updated on the project page. Sign up for project updates via this webpage to keep informed of upcoming opportunities! Please reach out to ActiveCommunities@SFMTA.com to request a meeting with the project team in your neighborhood or around a specific corridor. We look forward to hearing from you!