Biking in Boston

MAPC has out a request for information out for a bike sharing operator to potentially replace the company behind Hubway:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/aaj3az8w7yd4v4v/MAPC 2016 Bike Share RFI.pdf?dl=0

The participating municipalities, through MAPC, seek to explore new technologies and ownership and operational structures that have developed in the bike share industry since the system’s inception in 2011. Specifically, MAPC seeks information from qualified entities that are interested in operating bike share systems like Hubway and can address in detail their qualified proposals for each of the system considerations listed below.

There's been a lot of turbulence with Alta/Motivate and their hardware and software suppliers, but also some good tech improvements by them and their competitors since Hubway launched.
 
If the MAPC does this (do they currently?) is there any chance we see innovation in how we can expand the geography without necessarily getting whole municipalites to sign on? I am thinking that even if we can't grow to Watertown, Chestnut Hill or Medford, that universities (Tufts in Medford and Watertown & BC) or other large employers/landowners with TDM plans (Wellington's Station Landing and Rivers Edge or Arsenal in Watertown, Gateway Center or Casino in Everett) could sponsor decent O/D bikes share stations.
 
The City of Boston has been Towing bikes that get reported on Bos311 as abandoned and taking them to the BTD Tow Lot at 200 Frontage Rd just besides the West Fourth St bridge.

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Great bike news for Cambridge today!

Western Avenue named best new American bike lane in 2015: http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/americas-10-best-new-bike-lanes-of-2015

Bike infrastructure sweeps Cambridge's participatory budgeting, all three bike projects that were on the ballot were funded:
http://pb.cambridgema.gov/pb2_vote_results_7_winning_projects

Sharrows for Mass Ave, green paint through intersections in Central and Inman plus some nebulous bike lane separation project. Each is a small project on its own, but it's really heartening to see that Cambridge residents are willing to vote with their (city's) wallet.
 
Great bike news for Cambridge today!

Western Avenue named best new American bike lane in 2015: http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/americas-10-best-new-bike-lanes-of-2015

Bike infrastructure sweeps Cambridge's participatory budgeting, all three bike projects that were on the ballot were funded:
http://pb.cambridgema.gov/pb2_vote_results_7_winning_projects

Sharrows for Mass Ave, green paint through intersections in Central and Inman plus some nebulous bike lane separation project. Each is a small project on its own, but it's really heartening to see that Cambridge residents are willing to vote with their (city's) wallet.

good news, but i gotta say most of the other ones look like theyre even better; salt lake city one is definitely MUCH better... but western ave LOOKS very good which is also important. what i dont get is why with a whole lane drop they were not able to make a two way cycle track. they shoudlve made the sidewalks narrower and had lanes for both directions. huge, huge loss in my opinion - despite being glad about the project.
 
That's great news! I'm extremely curious to know what the bike lane separation project entails.

In even more good news for Cambridge, I noticed this in the RFI that Scipio posted:

Cambridge (which is approximately 6 sq. miles) currently has 38 stations, with up to 10 additional to be added in 2016. The tremendous popularity of the system has meant that the demand for use is higher than the current supply, particularly in the eastern half of the city, so increasing density of stations as well as expansion to the uncovered areas is needed.
Only Cambridge listed numbers.


Cambridge is doing extremely well. Between 10 more hubway stations, these 3 projects, watertown greenway expansion, memorial drive path rebuild (DCR) and other infrastructure projects, Cambridge is becoming the leader. Hopefully as more people start biking, this will only increase the frequeny of these wins.
 
what i dont get is why with a whole lane drop they were not able to make a two way cycle track. they shoudlve made the sidewalks narrower and had lanes for both directions. huge, huge loss in my opinion - despite being glad about the project.

From what i remember, they couldn't narrow the sidewalk without impacting a lot of existing trees. The tree assets create the "buffer" between people walking and people riding.


When River Street is reconstructed, it will have a separated bike lane that will create a two-way pair to and away from Central Square. The cross streets connecting River and Western are mostly low stress streets and would be signed and marked accordingly.
 
good news, but i gotta say most of the other ones look like theyre even better; salt lake city one is definitely MUCH better... but western ave LOOKS very good which is also important. what i dont get is why with a whole lane drop they were not able to make a two way cycle track. they shoudlve made the sidewalks narrower and had lanes for both directions. huge, huge loss in my opinion - despite being glad about the project.

