By Kate Callen / April 7, 2026
The 1933 movie Duck Soup added a wicked line to the comedy lexicon when a sly Chico Marx asked a flummoxed Margaret Dumont, “Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”
That quip, used by comics ever since, has become a running joke in North Park since the 30th Street Bike Lanes were installed in 2021 as part of a $30-million pipeline project.
For five years now, North Park residents have ridiculed the empty bike lanes. When my friends and I have coffee at a 30th Street sidewalk cafe, and an occasional cyclist whizzes by, we nudge one another and say, “Hey, look, there’s a bike in the bike lane!”
We live in a city where elected officials sell out neighborhoods to serve the interests of developer-backed “climate action” lobbyists. So we expect politicians and their cronies to treat us with insolence.
But sometimes their con jobs cross the line from absurdity into all-out farce.
Take the recent “news” that ridership on the 30th Street bike lanes has soared to record levels. The April 2 announcement by Live Well San Diego, a San Diego County initiative, began this way:
“The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, in partnership with BikeSD and Circulate San Diego … is proud to announce that the 30th Street Protected Bike Lanes have seen a fourth straight year of increased ridership. The once-controversial project is now an accepted part of the neighborhood streetscape [and] 30th Street has been revitalized.”
Where to begin? The assertion that the bike lanes are “now an accepted part of the neighborhood streetscape” is laughable. They are still controversial, and they always will be. Their impacts on the 30th Street corridor – scarce parking throughout the surrounding neighborhoods – has sparked community resentment that will smolder for years.
The 30th Street business district is anything but revitalized. It’s a great destination if you’re in need of beer, donuts, ice cream, a tattoo, or a mani-pedi. (Can the employees of these retail stores afford the high rents of North Park’s new mid-rise apartment complexes? Just askin’.)
And study findings from biking activists that bike lanes are a great success have no credibility. That’s like research funded by the cannabis industry showing how college students who smoke pot daily get better grades.
Speaking of credibility, let’s consider the source of the bike lane data. The report that ridership reached 131,779 trips in 2025, a 15-percent increase over 2022, is based on numbers from City of San Diego bike counters. That’s the same government that estimated modest trash fees in the run-up to a ballot measure – and doubled them after the measure passed.
North Park residents are familiar with the bike counters. Many of us have shot video of the equipment malfunctioning. Their numbers tick up randomly. In two separate 2022 news stories, CBS 8 found evidence that bike counters consistently double-counted riders.
There is no independent way to verify the accuracy of the bike counters. But videotape of the bike lanes stamped with dates and times offers real-time evidence of actual usage that your own eyes can see.
I did such a study in 2021; the OB Rag reported the results. Using security video from a storefront on the 3400 block of 30th Street, I viewed and logged bike traffic on both sides of the street between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., Monday, October 4 though Friday, October 8.
During those 20 hours of peak commuting times, the number of riders per hour averaged 16.
Bike lane activists were furious. Some complained it had been raining on one of those mornings. It hadn’t. Others charged that I somehow doctored the video. I didn’t, and I couldn’t have.
I kept the video and the logs. I offered copies to anyone who wanted to replicate my analysis, which is how legitimate research works. No one responded.
Bicyclists have gotten a wildly disproportionate share of public funds and road space. Bike lane activists should quit while they’re ahead. Trumpeting data from faulty counters run by a dysfunctional city government that has squandered public trust is politically inept. They are poking an angry bear, which is never a good idea.
Youre using your personal bike “study” from 5 years ago that collected data over the course of 4 days to argue what exactly? That we should rip out the 30 million infrastructure to put like another 30 cars back on the street? You’re critiquing the source “Live Well” – yet you yourself are offering pitiful evidence to rebuttal…”has sparked community resentment that will smolder for years.” Uhm who is the community? You and your friends? Do you speak for everyone that lives on 30th st? The car dependent society that emphasized urban sprawl suburbia SFD is the reason why we have poorly planned cities, scarce housing and traffic congestion. This diatribe just reads as someone who just doesn’t like cyclists finally getting some modicum of urban space that has been dominated by automobiles for the past 70 years.
I’m using my study as an example of how a date-time stamped video can generate a ridership count that is credible — you can literally see the number of riders — and verifiable. The city’s faulty bike counters are neither.
