Biking in Boston

[Lurker]

Does this company not understand how public relations work?

Their contract allows them to be slackers and face no consequences. Since day 1 in every city Alta has run a system the same mistakes, technical failures, broken promises, and delays have been repeated.

FYI:

Effective Tuesday, April 2, the Hubway bikeshare network will be open for the 2013 season! Nearly 75% of the system will be operational and full station deployment is expected by mid-April. There will be an official ‘Opening Day’ launch event on Monday, April 8. Stay tuned to our Twitter feed and Facebook page for event details. Use our FREE Spotcycle smartphone app for up to the minute information on station deployments and system status. Thanks for your support of Hubway!

 

[jass]

Their contract allows them to be slackers and face no consequences. Since day 1 in every city Alta has run a system the same mistakes, technical failures, broken promises, and delays have been repeated.

FYI:

Day-before notice eh? Thats something special. Did they even send out an email?

Mind you, over at the citibike (NYC) page, theres been no official anything since December.

System is supposed to deploy in May, only a year late, and 1/3 the original size. Using the 5 station a day (weekdays only) Boston deployment model....well, maybe theyll be done by August.


Over in DC, DC has 60+ stations funded and ready to go.....except Alta cant deliver supply. DC wanted to deploy last fall, but is only getting 2 or so stations a week delivered. Nice way to treat your first big customer huh?

 

[jass]

At first glance, it appears that Hubway is expanding!

There are many exciting changes for 2013! The current Hubway footprint is 112 stations and 1100 bicycles with several updates to the 2012 configuration:


Boston:

Additional docking points installed at 10 of the most highly utilized stations, including Congress/Sleeper, Post Office Square, Beacon/Mass Ave, and Charles Circle
Summer/Arch station has moved one block to the corner of Franklin/Arch and has added 12 docking points to accommodate demand
TD Garden/Legends Way station has moved to the sidewalk along Causeway St at Portal Park and added 7 docking points
New station at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital’s Navy Yard facility


Brookline:

Washington Square will get a station in metered parking spots along the median of Beacon St (to be installed after the Boston Marathon)
New station in on-street parking spots along Harvard Ave in the Kennedy Crossing area of Brookline, providing a critical link between Coolidge Corner and Allston


Cambridge:

New station at the Radcliffe Quad, at Garden St/Shepard St
Planned station for the Porter Square T plaza


Somerville:

New station at Highland Ave/Somerville Hospital
New station at Teele Square/Elm St
New station adjacent to Tufts at Packard Ave/Powderhouse Blvd
Ball Square station moving down the block to Bristol Rd at the intersection of Broadway

Dont be misled.

They only installed 105 last year, so 112 will be what the launch will be, not the base to be added to.


Oh, and 112 is actually less than the 115 that was promised for last year.

That is, the new stations are just the ones we were told were going in August 2012....with three still missing.


Meanwhile, DC highlights why Hubways late launch isnt good

The Washington region’s Capital Bikeshare program set a ridership record Saturday, and the District is gearing up to restart a major expansion that should greatly increase the numbers of stations and red bikes on city streets.

With throngs of tourists in town for the Easter holiday, there were a record 9,669 Capital Bikeshare rides Saturday. And for the first time since its inception three years ago, the majority of those rides were taken by day-trippers instead of annual members, said Chris Holben, director of the D.C. Department of Transportation bicycle program.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...2f2acc-9bc8-11e2-a941-a19bce7af755_story.html

 

[BostonUrbEx]

Hubway keeps advertising that they're hiring people to set up and maintain the system, so it seems their issues go beyond capital investment and into gaining and keeping new employees.

 

[jass]

Hubway keeps advertising that they're hiring people to set up and maintain the system, so it seems their issues go beyond capital investment and into gaining and keeping new employees.

Yeah Ive noticed that theres only activity....

Hiring people during launch week.

Im pretty sure they lost their facebook guy because they havent even bothered to announce going live there yet.

Your comment is a bit misleading. After the portion you quoted, the article states:

Boston has no cherry blossom weekend, and tourism increases later in the season. A later start in Boston may not be as detrimental as it would be in Washington, DC (if their system was seasonal).

I understand your frustration, though; and I agree that Alta has been lacking in many ways.

I dont think Boston would have seen any records, but the weather is substantially the same, so ridership would have been good.

Spring Break sees many families traveling, which was another opportunity, east as well. All missed.

 

[jass]

Hubway has officially launched for 2013.

95 stations installed.

12 left to install to meet 2012 deployment level (107)

An additional 7 to meet 2012 original goal (115)

Still some distance from the 2010 goal of 150.

 

[datadyne007]

Bizarre news today:

Due to the Marathon, the Boston Public Library station is being temporarily removed today. For more info: bit.ly/16MMFeQ

Yep, lets take away one of the most important stations in the entire system right at the height of the beautiful weather. The Marathon is next Monday...

