Bike Mechanics Provide an ‘Essential Service’

There seems to be confusion about what constitutes an "essential service" and whether it's okay to bike, after Mayor London Breed's order to 'Shelter in Place.'

First, cycling is still permitted, as laid out by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition:

Any confusion was probably caused by the short intro of the announcement, which just says it's okay to go for a walk, as long as it's not in a group and a safe distance is maintained from non-family members. The longer form states that "Individuals may go on a walk, get exercise [emphasis added], or take a pet outside to go to the bathroom, as long as at least six feet of social distancing is maintained." The advocates got the further clarification.

More on this in Streetsblog California.

But what if my bike breaks?

Another source of confusion: the formal, legal order lists auto repair as an 'essential service' but doesn't say anything about bike repair. Streetsblog has reached out to Mayor Breed's office and will update this post accordingly. However, an SFPD spokesperson told Streetsblog that "The City issued a Public Health Order requiring people to stay home except for essential needs. How an individual defines 'essential' will be the issue we will handle on a case by case basis."

A bit of common sense dictates that if a nurse or an SFMTA worker uses a bike to get to work, they may have to get that bike repaired at some point in the next few weeks. Bike shops are acting accordingly.

"I'm still figuring out the specifics, but we're considering ourselves an essential service because our customers use their bikes as transportation," wrote Kash, owner of Warm Planet Bikes on Market Street, in an email to Streetsblog, "...but it will definitely be appointment only so that we can space out customers so that they don't interact directly."

"We are doing 'by appointment repair' only right now. We’ve shut down the cafe and are doing so both for safety of our employees and for financial stability," wrote Aaron Wacks of the Lucky Duck cafe and bike shop in Oakland. "...most of our bicycle repair customers are commuters that usually have some sort of part failure while they're in the wild. Not having an open shop nearby will probably make life a lot more difficult for most people."

"It’s a hard time and we’re hoping to weather the storm," he added.