When I was a commuter student in Philly (flat streets), I biked to and from campus. When I worked in D.C., I rode the Metro (rapid rail) to work. I don’t enjoy driving a car. I value alternative transportation. But it has not been viable in San Diego, a city with hilly streets and public transit that is predominantly bus lines.
The only people I dislike are politicians who give special favors to special friends. BTW, I took the pictures for the story at 12 noon today. I walked up and down 30th for the better part of a half-hour, and I didn’t see a single bike.
I’m sorry, but a 5-day study from 5 years ago nitpicking specific times of the day is not “credible”. When I used to commute on a bike, I would have loved to have had a dedicated bike lane at 11pm, knowing that I had ample and a safe amount of space to commute in the darkness. Alternative transportation IS viable – we’re talking about here: Bike lanes.
Would I love a fast and reliable transit system like Tokyo’s Metropolitan network or even New Yorks? Absolutely. But again, these are all issues that we’re built into our car dependent roads… In SD, we need to double down on efficient, interconnected and streamlined bus systems if we’re going to continue down this asphalt road… And again, your personal anecdotes of 30-minute walks down the street don’t count as actual data. Let’s try to be more honest than the politicians, yeah?
There perfectly good roads paralleling 30th most of the way, the bike lanes did not need to be on 30th. There is no good argument against that reality.
Yes, Ive heard the Utah street argument – I dont disagree. But Kate doesnt mention any of that in her post. Its just whining about the bike lanes and asserting that her eyes are more authorative than gathered data. If the post was more honest about the information presented and left out all the sarcastic annoyances of bikers this comment section would look a lot more different.
Everybody fails to mention that there was already a perfectly good bike lane two blocks over on Utah Street.
Oh don’t tell them that they won’t like it. My husband and I went to several of the so called Planning Meetings with proposals on using Utah Street and other streets that are safer than 30th Street. What do they do? Vote to put bike lanes on BOTH sides of the streets! Delivery trucks park in those bike lanes all the time, and I have seen at least two near accidents where bikes had to swerve into traffic to avoid them. I live in South Park and run all over the neighborhood during the week. The only bikes I see using those lanes are eBikes, and on weekends it’s tourists, fitness riders, and some small families. I am not against bike lanes, but I am against how stupidly they were rolled out. Also the fact that the City ignored any counter proposal’s that came along before they rolled them out.
We need protected lanes and people that work closer to home. If things are convenient and safe people will use it. I lived in North Park and worked in downtown and live in ob and work in downtown. I used to ebike into downtown before covid by the airport and it wasn’t safe. I still did it but you aren’t going to convenience people to do that. How many people live in north park and work in downtown willing to ride a bike using pershing? Ebikes still have range deficiency. In my sky rise there are like 8 bikes total including ebikes… no one is going to get stinky before work or spend to much time going slow… Now how many people ride their bikes in the beach communities to the beach? A lot. Because its convenient and because of lower speeds sort of safe. We need protected lanes when solid state emotos hit the scene. All the kids want or have one already anyways. Protect them and they will use the lanes. If we don’t produce protected lanes for 2 wheels, we are just going to continue down the car path.
Why not rename this web site “the car-brain rag” or something that acknowledges its main axe to grind, complaints about parking by uber-entitled old people who care nothing for future generations?
One of the only reliable things about this web site is you can be sure they’ll run some out of nowhere, whiny post about bike lanes every few weeks or so.
Give it a rest.
There are other places to scroll……
Obviously, you have not been paying attention, so there is no need to bother with you.
Bull crap
Wow, people will nit-pik anything just to refute a point they seem to have missed. The bike counters were shown to have misleading counts. The only other count (we know of) was Kate’s video which was objective for what it is. You’d think it anyone cared (the bicycle lobby) they’d expand on a real count (or maybe not as it may not provide cover). As far as attacking the people against the bike lanes as implemented in SD I can pull as many neighbors as necessary to disagree with the worth of the bike lanes and the trash policy and the paid parking. These are the most pressing concerns I hear every day in my neighborhood and it others when I’m there. Scientific–no–but they are pretty overwhelming. I can say that the people I talk to are furious and will remember the mayor and city council well past the next election cycle–certainly on to their next office that they run for. Kate’s points were well worth thinking about and discussing. Using some of the businesses on 30th I can say parking is a nightmare (try carrying 20 gallons of water from the Water Lady to your car a block or so away–when we used to have parking in front of her business…
Isn’t the Water Lady on University?