Did they actually do a whole lane drop? Western Ave is still two travel lanes, except for a small section by the new park. So that might've been one of the constraints.
 
Great bike news for Cambridge today!

Western Avenue named best new American bike lane in 2015: http://www.peopleforbikes.org/blog/entry/americas-10-best-new-bike-lanes-of-2015

Bike infrastructure sweeps Cambridge's participatory budgeting, all three bike projects that were on the ballot were funded:
http://pb.cambridgema.gov/pb2_vote_results_7_winning_projects

Sharrows for Mass Ave, green paint through intersections in Central and Inman plus some nebulous bike lane separation project. Each is a small project on its own, but it's really heartening to see that Cambridge residents are willing to vote with their (city's) wallet.

Sharrows do not belong on major roads. They are supposed to be for low volume low speed neighborways. Sharrows means there's some kind of political barrier to safe street design. It's a compromise.
 
Sharrows do not belong on major roads. They are supposed to be for low volume low speed neighborways. Sharrows means there's some kind of political barrier to safe street design. It's a compromise.
These stretches of Mass Ave, while busy, are not particularly high-speed (except for very particular "races" such as from Rindge to Franks Steakhouse)

From Central to Trowbridge (the threshold of Harvard) are effectively 1-lane and do move pretty slowly. I'm a 12mph kinda biker and regularly find myself out-commuting the cars from Central to the Arlington/MVP line (about 3 to 4 days per week).

A protected bike lane, or a bus-and-bike lane would be awesome, but in the meantime, I'd be happy for the sharrows. The right lane in many stretches is overwide and I'd be grateful for some help either nudging cars fully leftward to (or over) the dotted line (which works OK...the real problem is the people who drive down the *middle* of the right lane when they pass us people on bikes.), or out of the right lane when passing, such as here at Rindge (photo from the PB campaign)
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^That cyclist looks suspiciously like me:nerdy with orange backpack, though I think I ride further left out of the door zone.

Most Mass Ave users already know that there's going to be a mix of bikes and 77 buses. (whichever garage staffs the 77s is, by now, fully educated on sharing, even if we still see complaints about drivers on other routes) I commuted Mass Ave by car for a year before I switched to bike so I've seen both sides and I think there's a general social pact that makes it work.

Howie Carr wrote a column complaining how the bikes were beating him on "outer" Mass Ave (he said it was bikes running red lights, which is too common, but the reality is I stop for all reds and still beat the cars at rush hours). Yes, he's wrong, but he understands that the Car ain't King on Mass Ave--even though he hates it, he knows there's a dynamic that requires him to change (New signs put "the howies" on notice for paying more attention).

The signs and sharrows are really to alert the occasional and outside "visitor" cars that need some help tuning in to the local "feel" of Mass Ave. The New Hampshire cars and work pickups, in particular, seem to drive like they're still in Nashua, and I like that Cambridge will be sending them the message "No, really, you need to drive differently here." (even if there is, as yet, no bike lane).
 
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Did they actually do a whole lane drop? Western Ave is still two travel lanes, except for a small section by the new park. So that might've been one of the constraints.

wasnt western three lanes before?
 
Last week, a young teen biker was riding his bike on Washington Street in the opposite direction of the traffic.

When I told him about it, he got mad at me and knock on my car! Seems the bikers don't like being told when they are wrong. He needs to get
over it. Deal with it.
 
I was driving south on the Greenway and went to turn right onto State Street. I made sure to check the bike lane on the right to that I didn't cut off a cyclist (I always defer to them on right turns there). Then, a cyclist comes from the sidewalk across the crosswalk in the opposite direction from traffic and gets all pissy about cars not watching for him (on the sidewalk in the wrong direction!). Cyclists like that give the ones who obey traffic rules a bad name.
 
Cyclists like that give the ones who obey traffic rules a bad name.

+1. I got into an altercation (we were both cycling) with a cyclist like that last week on Columbus. I would love more enforcement of bad behavior for all road users.
 
