Protected bike lanes on 30th Street in North Park logged a ridership record in 2025, with bike and scooter trips jumping 15% over the past four years.
The bike lanes were installed in the summer of 2021 after years of debate. Some businesses feared losing customers due to the loss of street parking. A group of residents even sued the city in an effort to block the project.
Today, vacant storefronts along the bike lanes are filling up with new businesses, and foot traffic is up as residents move into new apartment buildings. Jason Vance, a North Park resident who chairs the North Park Planning Committee, said biking is often faster than driving for trips within the neighborhood.
"North Park is rapidly densifying, we're seeing all these giant buildings go in, and there's just not enough space for cars," said Vance, who also works for the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition. "Bikes are allowing more freedom of mobility. You'll notice there's never traffic in the bike lanes because they generally flow freely. They're small and nimble, they don't get stuck in traffic the way that cars do."
The city of San Diego installed a bike counter at 30th Street and University Avenue in 2022. The device, which counts both bikes and scooters, has shown steady ridership growth each year. The record of 131,779 trips in 2025 represents a 15% increase since 2022. Another bike counter maintained by SANDAG at 30th Street and Dwight Avenue showed a 67% surge in ridership between 2021 and 2022.
Vance said the bike lanes still need improvement. The plastic "flex-posts" that delineate the bike lanes are easy to run over, and the bike lanes are frequently blocked by illegally parked cars, he said.
"If we can get more of a Dutch-style, sidewalk-level bike lane, that's ideal," Vance said, referring to raised bike lanes that are separated from cars by a concrete curb. "This (design) was a quick way to get people biking, but we still have more work to do."
Vance added that 30th Street is part of a growing network of bike lanes in the urban core of San Diego, and that projects on Pershing Drive, University Avenue and Meade Avenue have also boosted bike ridership.
"San Diego has the best bicycling weather in the country, and many San Diegans have said they would ride their bikes more often if they felt it was safe," said San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, whose district includes North Park. "It is encouraging to see more people taking advantage of these safety improvements and enjoying our city’s beautiful outdoors."
