"To our readers: I don't know about you all, but as we close out 2025, I'm feeling a bit beat up. There was the story about AC Transit closing its one-week, performative non-investigation into one of its drivers who was caught on video driving in the bike lane and punishment passing a cyclist. And there was the confirmation that District 4 Supervisor Alan Wong, who was appointed to finish Joel Engardio's term, is gunning for Sunset Dunes. And there was the loss of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge bike path."
"But remember that 2025 also saw important safe-and-livable streets milestones in the Bay Area. Perhaps the biggest was the roll-out earlier this month of Clipper II. Finally, the Bay Area has direct payment and discounts across the major systems. This was a huge victory resulting from over a decade of hard work by advocates and supportive officials. There's still a long way to go towards making it feel as if the Bay Area has one, rational transit system, but this was a huge step."
"In Alameda, the last little segment of the cross-Alameda trail was opened, finally giving cyclists a safe way to get east-west across the island city. At last, the long-fought-for curbside protected bike lanes on Valencia opened. Work continues on several great projects in Oakland (see the lead image). Berkeley cut the ribbon on its Bankcroft protected bike lane and bus lane project. Speed cameras rolled out in San Francisco. High-speed rail got the dedicated funding it needs to finish the first leg. Caltrain ridership continued to grow. The SMART train extension to Windsor opened. And advocates got the governor to sign SB-63, so a ballot measure to fund transit can appear on the 2026 ballot."
2025 combined painful setbacks with concrete progress for safer, more livable streets in the Bay Area. Incidents and policy threats undermined trust, including an AC Transit non-investigation, political maneuvering in District 4, and loss of the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge bike path. Major wins included the Clipper II rollout providing direct payment and regional discounts, completion of the cross-Alameda trail segment, new Valencia curbside protected bike lanes, Oakland and Berkeley projects, San Francisco speed cameras, dedicated funding for the first leg of high-speed rail, growing Caltrain ridership, the SMART Windsor extension, and passage of SB-63 enabling a 2026 transit-funding ballot measure.
Read at Streetsblog
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