South San Francisco, CA July 21, 2023
Note: Over the years, the focus of cities and the county on improving bike and pedestrian forms of transportation has increased, (see page five)the number of bicyclists in San Mateo County has not increased since 2002, according to the California Household Travel Survey, which is regularly used for data on the number of bicyclists in a community, but is restricted to commuting.
The 2002 and 2012 surveys showed only 1% of SMC’s population rides bicycles as a form of transportation. Looking at the various municipalities’ Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plans, and the surveys and counts discussed in the plans, bicycle commute ridership still hovers at approximately 1% within SMC.
However, The World Health Organization has found that “If every adult EU citizen walked or cycled for 15 extra minutes per day, we’d have 100,000 fewer people dying prematurely, each year.
The full report is below, causing many to question why outside non-government agencies are mandating these tax-paying programs, when bicycle use has not increased in our County, questioning priorities. Further, community leader Jeffrey Tong has worked for years to bring awareness to hazardous walking/biking on Junípero Serra and on ECR in Millbrae, which has fallen on deaf ears.
