The Bay Trail is playing an increasingly prominent role in recreation and transportation planning in the Bay Area as its multiple benefits become recognized by more and more people.  Following are a few of the most important benefits offered by the Bay Trail.

• The Bay Trail provides easily accessible opportunities for recreation and exercise that are removed from the hazards of motor vehicles, and that are free or inexpensive.  This promotes the physical and mental health and wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents who enjoy bicycling, walking, jogging, skating and other outdoor pursuits.

• The Bay Trail offers a setting for wildlife observation and broader environmental education.

• The Bay Trail improves access to the waterfront, enhancing appreciation of the many natural, recreational, historic and cultural resources along the Bay shoreline.  This increases people’s respect and admiration for the Bay, which, in turn, creates an incentive to protect its many resources and preserve waterfront open space.

• The Bay Trail creates a much -needed visual amenity in developed areas—especially when landscaped—and provides a friendly, comfortably scaled place that brings people together.

• The Bay Trail offers a transportation alternative—especially when complemented by local bike routes—by providing access to residential neighborhoods, commercial districts, employment centers, schools and universities, numerous points of interest, and recreational areas like beaches, marinas, parks, fishing piers and golf courses.  In this way, the Bay Trail helps reduce traffic, air pollution, water pollution and other environmental impacts of motorized transportation.

• By connecting to numerous public-transportation facilities—including ferry terminals, bus stops, and Caltrain and BART stations—the Bay Trail serves as an alternative for longer trips, and contributes to increased transit ridership.  (This is especially true now that most transit systems in the region allow bikes on board their vehicles.)  Also, by offering access across some of the Bay Area’s toll bridges and linking to BART stations and all ferry terminals in the region, the Bay Trail provides an alternative way to cross the Bay.

• The Bay Trail connects nearly one hundred waterfront parks, creating a “greenbelt” along the shoreline.

• By focusing attention on the waterfront, the Bay Trail spurs planning efforts, which often contribute to the revitalization of neglected areas, promote local economic development and foster tourism.

• Finally, by linking all nine Bay Area counties and 47 cities, the Bay Trail reminds us of our shared connection to San Francisco Bay and reinforces the Bay Area’s growing sense of regionalism.