Every so often I see this cyclist on Columbus Ave/Southwest Corridor who is just out of control. He rides a bike that is way too big for him which causes him to veer all of the place as he peddles. He plows into crosswalks while peds are crossing and they're forced to scatter. He carelessly darts across Mass Ave while they have a green light and beep at him. He really pisses me off. He looks to be at least in his 40s. Errrr.

It's hard enough for cyclists to leave a positive impression on non-cyclists in general. It's nearly impossible with reckless people like him around.
 
Every so often I see this cyclist on Columbus Ave/Southwest Corridor who is just out of control. He rides a bike that is way too big for him which causes him to veer all of the place as he peddles. He plows into crosswalks while peds are crossing and they're forced to scatter. He carelessly darts across Mass Ave while they have a green light and beep at him. He really pisses me off. He looks to be at least in his 40s. Errrr.

It's hard enough for cyclists to leave a positive impression on non-cyclists in general. It's nearly impossible with reckless people like him around.

I know who you are talking about! Sadly, he was not the person with which I had the altercation. Very frustrating to see these people as a conscientious, law-abiding cyclist.
 
I was driving south on the Greenway and went to turn right onto State Street. I made sure to check the bike lane on the right to that I didn't cut off a cyclist (I always defer to them on right turns there). Then, a cyclist comes from the sidewalk across the crosswalk in the opposite direction from traffic and gets all pissy about cars not watching for him (on the sidewalk in the wrong direction!). Cyclists like that give the ones who obey traffic rules a bad name.

The greenway is bad. I've seen far too many close calls there. This past summer I watched someone get doored by someone exiting a cab in the right travel lane. This person even had the gall to yell at the cyclist even though they were the one who did something wrong. People drive in bike lanes there, so it's no wonder people bike on the sidewalks. Needs better design.
 
Unless I'm in a hurry I always ride in the middle, but am careful to be mindful of turning cars. However, when I'm down there it's never for commuting- and when it is, I use the road. Be careful out there, people.
 
The greenway is bad. ... People drive in bike lanes there, so it's no wonder people bike on the sidewalks. Needs better design.

The Greenway design was bad from the start, with a huge missed opportunity for separated bike lanes and transit along the corridor. Kind of like Seaport Boulevard in that respect.

As for people parking/driving in the bike lanes, there are a bunch of bike safety bills coming up for a hearing on Jan 6 at the State House. One of them (at long last) allows for fines for cars in bike lanes!

There's more info at MassBike here: http://massbike.org/blog/2015/12/29/state-house-hearings-on-key-bike-bills-set-for-jan-6/
 
Brookline is considering a double-buffered bike lane on part of Beacon Street westbound, from the end of Coolidge Corner to the start of Washington Square.
This Thursday, Jan. 7 the Brookline Transportation Division will present a proposed plan for a buffered bike lane on Beacon St[1] westbound between Marion St and Westbourne Terrace. This section of Beacon St is a major gap in the bike network and it is a highly traveled corridor for people biking in and through Brookline. We need residents of Brookline as well as anyone who bikes on this section of Beacon St to show up and speak up for these buffered bike lanes!


Below is the Brookline Bicycle Advisory Committee's proposal for Beacon St. The buffered bike lane would replace the rightmost travel lane on this stretch. The Brookline Department of Public Works conducted an assessment of vehicle traffic on Beacon St[2] with the proposed buffered bike lane, and found the effect of removing the travel lane minor enough for them to recommend the proposal. However, there could be a fair amount of opposition to removal of a travel lane. In order to make this proposal a reality we need to voice OUR support for it! Show up to support the Brookline Bicycle Advisory Committee and the DPW and let them know that we want to see these plans executed!


Meeting details are below. If you are unable to attend you may submit comments to the Bicycle Advisory Committee.[3]
Beacon St Bicycle Accommodation Public Meeting Thurs. Jan. 7, 7:00 PM Brookline Town Hall, Selectmen's Hearing Room, 6th Floor 333 Washington Street Brookline, MA

This is far from the first separated bikeway proposal for Beacon Street in Brookline. In order from oldest to newest:

1880s
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1976
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2016
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