Biking in Boston

[piggiston]

This reminds me of the opposite type of sign, seen on Inman Street in Cambridge: "If you can read this you're biking the wrong way."

 

[jass]

Remember Boston being the first American city to get a giant bike share program?

Well, a whole year has been wasted.

On Tuesday, a NEW RFP will be issued for bike share providers to bid.

Last September, Bixi won the contract to start service this past March. Apparently, even though they made it very clear in their proposal that they wanted Boston to pay for everything, the city chose them anyway, even though throughout the entire process the city said they wouldnt pay a dime.

It makes the mind explode.

Meanwhile, down in DC, their new expanded program launches in two weeks.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Bike shares really help environment?
BOSTON
JUSTIN RICE
Published: September 14, 2010 11:59 p.m.
Last modified: September 15, 2010 12:02 a.m.

Montreal?s Bixi bike share ? the model for a similar program in Boston set to launch this spring ? doesn?t fight climate change as much as previously believed.

Researchers from McGill University found the environmental benefits of Bixi are ?grossly exaggerated? since most trips taken on the bike-sharing service replace other ?green? modes of transportation.

The survey hoped to gauge interest in integrating cycling and transit.

?The responders are already integrated in cycling and transit,? said David Loutzenheiser of Metropolitan Area Planning Council, which is currently putting Boston?s bike share out to bid.

?So it?s already people doing that now, so it?s not people necessarily in cars. It even mentions in the study the sample is biased.?

Boston?s bike share has received $3 million in federal funding. More than 500 bike share stations will be located at or near MBTA stations, creating 2 million new bike trips per year.

- http://www.metro.us/boston/local/article/635213--bike-shares-really-help-environment


When this article was in the paper, it had some interesting charts, but apparently they aren't on the site.... They were half the article. I'd scan them or something but I doubt I still have the paper.

 

[jass]

The new RFP hasnt been issued yet.

I think the reason is that the fed money means buy american.

Bixi, of course, is Canadian.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

So I was in Central Square today, just sort of hanging around the bus shelter waiting for someone. The buses and delivery trucks in the bike lanes seem a bit too common. And bikes have to face car doors opening, buses swerving in and out, etc... I was thinking, would it be better or worse to have the bike lanes in the middle of the street? Maybe then you could even put a curb on the sides of the lanes or some of those plastic reflector pole things.

 

[Shepard]

Shoulder bike lanes seem to work fine on quieter streets. On major roads with buses and double parking I've always thought there should be bike lanes between the road and sidewalk at the same grade as the sidewalk (I believe Vassar St has this - anywhere else?) Maybe some situations would also call for center bike lanes like you suggest... I think the key is not in consistency but in adapting a best-fit system for each situation.

 

[crash575]

At grade bike lines like vasser street tend to invite pedestrians to use them as a sidewalk. Nothing like zooming down the bike lane and nearly killing a kid.

 

[HenryAlan]

So I was in Central Square today, just sort of hanging around the bus shelter waiting for someone. The buses and delivery trucks in the bike lanes seem a bit too common. And bikes have to face car doors opening, buses swerving in and out, etc... I was thinking, would it be better or worse to have the bike lanes in the middle of the street? Maybe then you could even put a curb on the sides of the lanes or some of those plastic reflector pole things.

Mutiple solutions are required. The new lanes on Comm Ave. (back bay, not BU) are between the left lane and the median. I see these as among the safest street bike lanes in the city. However, for many streets, the number of cars turning left or pulling out of driveways and such might make the middle no better than the right side. One thing to keep in mind is that safe cycling (just like safe driving) requires the cyclist to pay attention to escape routes so that when an unexpected hazard occurs, the cyclist can react. A bike lane in the middle requires focus to be placed in more places than one on the side. I think the best option is a bike lane between the curb and parked cars, especially if there is a bump between it and the parking lane. It eliminates the double parking and bus issue, and greatly reduces the likelihood of dooring. The thing is, many of the arterial roads in Boston lack capacity for a more substantial bike lane infrastructure than what you'll see on Columbus Ave., Washington St., etc. They are better than nothing (though some will argue that point) but they aren't ideal.

 

[jass]

According to this blog , a bike cage is coming to Ashmont next spring.

It follows the ones at Alewife, Forest Hills and South Station.

 

[statler]

This is probably as old as the hills, but I just saw this quote in the Weekly Dig:

Cars run on money and make you fat. Bikes run on fat and save you money.

 

[jass]

New bike lanes, from the city's biking facebook page

Western Ave

E-line

Lake street

 

[Shepard]

In the second to last photo, shouldn't the bike lane be perpendicular to the tracks rather than crossing at an angle like that?

 

[HenryAlan]

In the second to last photo, shouldn't the bike lane be perpendicular to the tracks rather than crossing at an angle like that?

I think the angle is close enough to perpendicular to allow for safe crossing. The second photo shows a green bike lane. Some of these can also be found on Comm. Ave. I am a big fan of these, and hope the city will eventually paint all of them. They stand out far better than other lane types. Of course, Boston has made great strides, but still has so much further to go. I'm happy with waiting for green lanes if they want to place the focus on more lanes for now.

