cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/fuckcars/p/1859869/do-protected-bike-lanes-work-san-diegos-30th-street-offers-four-years-of-proof
In 2021, when the City of San Diego restriped 30th Street after replacing century-old underground pipelines, the move was controversial. Parking was reconfigured, traffic patterns shifted and a busy commercial corridor through North Park and South Park was given something it had never had before: protected bike lanes. Four years later, the numbers tell a different story.
According to data from San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and a city-installed bike counter, annual cycling trips along 30th Street hovered around 50,000 before the lanes went in. In the first full year after installation, that figure jumped to 114,682 rides — a staggering 120 per cent increase. Ridership hasn’t plateaued since. Counts rose another 1.7 per cent in 2023, 5.7 per cent in 2024 and 6.9 per cent in 2025, marking four straight years of growth.
It’s good news for bikes, y’all, even though these lanes are not fully protected, they’re just cones not concrete.
And the more connected ones you put in, the more people will use them, and the less you have to invest in road maintenance from car wear and tear.
It’s a phenomenal idea to reduce maintenance costs, reduce traffic, dollars spent on police/fire/ems visits to crash sites, and fewer dollars spent on public health due to vehicle emissions.
And it saves riders a shitton of money in gas, car maintenance and potentially insurance, if they only need one car instead of two.