With all the bias and misinformation and AI rampant, we have to NOT be nitpicky about journalism right? Especially when the post is mostly emotional with vague sprinkles of actual “research” and “data”. Are you suggesting Kates 5 day data from 5 years ago is more reliable than the regional SANDAG data that is compiled every year that has data points on many different aspects of transportation to be less reliable than Kates “objective” findings? Even if the counters were faulty as you claim, it would still be far more reliable than a person who only collected data for a week 5 years ago. If you claim to know so many people in your community that are outraged, by all means publish a survey with their opinions and their demographics. Again, anecdotal he said she said from your neighbors is NOT data, youre right – its not scientific. Please try to come with actual polling if your going to use that as an argument. My main issue with Kates post is not that she is anti-bike lane, its that the post is claiming to be based in factual reporting when its laughably not. Leave the movie quotes and anecdotal stories of sitting at the cafe for the personal blog. If you’re going to present something as a serious post criticizing policy and urban development – be prepared to equally criticized when your arguments have holes in them.
“I can say that the people I talk to are furious and will remember the mayor and city council well past the next election cycle–certainly on to their next office that they run for.”
Well the people you talk to DO make for some comical SM posts and they really hate it when when a bike lane advocate points out they like riding in the bike lanes.
Javier, would you be up to having audit of the actual bike traffic on the street? Maybe cameras set up to pull data on random days so it wouldn’t tip off Circulate SD and others to get out troops to spike the number.
My guess is you like the numbers from the city’s system that can’t be that accurate.
And yes, removing the lightly used lanes in favor of Utah is exactly what is needed. Can’t take that much money to pull the posts and put some paint where it had been engineered in the past. Fortunately, SANDAG was involved with pouring concrete to create extra curbs and other devices like on 4th and 5th.
The onus of proof lies with the people making the claim that the counters are faulty – that would be a task for you, not me. It’s not that I “like” the numbers more(data is what it is – whether I like it or not.) its just that I have more faith in SANDAGS data because theres actually more going on there – if you have a gripe with trusting institutions, I understand – but know that its silly to compare one persons findings to an organization that has multiple people working yearly to compile all that information that spans further than just bike statistics.
Javier, if you want verifiable numbers let’s look at those provided by the City. According to the City’s counters, accurate or not, a total of 131,779 riders used the lane in 2025.
In 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2118 and 2022 the city did traffic counts on 30th Street between University Ave. and North Park Way, which I think represents a good section to look at for the bike route. The average traffic for that section of 30th Street during that time period turned out to be 12,632 trips per day, both northbound and southbound. The numbers varied over those years, but the average is pretty representative of the per year totals. That means the annual use of the street amounts to about 4.5 million annual trips.
There’s an obvious demand and need for bike lanes. I use them myself. But we need to have a thoughtful conversation as to how much time, money and effort we want to devote to what is clearly a smaller segment of the transportation population. It would start with a comprehensive bike master plan and a strategy for implementing that plan- not seeming ad hoc decisions about where to put improvements which is what I have observed over the years.
Javier, SANDAG couldn’t properly count and charge people for years on a freeway then fired the whisleblower who said they were not addressing the situation. GThey got sued and had to pay big times. Don’t trust SANDAG.
Javier ..
You like numbers, right?
131,779 trips in 2025
THat’s 361 trips per DAY.
Using the very generous daylight hours per day of 12, that means there’s 30 trips per hour!
THat’s not even throwing out the rainy days, holidays, etc.
C’mom man .. you seriously believe there’s 30 trips per hour?
Imagine of all the things in the world going on you focused hateful discord on this of all issues, really astounding.
As a person who would rather ride a bike or walk instead of using a car it has been unfortunate to see how bad implementation of the bike lanes have made them an easy target. We have subsidized the automobile with our dollars for decades and now alternate forms of transportation are finally being given some of their fair share. Much like the good concept of an ADU our city government has managed to mess it up to the point of rebellion. We need alternate forms of transportation and increased density, we also need leaders that are not so dense.
