Biking in Boston

[Lurker]

By not everybody I think the more accurate word is most, and sure I'm for bike lanes. But recognize that this Country/State/City dosn't spend billions/millions on road creation and maintance for your huffies.

A Huffy is a department store 'bike shaped object' meant to be ridden by children. Your use of that term is rather derrogatory and implies a complete unfamiliarity with any type of bicycle adults would use for transportation. You also seem to be blissfully unaware that if it wasn't for the lobbying of cyclists at the turn of the last century paved roads and the automobile industry would have never existed outside of cities.

It's main reason is for the hundreds of millions of automobiles which plays a VASTLY larger part of our economy, you guys kind of benefit from the infrastructure required.

Cars originally benefited from the infrastructure bicyclists had built. The law also states that bicycles are legal vehicles on anything except certain types of highways, so the infrastructure belongs to all vehicles not specifically for any type, such as cars, which you are implying.

And I'm not against bike lanes, but in SPECIFIC cases where car lanes are removed for bikes lanes, all and all I'm convinced transportation volume goes down.

Overbuilding roads, having overly wide travel lanes, adding travel lanes to narrow streets where the don't belong like the Jamaica Way, and generally forcing the public into one mode of transportation is why we have congestion problems. The focus on VOLUME is 1950s thinking which gave us Storrow Drive and the Central Artery at the expense of a commuter rail system and public transit system which is now costing tens of billions of dollars to restore.

Also do you bicylclists pay an excise tax? And while the gax tax should be increased, again its more the car drivers paying for those roads more so than bicyclists.

Trucks pay a lot more in taxes than cars. I guess all those semi-trailers carrying freight should have the right to knock all personal vehicles off the road then?

And to speak hypothetically, if you were to take all of the trips a metropolitian area does in a day (not really sure how you could every really calculate that) by all methods, auto, mass transit, walking, and biking. I'm pretty sure bicylcists would be a sliver. And the main reason I think it to be that is for all the times when doing it by bike isn't that desireable.

In cities which have proper bicycle infrastructure, in a similar climate to Boston, the percentage of people traveling by bicycle is slightly less than 40% YEAR ROUND.

The whole bike image in this country is spandex wearing roadies, kids on department store crap, hipsters, illegal-aliens, DUIs, homeless people, and aging granola eating tie-dye clad hippies. In the other parts of the world not incestuously obsessed with the combustion engine is it this:

http://vimeo.com/8212899

But of course the weather and traffic in the video doesn't look anything like Boston, except that it does.

 

[cden4]

I see a lot of people shopping by bike as well. Some people have baskets on the front or back of their bike which can hold one or more grocery bags. Others use backpacks. I live near Porter Square and as Ron mentioned I always see people shopping by bike.

Bicycle infrastructure is dirt cheap, especially when it only involves adding paint to existing roadways. We spend less than 1% of our transportation dollars on walking and bicycling. The return on investment is huge.

The gas tax does not pay for most roads. It only pays for about 60% or so and only for state and federal roads. Local roads are paid for by general taxes, which we ALL pay for.

 

[Shepard]

Here's a question: are bike lanes less useful on narrow commercial streets? I would think that where car traffic is stop-and-go and rarely picks up more than 20mph, the conditions are ideal for bikes to share the car lanes. But if we're talking about moving bikes through the area, then I wonder whether a bypass on a parallel street might be more useful. For example, I've always thought that the Central Sq bike lane should have been routed onto Green Street, because bikes using Mass Ave to access local amenities are far safer sharing the car lane than the bus-cramming bike lanes.

From Uhub comments it seems some Charlestown bikers agree and think the bike lanes should use Medford Street as a bypass:

By SwirlyGrrl - 12/7/10 - 2:44 pm#15.Daily commute - Medford street. Same for my cycling coworkers, and they had been riding 4+ and 7 years on that route. We all used Medford and not Main because Main is narrow and harrowing to ride end to end.

Main meant constant in/out traffic on the street spaces. Main street also has psychotic bus drivers trying to make up time on impossible schedules and not giving a shit about who they kill. It is also too narrow for bike lanes that keep cyclists safely away from the constant flow of door hazards - I know, I used to ride it regularly to get groceries and to test whether or not it was a better route. Putting in a bike lane would force cyclists into the door zone, because the drivers would expect bikes to stay in it.

I would use Main only so far as to get to Foodmaster to stock up on lunch food. I'm not into that three dimensional video game called Door Hazard Jamboree when I only got one life.

 

[statler]

Lurker, I agree with most everthing you've said, but I like the J-Way. I think trying to cram as many automobiles into the least amount of infrastructure possible. Yes, that pushes the bike on to pedestrian pathways but there is plenty of room for dedicated bike trails along the J-Way.

