Biking in Boston

Biking year round in Boston is definitely doable. I've been doing it for 8 years! The most important things in winter: lights, thin hat to go under your helmet and cover your ears, gloves, and light waterproof pants to pull over your regular pants for when it's raining or snowing. Wear one fewer (or lighter) layer than you would if you were driving or walking or else you'll get too hot. The only time I won't bike is if the road is full of snow. Motorists are actually surprisingly patient when there is snow on the ground. Sometimes you have to ride in the tire tracks of cars, but most people will just wait behind you. In the last few winters, I've seen more and more people bicycling than I have in the past. This makes it even less stressful since you're not the only one out there and other people actually expect to see you.
 
Hubway has been pulling random stations in anticipation of their winter shutdown. Looks like 4-5 are gone for the year.

Edit: Official closure begins next Monday. Once again, system to be gone before Thanksgiving.

Edit2: Lol, looks like the helmet rental just launched. One whole week of being useful!
 
Rumor has it that there is on-going negotiation working to keep it open through the winter.
 
Does anyone else find the SW Corridor to be very confusing in the South End/Back Bay portion?

The wayfinding completely disappears, you're crammed onto mysteriously tiny sidewalks with tons of pedestrians, sometimes there's a roadway but the curb cuts don't make any sense, and there's stairs where you might expect a bike should go.
 
I don't think that section was really designed for bikes at all, only for pedestrians.
 
Unless you're biking at walking speed taking in the flowers, it's better to just jump on the bike lanes on Columbus Ave between Ruggles and Back Bay Station.
 
Randomgear said:
Unless you're biking at walking speed taking in the flowers, it's better to just jump on the bike lanes on Columbus Ave between Ruggles and Back Bay Station.
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There is a path between those areas? I always bike down Columbus because I thought the path between Mass ave and Back Bay Station was pedestrian only.
 
You can ride there, but it requires careful attention to where all the curb cuts are. You are sort of hopping back and forth between pedestrian pathways and quiet, driveway-like one-lane streets.
 
The "flower route" is on the Boston Bikes map, as a premier off-street route. Maybe they should have thought a bit before putting it on the map.
 
I'm glad you guys bring this up. I think it's a real waste that biking that corridor is so inconvenient. With properly aligned curb cuts and markings (both on the raised path and on the side street) you could have a great bike route. Added benefit of having the path change grades, as it would, is that it would be in-built "traffic calming" along the shared walking/biking corridor.

PS Google maps also shows it as a prime bike corridor. Side note: what's the use of the cycling map on google anyway, does it actually help anyone to see the green scritchityscratches?
 
I've used the Google Map a bit to try and see the network structure. Usually conditions on the ground don't live up to expectations though.
 
Shepard said:
I'm glad you guys bring this up. I think it's a real waste that biking that corridor is so inconvenient. With properly aligned curb cuts and markings (both on the raised path and on the side street) you could have a great bike route. Added benefit of having the path change grades, as it would, is that it would be in-built "traffic calming" along the shared walking/biking corridor.

PS Google maps also shows it as a prime bike corridor. Side note: what's the use of the cycling map on google anyway, does it actually help anyone to see the green scritchityscratches?
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DCR owns the park - the city owns the adjacent streets, sidewalks, and curb cuts. Unfortunately, the city's transportation department is about 20 years behind in their understanding of bike infrastructure and the roll-out is primarily about striping temporary lanes, not actually addressing signalling at problem intersections or creating more permanent facilities... It's pretty sad that MassDOT is the one pushing the real cycle tracks (not those fake ones next to the common) and signalling in the casey project.

I know this is baby steps, but if Walsh is really interested in vulnerable road-user safety he'd have a much more aggressive approach. We'll see what he does, though.
 
rinserepeat said:
DCR owns the park - the city owns the adjacent streets, sidewalks, and curb cuts. Unfortunately, the city's transportation department is about 20 years behind in their understanding of bike infrastructure and the roll-out is primarily about striping temporary lanes, not actually addressing signalling at problem intersections or creating more permanent facilities... It's pretty sad that MassDOT is the one pushing the real cycle tracks (not those fake ones next to the common) and signalling in the casey project.

I know this is baby steps, but if Walsh is really interested in vulnerable road-user safety he'd have a much more aggressive approach. We'll see what he does, though.
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Rinse -- while I'm not a big fan of intrusive BIG Government -- I think its time that bicyclists understand what the rules of the road are -- some enforcement would do wonders for the relationship between bikes, pedestrians and cars -- save a lot of tempers and bloody bodies and more than a few lives

Today Bikes cross intersections with impunity or at least inferred immunity from Newtonian Mechanics -- when the light is green they are a vehicle yet if it turns red they turn into pedestrians on wheels. since they can do this Transformers routine -- when they come to an intersection with No- Right on Red they suddenly become pedestrians and sail on -- signs don't seem to apply
 
Quite honestly I'd prefer if they would fix the curb cuts and biker/pedestrian interactions at all of the road crossings outside of Mass Ave first. Forcing bikers and pedestrians to merge/cross at rox crossing and ruggles in particular is just asking for trouble.
 
Too bad they won't try it systemwide, although I guess I can't blame them for wanting to pilot this on a small scale.

Do we know anything yet about new stations opening next year?
 
Somerville Union Square road design kickoff meeting last night (yes, another Union Square design process). The city has hired Toole Design Group, "the nation's leading planning, engineering and landscape architecture firm specializing in bicycle and pedestrian transportation" for the two-wheel/two-foot stuff. Toole did Boston's Complete Streets guidelines (http://bostoncompletestreets.org/) which is great for regional planning cohesion. Parsons Brinkerhoff is the lead on the whole project.
 
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