Finally, there’s at least one person who makes a reasonable point that (I think) we can all agree with. Whether you ride a bike or not, the city’s haphazard, awkward and often seemingly devoid of actual thought implementation of a flawed bike master plan has been a disgrace, just like the ADU implementation, the trash fee implementation, the Balboa Park parking fee implementation – do I need to go on?
Pro- and anti-bike lane advocates – we all deserve better than we have been getting.
We don’t need data to believe our eyes. I have lived in North Park for decades. I go along 30th St. almost every day. I have been doing that since before bike lanes. Bikers are rare along the entire corridor…I am used to being surprised when I actually see them. Just as Kate Callen said…”Oh look! Someone is using the lane!” Data should always be subject to scrutiny. And there is nothing like lived experience to make you question it.
Rare lol? Maybe people on bikes are not a constant presence every single minute and granted some days or time frames there are more than others, but to say rare is just a flat out lie on your part. I live very close to that area. Just be honest Phyllis and say you don’t want the bike lanes there, whether they get used or not.
I am confused. October 4th-October 8th 2021 saw a thunderstorm move into the region. Are you discounting wet conditions outside of the two hour windows you measured? A lot of people don’t ride in wet conditions or if it is forecasted to rain. I see precipitation recorded for October 4th, 5th, and 8th.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2021/10/05/unusual-october-storm-leaves-awestruck-san-diego-in-its-wake-more-rain-may-be-coming/
My suggestion would be to validate your video counts against the bike counter readings for the same time periods as opposed to comparing a very small subset of data collected influenced by seasonality and special circumstances to data that is collected over the entirety of the year.
With gas prices high, hopefully more people adopt biking. Local businesses can help by offering bike racks and incentives. For example, Original 40 in North Park offers $5 pints for bikers on Saturdays.
Seek does the same on Sundays.
Just another example of vocal minority getting a bigger piece of the financial pie than their meager numbers would deserve. My usual commute involves Nimitz Blvd and W. Point Loma. Are there bikes? Sure, every third commute I might see ONE, and much of the time that’s a homeless rig pulling a trailer. In comparison there are at least 100 cars in the signal line with both lanes of Nimitz running back to Famosa Blvd. To see proposals for spending 11 million dollars/mile on University, shows that sanity has left the equation.
Why are some biking advocates so easily triggered by skepticism over bike lanes? What is the source of that anger? No one is attacking you personally. We are just expressing our opinion that we don’t actually see enough traffic in bike lanes to justify the investment of money and road space. How is that hateful or threatening? I honestly would like to understand this.
No one is attacking you, Kate. But you’re mixing up journalism with an opinion piece – which one do you want it to be? The one that is triggered here is you. What you see and whats actually being presented as data dont align – and quite frankly its sad that we need to point out that you’re not a data analyst and you don’t publish actual research for you to be so confident in your findings from 5 years ago. You haven’t responded to anybodys counterpoints( skepticism of your data, weather discrepancies, generations of car dependency, polling surveys from the community, etc) and instead you have victimized yourself when people dont wholeheartedly agree with you. I think we can all agree that the city has mismanaged a lot of these urban developments and policies – but you’re not really talking about that in this post… you’re making an argument that your eyes have more credibility and authority than SANDAG, which is honestly hilarious.
Having had experience with SANDAG during my career, I would only trust Kate’s eyes. You put a lot of faith in a seriously flawed organization. If that is the best authority you have, your credibility certainly suffers.
Please share with the class your experience with SANDAG – I dont know your credentials, so im not going to blindly assume anything your saying is true. For the record, I dont hold SANDAG to some pedestal – Im not saying they are an infallible institution… yes we should audit these counts and be skeptical with data – but from a third party that has no clear bias towards bike lanes. Saying you only trust Kates eyes is laughable and makes any further commentary from you dubious… comparing this blog post to an organization that publishes yearly reports on all sorts of data points is certainly a hot take.
My experience with SANDAG as a Civil Engineer.
