Stupid article, Interesting news

This Sunday, the San Francisco Chroncile's Matier & Ross column covered some of the issues Sausalito is having with the droves of tourists visiting the town on rental bicycles.

Read here.

If you ignore the inflated contraversy the article tries to depict, its interesting to read about how the volume of rental cyclists continues to increase despite a down economy, and how the City of Sausalito is being forced into providing bike facilities to keep up with demand.

If you're local to San Francisco, you've see the throngs of bike tourists who leave from Fisherman's Wharf, cross the Golden Gate Bridge, and head down into Sausalito. You can catch a ferry back to the City from Sausalito, or if you head a little further north, Tiburon. Its a great ride that is largely on some nice bike paths.

That said, the bike renters, often not being from the area and maybe not even speaking english, are forced onto some pretty dangerous streets due some disconnects in the bike network in Marin. I'd say the worst spot is along East Blithedale in Mill Valley, when those heading to Tiburon and forced off of a great Class I path onto a busy 2 lane road with no shoulder, across a freeway onramp to Highway 101, across 101, then through an offramp intersection. Not a very pleasant tourist experience.

I have always wondered why Marin hasn't tried to encourage this form of eco-touristm further and make the bike facilities better to try and attract business in the communities along the route.