Ped crossing signal requires manual activation

The pedestrian crossing signal here to cross Arboretum Rd is synchronized with the green light for Palm Drive cars, but requires a manual press of the beg button before the green phase begins. Given the heavily trafficked path here (which is the main path between Stanford and Palo Alto), there are nearly always pedestrians waiting at this intersection. But if someone forgets to press the button, or arrives at the intersection just after the green phase starts for Palm Drive, they have to wait an entire cycle—several minutes, and long enough to wonder if the light is working. All this despite the fact that most users (especially bikes, which are one of the heaviest users) do not need the full length of the phase to cross. Many pedestrian and bike users resort to running the red light because the cycle is so long. Simply making the pedestrian signal automatically triggered rather than requiring a manual beg would go a long way to improving the usability of this intersection for non-car users. Even better would be an explicit stoplight for bikes and ideally shortening the time of each phase so the wait time reduces.