When the City wanted to dredge the Children’s Pool in La Jolla to get rid of the seals, I asked SANDAG to evaluate the City’s EIR and engineering consultant’s report that stated that there was no problems with dredging a sand trap at the beginning of a littoral cell. SANDAG stated reviewing the EIR and the engineer’s report was not in their purview, even though they have a Shoreline Preservation Working Group that has the expertise to analyze the situation. Luckily the Army Corps of Engineers and Donna Frye came to the rescue.
SANDAG uses their FasTrak Road Usage Charge (RUC) Toll Collection system on the carpool lanes on Interstate I-15, so that people who do not carpool can pay to use the dedicated lanes. Except people who are carpooling are getting tickets in the mail for not having a FasTrak system. The result is people who carpool are scared to use the carpooling lanes for fear of being ticketed. I have brought this to SANDAG’s attention, but they have not bothered to investigate.
As of 2025, SANDAG spent over +$47 million buying portions of a downtown city block bounded by A, B, State, and Union Streets for a new SANDAG Headquarters and Bus Stopover Facility. When SANDAG started buying the land in 2014, I told them there is a presumed Active Fault on the property and they need to do their due diligence and conduct a fault investigation, because active faulting was already documented on site in the early 2000s and faulting is shown on Alquist-Priolo Earthquake Fault Maps. SANDAG ignored my warning and try to state that active faulting is not presumed in the downtown Special Studies Zone. When by State law, active faulting is presumed and scientific evidence to confirm or deny active faulting is required. The result is SANDAG stopped the building of their new Headquarters on the property. Then moved and leased new office space. And will now use the $47 million asphalt parking lot as a Bus Stopover to park buses. It has been 3 years since they made the decision, and no work on the Bus Stopover parking lot has begun. I took my issue to SANDAG’s audit committee for ignoring my seismic concerns. The audit committee closed my case and stating there are no issues, and refused to investigate my serious claims. No one was punished for lack of due diligence and buying property with a presumed active fault.
Then…
One block away from 30th is 29th, likely the widest residential street in the city.
That is where the bike lane should be.
Eliminating hundreds of parking spaces for a business district atop over a year of forced covid lockdowns is unfair. More felony stupid from city hall.
And what if I told you the City is paving the way to reintroduce SANDAG’s $160 Billion transit/ subway scheme that allows for no side trips? No? Why then downsizing major streets and causing gridlock blocking beach and other access – 30th St., Mission Bl., Clairemont Mesa Dr., Mira Mesa Bl., Park Bl., W. Pt. Loma, Governor Dr., Genesee, Sports Arena Blvd., La Jolla Bl. etc.?
Since the city is broke, why not pilot program 30th Street bike lane as a toll ?
Clairemont Drive bike lanes are always empty.
Obviously, the fresh air, exercise and sunshine doesn’t improve the hostile natures of the bike aficionados.
This makes no sense. If the city is broke, you would want to charge the drivers since its used more. That would incentivize using the bike lanes. Was this hostile quip at bike lane supporters as clever as you thought it was?
I drive my car south on 30th street every day in order to get to my my gym at El Cajon Blvd. intersection. This is only about 2 miles away from my house. I experimented with riding my bike down 30th but it genuinely does not feel safe riding a bike in those bike lanes. Each intersection is confusing mess which creates risk that I’ll be run over by a confused driver in a car. What is ironic is that I feel safer riding my bike down the street one block to the east, where there is NO bike lane, because there is less confusion at each intersection. Meanwhile I feel bad for the businesses and residents in the area who are dealing with this bike lane that seems (to me) to only cause confusion and risk of accidents at each intersection.
I’ll try this again.
My husband and I live in South Park, but those bike lanes go from my neighborhood down to Adams Avenue. I don’t have a problem with bike lanes; I have a problem with how they were rolled out. A lot of our neighbors and I made proposals for those lanes, which involved existing bike lanes on Utah Street, which is a lot safer and is void of delivery trucks parking in them, but no, the Mayor went along with a 200 very loud and overly sensitive minority who refused to consider a counter proposal. The existing bike lanes were stupidly designed and rolled out. They are dangerous too, as delivery drivers park in them and force riders to jump into traffic. I’ve already seen near misses near the Bluefoot and Smoking Goat. Also, NOT everyone is an able-bodied 25-year-old without kids and can ride to work. People have kids to drop off, seniors over a certain age can’t ride bikes, and the disabled. Ultimately, I blame the so-called leadership of this city, which is incompetent and incapable of making decisions that benefit all of us, not just a small minority.