 

[jass]

Bizarre news today:

Yep, lets take away one of the most important stations in the entire system right at the height of the beautiful weather. The Marathon is next Monday...

They did that last year too.


NYC began deploying stations this weekend. Looks like they might make the May launch after all.

Pricing is still absolutely ludicrous. To be expected, since youre dealing with citibank.

 

[bbfen]

Bizarre news today:



Yep, lets take away one of the most important stations in the entire system right at the height of the beautiful weather. The Marathon is next Monday...

If this is the nicest weather it will be all summer I quit show business.

The hyperbole is really stunning, especially since anyone who spends any time near the finish line knows that the week in advance is prepping for viewing stands, media tents, and runner amenities. It's really quite old the constant battering of them.

 

[BostonUrbEx]

If this is the nicest weather it will be all summer I quit show business.

The hyperbole is really stunning, especially since anyone who spends any time near the finish line knows that the week in advance is prepping for viewing stands, media tents, and runner amenities. It's really quite old the constant battering of them.

Well then why did they even set it up if it was open for a whopping .... seven days? They wasted time installing, and now uninstalling the thing. This is resources that could have been put towards opening two (or more, seeing as most stations probably have less racks than Copley) stations elsewhere.

 

[Balerion]

I would argue that Porter Square is the biggest missing link within the current Hubway footprint. The Davis/PHC/Ball Sq stations aren't that useful at the moment, being on their own island.

 

[choo]

There is a huge vacuum in porter square. They are going to put one at the T station, but there should really be another at the other end of the shopping plaza on the side of the Shaw/Cambridge Savings on Elm street. Currently there is one in Davis and one in Wilson. So you are a good walk from the super market to those. The one at the T station will be fine, but if you are going into somerville and not down Mass ave, its useless. This would really allow people to go EAst-West in Somerville, a connection that currently has to be done by car or foot.

 

[Matthew]

Allston has a strange gap between Packard's Corner and Union Square. Seems that Harvard and Comm would be the perfect spot for a station, but it hasn't been considered yet AFAIK.

 

[cden4]

Well there was one at Harvard and Comm initially but a police officer was quoted saying it was too dangerous of a location so Hubway ripped it out.

 

[Balerion]

There is a huge vacuum in porter square. They are going to put one at the T station, but there should really be another at the other end of the shopping plaza on the side of the Shaw/Cambridge Savings on Elm street. Currently there is one in Davis and one in Wilson. So you are a good walk from the super market to those. The one at the T station will be fine, but if you are going into somerville and not down Mass ave, its useless. This would really allow people to go EAst-West in Somerville, a connection that currently has to be done by car or foot.

Agreed. The parking lot / Somerville Ave / Mass Ave is such a crazy area that you don't want Hubway riders from West Somerville needlessly crossing that area, only to walk back in the other direction to the shopping plaza.

 

[Matthew]

Too dangerous a location? How?

 

[dshoost88]

Too dangerous a location? How?

Well for starters, you effectively have 8 lanes of cars & two green line tracks on Comm Ave trying to cross Harvard Ave, with a combination of heavy foot traffic, bike traffic, bus traffic, and the green line trolleys always trying to cross and never observing the lights indicating when to cross.

That being said, I could see a Hubway stop working out front of the new TD Bank at that corner if they were to remove a few of the car parking spots.

 

[cden4]

That being said, I could see a Hubway stop working out front of the new TD Bank at that corner if they were to remove a few of the car parking spots.

That's exactly where it was initially, on the Harvard Ave side.

 

[Matthew]

Well for starters, you effectively have 8 lanes of cars & two green line tracks on Comm Ave trying to cross Harvard Ave, with a combination of heavy foot traffic, bike traffic, bus traffic, and the green line trolleys always trying to cross and never observing the lights indicating when to cross.

That being said, I could see a Hubway stop working out front of the new TD Bank at that corner if they were to remove a few of the car parking spots.

6 lanes. And it's not really any different from other locations in this crazy town. Looking dangerous and being dangerous are two different things. Often, one is mutually exclusive with the other.

 

[12345]

Mbta to add more pedal and park bike cages.

The Oak Grove facility will be one of the first of 12 new “high security” bike parking cages that will be rolled out for public use between April and September of this year. Other spots that will be getting the bike upgrades include South Station and Braintree. Additional card-access bike cages will be opened in Malden, Davis Square, Ashmont, Back Bay, Dudley, Alewife, Salem, and Beverly. Seven will open later this summer, and the last two will open in 2014.

“Each Pedal and Park is fully enclosed and provides parking for 50-150 bikes. Each facility is provided with 6 security cameras, lighting and a police intercom system,” according to a statement form MBTA officials. The first “Pedal and Park” facilities were setup in 2008 at Alewife Station. Originally, anyone with a CharlieCard or Bike CharlieCard could access the facilities, however, starting May 1, cyclists will have to register a card in order to gain access to the cages.

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2013/04/12/mbta-pedal-and-park-cages/