CHILDREN at John Muir Elementary School in San Francisco participated in a bike bus event to celebrate Bike and Roll to School Week, a time when city officials and community organizations promote alternatives to using a private automobile to get around.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Director Julie Kirschbaum, and Superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District Maria Su spoke in John Muir Elementary’s courtyard to the dozens of young kids excited to hop on their bikes for a field trip to Golden Gate Park organized by teachers, volunteers, and other community groups.
The event was promoting the Biking and Rolling Plan adopted by the SFMTA in 2025. Following two years of surveys and community outreach programs, the plan identifies places for investment across the city over the next 10 years that promote the use of bicycles, scooters, and other personal mobility devices. The effort is intended to make San Francisco a more pedestrian friendly city while also addressing concerns over access to transportation and climate change.
Chris White is the executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the nonprofit organization that promotes bike usage and helped organize the bike bus for the young San Franciscans. He was all smiles as he helped pass out bright green safety vests and sunglasses to the kids for their ride. He said San Francisco is one of the safest cities in the country for bicyclists and pedestrians because of the activism by community groups and the willingness to listen by city departments.
“We’ve been working at the Bicycle Coalition for over 50 years to make sure that we’ve got safer streets,” said White. “It’s also important that we continue to make progress. Last year, the SFMTA passed a new biking and rolling plan, and it’s a fairly ambitious plan — for a lot more protected infrastructure around the city.”
Leading up to the planned “rollout time,” the kids ran to don their helmets. The sound of bike bells being repeatedly tested rang across the courtyard. Parents, teachers, and volunteers prepared their own bikes with water and snacks for the young riders. A few organizers took to their cars to arrive early to intersections to help stop traffic so the group could safely cross.
Volunteer Molly Hayden helped establish the bike club at the school because she thought it would be a fun way to give back to her community. After living in San Francisco for over 15 years, she said seeing kids experience the city on a bike gives them a unique opportunity to appreciate their surroundings.
“I think kids experience San Francisco in a much more deeper way when they’re on a bike, they see things, they smell things, they hear things that they wouldn’t normally do in a car,” said Hayden. “Not everybody has the ability to own a car, or not everybody has access to the bus, so there’s different ways to get to school safely we want to show.”
Hayden led the cavalcade down Page Street — a designated slow street that restricts cross traffic and requires drivers to slow down for pedestrians and bicyclists — with her bike blasting music and blowing bubbles. Passersby watched the dozens of kids with smiles as they waved to each other, with many cheering for the riders when they tackled the route’s one large hill.
The group safely made it to Golden Gate Park before returning to the elementary school.
San Francisco has seen seven traffic-related pedestrian deaths this year, according to reports from the San Francisco Police Department. In 2025, 18 deaths were reported, down from 27 the year prior.
Kirschbaum from the SFMTA spoke about the process of addressing the concerns of residents. She said the agency will first look at the streets with the highest rates of deaths and injuries, including the High Injury Network map created by the city’s Department of Public Health of San Francisco’s most dangerous streets.
“Before we do any sort of street change, we do community outreach,” said Kirschbaum. “We partner with existing community groups. We go out and talk to folks at bus stops. We host meetings to try to get input. And then we recently, about a year and a half ago, approved the city’s bike and roll plan.”