A local photographer recently shared some beautiful street captures from walking around San Francisco — the kind of shots that remind you this city is still one of the most photogenic places on Earth. But spend enough time walking these streets, and you'll notice something the tourism board doesn't put on postcards: cars parked squarely in bike lanes, with zero consequences.

It's become one of those quintessentially San Francisco problems — the city spends millions installing bike infrastructure, paints the lanes green, adds plastic bollards, holds press conferences about Vision Zero, and then simply doesn't enforce any of it. SFMTA citation data tells the story: a grand total of 11 tickets were issued for blocking a bike lane on 2nd Street in all of 2025 through late March. Eleven. Each carrying a whopping $158 fine — roughly the cost of a nice dinner in the Marina.

As one local put it, "Bike lanes are essentially free parking for cars and trucks because SFMTA will not ticket or tow from a bike lane. They would rather a vehicle illegally park in a bike lane than block a vehicle lane or pay for parking."

The irony isn't lost on residents either. Another SF local noted sarcastically, "Good thing our benevolent mayor is spending enforcement time citing cyclists for running lights on empty streets!" Because apparently that's where the city's limited enforcement energy goes — ticketing commuter cyclists on Market Street while delivery trucks camp out in protected lanes with impunity.

Here's the fiscal conservative take: if you're going to build the infrastructure, enforce the rules that justify the investment. If you're not going to enforce them, stop spending taxpayer money building lanes that function as supplementary loading zones. Pick one. The current approach — spend the money, skip the accountability — is the worst of both worlds.

San Francisco doesn't have a bike lane problem or a car problem. It has a follow-through problem. The city excels at grand gestures and crumbles at basic governance. That's not a cycling issue — it's a management issue. And until City Hall decides that rules apply to everyone equally, our shiny green bike lanes will remain what they've always been: the most expensively painted parking spots in America.