Why was 30th Street picked over the established bike route on Utah Street in the first place ?
I seem to recall some guy on the North Park Planning Group promoting 30th Street so he could get weekend ice cream with his kids on a bike outing.
Is the cream store still there ?
A pilot program toll for 30th Street would be another way to establish real usage/need.
We pay for the bus and trolley and parking in Balboa Park.
Equity.
Well said, Kate, you obviously hit the cycle crowd’s nerve judging by the immediate flood of comments.
The Rag covered the reality of that 30th Street bike counter in my piece https://obrag.org/2022/03/bicycle-accidents-and-the-new-bike-counter-on-30th-street/. There is a section in the article with the heading “Bike Counter.” Anyone who believes that machine is accurate is very mistaken.
Javier, the link below will bring up a list of SANDAG’s scandals. Greg, the streets were bone dry during the 20 hours of rush-hour traffic video I viewed. There was no sign of rain — pedestrians were walking casually without umbrellas, and cars weren’t using their windshield wipers.
https://obrag.org/2024/04/doj-investigation-of-sandag-is-long-overdue-says-ut-editorial-board/
And Geoff, many thanks. Every bike lane story brings a surge of traffic to the Rag website, which is always a good thing.
Great article Kate Cullen.
The bike lanes were a huge c waste of money that should have been used to make bus stops comply with ADA, add bences and shelter covers, if the funds could not be used to repave our streets.
The Bike lanes on Lisbon St. In Jamacha Neighborhood violate the Transportation Element, Bicycle Figure, og 80 & pg 84, Open Space Element with Chollas Creek and they were placed on Lisbon St instead of designated area.
The Neighborhood Element pg 126, lists Lisbon St to be widened to 64 fèet based on 1987 traffic data, with alot less vehicles than today.
Instead City narrowed Lisbon St!!
Bikes are rarely seen and are still seen riding on the sidewalks instead of in the Bike lanes due to dirty bike lanes and inability for the Street sweeper machine to remove the sand, and speeding concerns.
So scandals invalidate data by default? Is that your argument? I was hoping you would be more honest about having a dialog about this, but its clear by your deflecting and lukewarm rebuttals that you care more about rage baiting blog posts for website traffic. You wont be getting any more SEO traffic from me. Best of luck.
Good riddance Javier
“So scandals invalidate data by default?” Trustworthy data comes from trustworthy people. If you can’t trust the one, the other is useless.
I’ve lived in North Park for 20 years and the 30th Street bike lanes are a disaster! Traffic backs up constantly and I hardly ever see anyone using them or the lanes on Pershing either. More people use them for exercising than for bike riding. Additionally, the city government overrode the wishes of homeowners and property tax payers in North Park to appease a small minority. My daily commute time has doubled as I sit in traffic looking at unused lanes. As someone mentioned above, nobody is going to ride a bike in their suit to work and arrive all sweaty and then ride uphill slowly after a long day. And let’s not forget bicyclists constantly run stop signs and ignore traffic laws creating additional hazards for drivers. I cannot stand driving on 30th Street…so many accidents waiting to happen and it’s a confusing mess. Whitburn, Gloria and the rest should be embarrassed and ashamed for this disastrous policy. Again, why was Utah not utilized? Businesses are closing in North Park but I guess at least the Airbnb rentals can ride in circles on the weekends. SMH!
Two observations, take it or leave it.
When the 30th Street bike lanes were installed all the cars that used to park on 30th and patronize businesses now park in the residential neighborhoods along 29th and Ray Street. That’s unfair to a 100+ year old neighborhood with poor infrastructure and little street parking.
Second, I patronize the Modern Times tap room at 30th and Upas on occasion. I count bikes while having a beer usually round lunch time. If two bikes pass the location in 20 minutes I’d be surprised. If I were biking in the neighborhood I’d much rather use the beautiful and wide 29th Street rather than the insanely busy 30th Street.