San Francisco bicycle boom follows bike-friendly upgrades | SFGate

Bike commuters cruise along Market Street. Since 2006, San Francisco's bicycle traffic has increased by 96 percent. Photo: Liz Hafalia, Chronicle

It will come as little surprise to anyone who's seen the river of riders flowing along Market Street during commute hours that an annual census shows bicycling continues to boom in San Francisco.

The number of people riding bikes has increased 14 percent since 2011 and 96 percent since 2006. That's the conclusion of the 2013 bicycle count taken by the Municipal Transportation Agency in September and released Thursday.

"We are seeing more and more people riding a bicycle in San Francisco every day," Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement, "and the latest bicycle count data confirms what we are seeing on our streets."

The sharp increase in transportation by bike coincides with a surge in improvements - from parking "corrals" to bike lanes, sometimes with green pavement and protective barriers - around the city. It's all part of an effort to boost the percentage of trips taken by bike to reduce driving, pollution and crowding on Muni. 

[Keep reading at SFGate]