 

[GW2500]

A Huffy is a department store 'bike shaped object' meant to be ridden by children. Your use of that term is rather derrogatory and implies a complete unfamiliarity with any type of bicycle adults would use for transportation. You also seem to be blissfully unaware that if it wasn't for the lobbying of cyclists at the turn of the last century paved roads and the automobile industry would have never existed outside of cities.

If that offended you I'm glad. Biclycists STOP talking like your MLK in the 1960's. Your not this oppressed people, you ride a bike nothing more to it. And do you honestly think the automobile would have not caught on (or should I rather say exploded exponentially) if it wern't for bikes? You don't think its just an invention mankind fell in love w/ from day one and was only a matter of time before roads were to be built for it.

Cars originally benefited from the infrastructure bicyclists had built. The law also states that bicycles are legal vehicles on anything except certain types of highways, so the infrastructure belongs to all vehicles not specifically for any type, such as cars, which you are implying.

That was 100 years ago and since then it was the auto has taken over in popularity in a free market society. People choose to buy cars, b/c cars are amazing things. The production of them also greatly helped create the middle class, that was also something that changed in the last 100 years. And I do think the FAR LARGER amount of people who pay taxes and primarily want to use the roads for cars should be first in the pecking order.

Overbuilding roads, having overly wide travel lanes, adding travel lanes to narrow streets where the don't belong like the Jamaica Way, and generally forcing the public into one mode of transportation is why we have congestion problems. The focus on VOLUME is 1950s thinking which gave us Storrow Drive and the Central Artery at the expense of a commuter rail system and public transit system which is now costing tens of billions of dollars to restore.

I'm all for Mass Transit and making it more robust. Having one dose not mean you can't have the other. And at some point your going to have to respect the sheer volume of people that do get around via auto's. It's impresive in it's own right and IMO only mass tranist is going to really make a dent in getting cars off the road. You guys speak as if it currently isn't vital to how we live and can go away tommorow.

Trucks pay a lot more in taxes than cars. I guess all those semi-trailers carrying freight should have the right to knock all personal vehicles off the road then?

When I say automobile I also mean trucks (I'll give you how you could see otherwise), and it still dosn't change the fact the auto's pay more into the road infrastructure. Also a whole lot more commerce is done b/c of the auto which is to say far more tax dollars are generated b/c of auto's than your bikes. So in many ways me and my automobilers pay more for the roads than bicyclists do.

In cities which have proper bicycle infrastructure, in a similar climate to Boston, the percentage of people traveling by bicycle is slightly less than 40% YEAR ROUND.

I question those stats, but yea the Netherlands is pretty big in bicyling. I've also heard some of those roads are just as intimadting w/ aggresive bike riders as ours are w/ auto heavy traffic.

The whole bike image in this country is spandex wearing roadies, kids on department store crap, hipsters, illegal-aliens, DUIs, homeless people, and aging granola eating tie-dye clad hippies. In the other parts of the world not incestuously obsessed with the combustion engine is it this: .

Nope the entire world loves cars.

http://vimeo.com/8212899

Biking in the freezing cold, when there is a lot of snow (not cute flurries) or when raining hard sucks. I'll stand by that, if you want to knock yourself out.

But of course the weather and traffic in the video doesn't look anything like Boston, except that it does. [/QUOTE]

sfd

 

[HenryAlan]

I'm all for Mass Transit and making it more robust. Having one dose not mean you can't have the other. And at some point your going to have to respect the sheer volume of people that do get around via auto's. It's impresive in it's own right and IMO only mass tranist is going to really make a dent in getting cars off the road. You guys speak as if it currently isn't vital to how we live and can go away tommorow.

A couple of points. First, you imply in this statement that you think multi-modal transit is the way to go. If you do, why sneer at bicycles? Second, I won't argue that people only drive because the road is there. Nobody thinks that. However, many drive because the other option is not there. For the sake of those who prefer driving, let's make the other options viable for those who are only to happy to abandon the automobile. More cyclists, more transit riders, more walkers, all result in less congestion for the driver. It's win/win/win/win. Why fight it?

 

[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.

For what it worth, my bike has been sitting in my garage for the past years, unused and unloved. Still. part of that is because we live in a world where infrastructure is, at best, non-conducive to bike riding. (The other part is just sheer laziness)

 

[GW2500]

A couple of points. First, you imply in this statement that you think multi-modal transit is the way to go. If you do, why sneer at bicycles? Second, I won't argue that people only drive because the road is there. Nobody thinks that. However, many drive because the other option is not there. For the sake of those who prefer driving, let's make the other options viable for those who are only to happy to abandon the automobile. More cyclists, more transit riders, more walkers, all result in less congestion for the driver. It's win/win/win/win. Why fight it?

