When it comes to bicycle infrastructure, Genevieve Morgan said Santa Fe is "a tale of two cities."

A daily bike commuter, Morgan said the first place she lived in Santa Fe was not accessible to her office from any bike trails or lanes, and she would often show up to work upset after close calls with vehicles.

After she moved, Morgan was able to bike to work along the Santa Fe Rail Trail, an experience she wishes everyone in the city could have. "It is the most stress-free, lovely bike commute," she said.

Morgan, a board member at cycling advocacy organization Bike Santa Fe, shared her experiences at a March City Council meeting where she and other members asked the councilors to invest more in bicycle infrastructure.

Since then, the city has rolled out initiatives aimed at promoting cycling, walking and public transit, including a pilot program making the city bus free to ride on Sundays and the installation of new bike racks at public parks.

Mayor Michael Garcia's administration also added $100,000 into the Complete Streets Division for maintenance of the city's bike paths in the fiscal year 2027 budget, a recurring line item Bike Santa Fe President Phil Lucero described as "unprecedented" for Santa Fe.

"That's something we're very excited about, that the city is starting to kind of prioritize and pay attention to bicycle pedestrian infrastructure needs at that level," he said.

While Lucero said he's excited by recent progress, he said advocating to make Santa Fe's streets less focused on vehicles and safer for cyclists and pedestrians is still "an uphill battle."

License plate reader cameras installed by the Santa Fe Police Department to fine speeding drivers were vandalized on their first day of operation Monday, and on Aug. 24, a pedestrian was struck and killed on St. Francis Drive.

Police identified the man as 70-year-old Santa Fe resident Martin J. Gurule in a Monday news release, which states the cause of the crash is under investigation.

Councilor Pat Feghali, who chairs the city's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, said road safety is a major concern.

"New Mexico, I think, still has the highest pedestrian fatality rate per capita in the country, and Santa Fe is not an outlier in that respect," she said in a Monday interview.

Feghali was one of the sponsors of a controversial proposal to close streets surrounding the Plaza to vehicle traffic in the summer, a measure the council approved in July as a one-year pilot beginning Memorial Day weekend 2027.

Lucero said Bike Santa Fe is in favor of the pilot and is eager to work with the city to help it run smoothly.

"We want to provide support, however we can, through our bike valets or whatever we need to do to make that a success," he said.

The bike valet program, which will be operating Friday at the 102nd Burning of Zozobra, allows people to leave their bikes at a secure location staffed by Bike Santa Fe members during events and pick them up at the end of the event.

"We even take strollers," Lucero said.

Lucero said Bike Santa Fe has had bike valets at all of the summer concerts in the Railyard, and the program has grown to the point that the nonprofit hired a bike valet coordinator for the first time this year.

He said the popularity of the program speaks to the need for more pedestrian and cycling infrastructure in Santa Fe, including protected bike lanes, which the city does not have.

"We are that perfect-size city where you can easily bike around the entire city so long as you feel safe … and right now that's the biggest impediment," he said.

Lucero said a lack of places to store bikes is also a barrier, something the city took a step toward addressing with the recent installation of bike racks at Monica Lucero, Villa Linda and Ragle parks.

Feghali said the city has purchased about 30 bike racks that will also be installed soon in the downtown area. The city is working on creating a pilot crosswalk across Paseo de Peralta between Alameda Street and Old Santa Fe Trail, which lacks a designated pedestrian crossing.

"Right now you can't really cross between Alameda and the Capitol, which is a long, long stretch of not being able to cross the street," she said.

The pilot is in the design stage and likely won't be up and running until next spring or summer, she said. But Santa Feans have one more opportunity to take advantage of a current pilot program: free city bus service on Sundays.

The city began the initiative June 7 to promote public transit over the summer, and it will conclude this weekend. However, city officials including Garcia have said they would like to keep the program going if results from the pilot period show it was well received.

"I need the data to show me that it's working because I do want to continue the service," Garcia said in a recent interview. "That is my hope — that the data will help to justify providing that free transportation opportunity."

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