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C40/UC Berkeley study: San Francisco biking is disproportionately male; study urges protected lanes and community outreach
Summary
A C40‑sponsored study presented to San Francisco commissioners found that people biking in the South of Market pilot are overwhelmingly white men, with only 29% women and 13% women of color; researchers recommended more protected lanes, targeted outreach, bike education, and cultural‑change efforts to boost women’s participation.
City researchers and C40 partners presented initial findings from a gender‑focused bicycling study to a joint meeting of the Commission on the Environment and the Commission on the Status of Women, saying the data indicate women — and especially women of color — are underrepresented among San Francisco cyclists and that a mix of infrastructure and sociocultural strategies will be required to change that.
Wendy Goodfriend, Climate Program Manager at the Department of the Environment, and Margaret McCarthy, lead researcher on the project, said the study combined bike counts, 433 usable intercept surveys conducted over three days in South of Market, and four neighborhood focus groups. "White men are disproportionately represented in city biking in San Francisco," McCarthy told commissioners, summarizing the survey results.
Key findings presented: • In the SoMa intercepts, 29% of people observed riding bikes were women; only 13% of those riders were women of color, compared with about 34% of the city's female population who are women of color. • The city measures roughly 3.9% of all trips by bike; presenters said that, to reach a longer‑term city target for sustainable trips, cycling would need to increase substantially (presenters said the study’s estimate suggests biking would need to rise to roughly 10% of trips to make progress toward mode‑share ambitions). • Women disproportionately bike during off‑peak hours and for errands or child‑related trips; safety concerns (traffic, hostile drivers), bike theft and lack of secure parking, and cultural norms about dress and appearance were highlighted as barriers in focus groups.
The research group proposed seven recommendations including expanding protected bike lanes and pursuing a more standardized lane design; partnering with employers, schools and community groups to provide lockers, showers and bike mentoring; improving secure bike parking; expanding targeted bicycle education (including women‑led classes); and changing the narrative through outreach and imagery to make bicycling more inclusive.
Commissioners and attendees raised practical barriers — hills, storage in shared housing, theft, night‑shift workers, and the presence of transportation‑network vehicles — and suggested repeating the intercept surveys in other neighborhoods to get a fuller picture. Presenters and commissioners agreed to share the full report, survey instruments and demographic breakdowns so city agencies and community partners can pursue targeted pilots.
The study was launched through C40's Women for Climate program and conducted with a UC Berkeley research team; presenters said it is the first publicly released phase and will be expanded to include other neighborhoods and more detailed demographic analysis.