Well, possibly my own fault, my original argument got twisted b/c I was trying to reply to things. What I originally said was I'm fine w/ bike lanes, but I think there potential is over rated and in specific cases of Bike lanes replacing car lanes, volume decreases. For example some people on here want to just get rid of Storrow dr. Only problem w/ that is it disrupts many thousands of commutes. We would have to increase mass transit to offset. I think bikes would have a very limited scope in offsetting automobile trips. For reasons I already stated, its far more of a casual, under 4 miles, A to B mode than any other. Many from Melrose would take the orange line to Back Bay, I never see that many people biking every day that same trip. It would take a while and you'd have to bring a change of clothes and shower once you get there also throw in you'd have to iron your suit. I see most saying no to that. So whoever wants to bike rock on. But I don't think its going to be as impacting as we think. And I do think cars have more right to the road in general, call it a numbers thing.

 

[erikyow]

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news...n_bike_czar_calls_city_bi.html?p1=Upbox_links

Boston Bike Czar calls city "bike-friendly,'' says ridership has doubled in three years

By Nicole Freedman, Guest Columnist

This evening at the Boston Public Library, Mayor Menino?s Boston Bikes will report back to the public on the state of cycling at its annual Boston Bikes Annual Update, hosted by Livable Streets Alliance. In 2007, Mayor Menino launched Boston Bikes with the goal of transforming Boston into a world-class bicycling city. We have made tremendous strides since then. Once known as the worst cycling city according to Bicycling Magazine, we can now safely say that Boston is one of the leading bike-friendly cities in the country.

With the help of cyclists, business owners, neighborhood leaders and advocacy organizations, we have doubled levels of bike ridership in our city in just three years. We now have the tenth highest ridership levels of the 70 largest US cities. Bicycling Magazine, despite their previous ranking calling Boston one of the worst cycling cities, recently rated Boston as a ?Future Best City.'' And, in partnership with the Federal Transit Administration, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Massachusetts Department of Transportation, and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, Boston is on track to be one of the first cities in the nation to launch a bike share program.

By all accounts, 2010 was a breakout year. Boston unfurled 20 miles of bike lane, installed 700 new bike parking spaces, launched one of the most comprehensive Community Bike Programs in the country in conjunction with the Boston Public Health Commission, and implemented cutting-edge bike lanes throughout the city. Over the last three years, Boston studied progressive bike lanes from other leading cities in the United States and abroad. This year, Boston Bikes was able to bring these ideas home, ensuring Boston?s new place as one of the country?s leading biking cities.

To date we have created 1,500 new bike parking spaces, added 33 miles of bike lanes, worked with more than 4,000 youth and engaged more than 35,000 cyclists in a variety of programs, both old and new. Today, residents from Allston, Jamaica Plain, and Roslindale can bike to downtown Boston almost exclusively on protected paths and marked bike lanes. Hub On Wheels, Bike Friday, Bay State Bike Week, Roll It Forward and Bike-to-Market are just some of the fantastic events celebrated by the Boston cycling public.

While the Mayor Menino?s Boston Bikes often challenges the notion that change can?t happen fast, we understand that sometimes change can?t happen fast enough. This week marked the death of our third cyclist in two years. Tragedies like this most recent fatality remind us that the work we do is about much more than cycling. It is about protecting, supporting and sustaining the lives of our citizens. We all deserve to live and work in a city that supports our desires for healthy, vibrant and sustainable lifestyles.

Mayor Menino has made safety the cornerstone of the Boston Bikes agenda. In 2010 Mayor Menino hosted two Bike Safety Summits. Panelists at the inaugural summit included the highest level officials from the state?s MBTA, MassDOT, and Boston Transportation Department, Boston Police, the Boston Public Health Commission, and Boston EMS. The panelists fielded 47 comments and questions from more than 200 participants. Each agency later reported back to the public, detailing significant and substantive improvements. I include some of the key changes below as an example of the seriousness with which each agency responded.

? Boston Bikes and the Boston Transportation Department are analyzing a survey of over 2,000 self-reported bike crashes, are distributing bike-safety fliers to 500,000 registered Boston drivers, and installed colored high-contrast bike lanes over trolley tracks at key intersections in need of safety enhancements.

? The MBTA is creating new training materials and tools, disseminating bike information to drivers through bulletins and posters, incorporating bike issues into complaint/defensive driving training, and including bike issues in driver recertification training.