 

[Lurker]

The green is only being used for bike boxes (maybe 5% of drivers seem understand what those are for, despite the big honking signs next the new ones) and high risk areas. I really worry about the maintenance of all the new bicycle infrastructure. This city and state has a bad record of even keeping stop lines or crosswalks painted. So it's going to be painful to watch what happens after a season of salting/sanding takes its toll on the paint/thermoplastic.

 

[erikyow]

I, too, am impressed with the strides the city and state have been making to make the region more bike friendly. But, I agree with Lurker. Take a look at what passes for road markings in a lot of places. We all know that Menino has ADD and once he feels his mission to make the city bike-friendly is complete, he'll move on to something new and the infrastructure will start to fall by the wayside. The only way to really prevent that would be physically segregated bike lanes, but I don't think anyone is going to pony up for that, not to mention the limited use it would have given the narrow streets. But, I do think all these lovely lines, pictograms and sharrows will be just bits of white paint in a couple of years, in no way recognizable to what they're meant to represent.

 

[GW2500]

If biking continues to grow in popularity and gets used more and more, that should help keep the maitnance of them in the fore-front.

 

[Lurker]

The problem with physically segregated bike lanes are that they reinforce the notion that bicycles do not belong on streets and streets belong to cars. Pedestrians get knocked even lower on the pecking order, streets get anti-urbanely wider, automotive traffic gets faster, and the opposite of 'livable streets' is ultimately achieved. While this argument is used against all bicycle specific infrastructure by the hardcore vehicular cyclist bigots, whom don't want anyone they consider not hardcore enough on the street with them, there is some merit to it. Bicycles need to remain part of existing streets with lanes and sharrows. Physically segregated facilities such as cycle-tracks need to only be employed in the most dire of safety situations and quite preferably should be designed as buffered lanes rather than part of sidewalks.

 

[erikyow]

If biking continues to grow in popularity and gets used more and more, that should help keep the maitnance of them in the fore-front.

Except we've seen how well the city and state take care of road markings for cars, and cars are pretty popular. Adding legitimate bike lanes makes road markings that much more important and I don't know if I trust the city and state (depending on jurisdiction) to maintain them to a necessary standard.

Lurker: While I was mainly using segregated bike lanes as an example of infrastructure that the city/state could build and neglect (for at least some time). I think you and I are both in agreement that the region's track record on keeping road markings in good condition is lacking at best.

Furthermore, I know that segregated bike lanes wouldn't work in much of Boston. You would need to sacrifice on-street parking in most cases. In the Financial District, where on-street parking could be done away with, the streets are narrow enough that speed and segregation aren't as important. In places, like along the Back Bay stretches of Comm. Ave. and Beacon St. where cars tend to fly because they are wide one-way (or divided two-way) streets, on street parking is essential.

In addition, most of the places that fit the bill for segregated bike lines (at least in the two examples I can think of below) are hardly places that would ever get the moniker "livable".

http://vic.gedris.org/node/295
boulevard de Maisonneuve, Montr?al. A one-way that passes through downtown Montr?al. Cuts through a canyon of office towers, hotels and shopping centres. In many ways, de Maisonneuve is the 'alley' for more the more popular streets of Sherbrooke and Ste-Catherine.

http://media.photobucket.com/image/University Avenue Toronto/thecharioteer/UniversityAve.jpg
University Ave., Toronto. A pilot project that was cancelled before it got off the ground was to see the interior lanes of each direction closed off for bike lanes that would be segregated by flexible bollards. In the event that the pilot was successful, the plan was to put more permanent infrastructure in place. The plan was cancelled due to a lack of money, though I'm sure the cries of the suburbanites who drive downtown didn't help. Now, with a new, pro-car mayor, this idea will not be resurrected anytime soon. University is nothing but hospitals and office buildings. A few condo developments are taking place but nothing that will be able to change the overall desolate feeling of this street.

Again, I'm not necessarily advocating this for Boston (though, I do think there are some contexts where it could work, like the new Western Ave. stretch, especially given that double line. Flexible bollards or a small concrete divider could work well there), just more showing how, in certain contexts, they can be useful for keeping cyclists safe on faster streets. I wouldn't recommend them for slower, more mixed-use/residential areas.

 

[HenryAlan]

If biking continues to grow in popularity and gets used more and more, that should help keep the maitnance of them in the fore-front.

I think the key point is that cyclists need to notice and report deteriorated infrastructure. I haven't done this in regard to bike lanes, but I have a few times contacted my city counselor regarding road related issues and he has been very responsive. The city has resources to do repair type maintenance, but probably does not have resources to monitor deterioration. That's our job.

 

[jass]

I really worry about the maintenance of all the new bicycle infrastructure. .

I really dont understand why November is bike painting month. Just in time for the salt and plows.

Last November also saw 4 or 5 bike lane projects pop up right before the end of the painting season.