? The Boston Police added enforcement for cyclists not following rules of the road, updated accident reporting to track bicycle crashes in their own separate category, and are providing bicycle training for all officers going through academy.

? The Boston Public Health Commission is selling low-cost helmets throughout the city, providing comprehensive analysis of crash data from EMS, emergency rooms, Boston Bikes, and Boston Police and is sharing crash data among a number of agencies.

When I look back on the past three years, I am proud of all we have accomplished: the community we fostered, our success in creating inclusive programs that reach all citizens, and our implementation of cutting-edge infrastructure and practices.

If we are to learn from the recent tragedies, however, the lesson is that we much do even more. We must continue to push the envelope. We must continue to implement best-practices from around the world until our streets are safe for everyone. With your continued help, together, we will work to make Boston a safe, vibrant, and welcoming city for everyone.

We welcome all of you to attend the 2010 Annual Boston Bikes Update at the Rabb Thurs, January 27, 2011, 6:30 - 8:30 PM @ Rabb Lecture Hall. In case of poor weather, please visit http://livablestreets.info/ for cancellation notification.

Nicole Freedman is the Director of Bicycle Programs for the city of Boston.

While it's a good start, I don't know if I'd go so far as to say the city is "bike friendly" in its current state. The city has certainly made huge strides in a short period of time but a lot more still needs to be done, including instilling sensibility in drivers and bikers alike that we all need to share the road.

Also, claiming victory too soon may allow Menino's ADD to pass on to something else, leaving another half-assed project in its wake.

 

[mass88]

I read in the Metro the city is looking at raising the citations to bikers who break traffic laws. I think it's about time. People on bikes should have to follow the same traffic rules as cars.

 

[Pierce]

I read in the Metro the city is looking at raising the citations to bikers who break traffic laws. I think it's about time. People on bikes should have to follow the same traffic rules as cars.

Can we start enforcing red light laws for cars too? It's ridiculous how lax it is in Boston, I see cars zooming through red lights on a daily basis on my commute.

 

[armpitsOFmight]

Boston is not yet a bike friendly city. A city is bike friendly when you're not afraid of getting hit by a car.

 

[Lurker]

A bike friendly city is a city where children can ride in the streets alongside traffic with a reasonable expectation of safety,

 

[KentXie]

A bike friendly city is a city where children can ride in the streets alongside traffic with a reasonable expectation of safety,

I don't believe such city exist. At least not for a major city and not for children riding on the street alongside traffic. Unless you mean street as in sidewalk.

 

[Ron Newman]

Amsterdam is such a bike-friendly city. I'm told Copenhagen is too, but I haven't been there.

 

[mass88]

Boston is not yet a bike friendly city. A city is bike friendly when you're not afraid of getting hit by a car.

It would be helpful is people on bikes tried to obey the traffic laws and did not run red lights, stop signs, weave in and out of stopped cars and cut people off without using their hand signals.

I saw someone on a bike get clipped the other day and he attempted to cross 3 lanes to make a left turn, I had a good laugh at his reaction.

I have also noticed cops could get a damn about people riding bikes in the city.

 

[HenryAlan]

It would be helpful is people on bikes tried to obey the traffic laws and did not run red lights, stop signs, weave in and out of stopped cars and cut people off without using their hand signals.

I saw someone on a bike get clipped the other day and he attempted to cross 3 lanes to make a left turn, I had a good laugh at his reaction.

I have also noticed cops could get a damn about people riding bikes in the city.

You may not know this, but it's quite possible the cyclist you laughed at was riding as proscribed by the law. Bikes are supposed to turn from the left lane, just like other road vehicles. How does a bike get to the left lane? By crossing thew other lanes.

 

[found5dollar]

Amsterdam is such a bike-friendly city. I'm told Copenhagen is too, but I haven't been there.

i was in amsterdam for 4 days and saw no less than 5 accidents with bicycles. If i had a kid in amsterdam i would never let them ride their bike in the bike lanes. It is probably the most bike friendly city, but these measurements we are comign up with have no bearing on what makes a good biking city.

 

[jass]

I saw someone on a bike get clipped the other day and he attempted to cross 3 lanes to make a left turn,

You mean a cyclist dared to follow the vehicle rules created for cars and got injured in doing so?

And then you turn around and say cyclists should follow all the laws for their own safety?

WTF?

 

[mass88]

You mean a cyclist dared to follow the vehicle rules created for cars and got injured in doing so?

And then you turn around and say cyclists should follow all the laws for their own safety?

WTF?

I forgot to mention, the biker failed to make a signal, he just veered over without even looking over his shoulder. It was almost as if he was thinking a car would yield to him.