Biking in Boston

A friend was in town from D.C. a few weeks back and she saw someone riding on Columbus Avenue. In D.C. bike usage is higher (yes, that's anecdotal; no, I don't have numbers), but she was stunned anyone would bike here because the infrastructure for bicycling here is nonexistent.
 
wicked said:
A friend was in town from D.C. a few weeks back and she saw someone riding on Columbus Avenue. In D.C. bike usage is higher (yes, that's anecdotal; no, I don't have numbers), but she was stunned anyone would bike here because the infrastructure for bicycling here is nonexistent.
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DC has more infrastructure, yes, but our streets here are way more intimately scaled and paired with the ability to take the lane. More people bike in DC too because Metro is useless for actually getting around. Its primary function is to get people from the ritzy burbs into the hubs downtown. This is in stark contrast to the T where it is actually useful to get around the city, most notably the central subway/GL.
 
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datadyne007 said:
DC has more infrastructure, yes, but our streets here are way more intimately scaled and paired with the ability to take the lane. More people bike in DC too because Metro is useless for actually getting around. Its primary function is to get people from the ritzy burbs into the hubs downtown. This is in stark contrast to the T where it is actually useful to get around the city, most notably the central subway/GL.
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To be fair, there are very few pairings of locations in Boston for which it is quicker to take the T than bike.
 
bigeman312 said:
To be fair, there are very few pairings of locations in Boston for which it is quicker to take the T than bike.
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Depends on the distance you're going, but for short trips, yeah, the bike is usually faster, if for no other reason than lack of waiting time. But to get from some place like West Roxbury to downtown, the 'T is usually going to be quicker.
 
HenryAlan said:
Depends on the distance you're going, but for short trips, yeah, the bike is usually faster, if for no other reason than lack of waiting time. But to get from some place like West Roxbury to downtown, the 'T is usually going to be quicker.
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I disagree. Take your example of West Roxbury. Google puts biking time from West Roxbury downtown as 51 minutes. The commuter rail, which has about hourly weekday service and no weekend service, is scheduled for 35 minutes to South Station. So, if your starting point is literally at a commuter rail station and your end point is right next to South Station and there is a train pulling into the station right now, then yes, it is quicker.

A bus and the orange line is going to take you an hour, not counting waiting time. So, if there is not a commuter rail train pulling in right now and your end point and starting point are not next to the commuter rail stations, it is going to be quicker to bike. Not to mention if you are traveling between West Roxbury and Brookline, Allston, Brighton, Cambridge, Somerville, Dorchester, Mattapan, South Boston, North End, etc. it's always going to be quicker to bike.

EDIT: Also, if you bike somehwat regularly, you'll beat Google's bike times. You will never, EVER, beat the T's posted times.
 
I find that I can beat the T down Comm Ave but once it goes underground in the Back Bay, I cannot bike faster than it would take to get from Kenmore to Arlington, much less Park. And if I try, I'll be sweating at the end.

But I'm a casual Hubway user.
 
Matthew said:
I find that I can beat the T down Comm Ave but once it goes underground in the Back Bay, I cannot bike faster than it would take to get from Kenmore to Arlington, much less Park. And if I try, I'll be sweating at the end.

But I'm a casual Hubway user.
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I believe that. Usually the T wins a race if you are traveling along the line (except the B, E, sometimes C above ground), it's whenever your travels are not from one station on a line to another station on the same line that bikes have the advantage.

Speaking of which, I biked the Charles River Bike Path from Auburndale to Charlestown (via North Bank Bridge) today and took a bunch of pictures. Anyone mind a photo overload later when I get around to it? The upper charles beyond Watertown Square is an underutilized gem.
 
bigeman312 said:
Speaking of which, I biked the Charles River Bike Path from Auburndale to Charlestown (via North Bank Bridge) today and took a bunch of pictures. Anyone mind a photo overload later when I get around to it?
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I don't live in Boston so the more pics the better!! ( and I appreciate everyone who post pics)
 
bigeman312 said:
I disagree. Take your example of West Roxbury. Google puts biking time from West Roxbury downtown as 51 minutes. The commuter rail, which has about hourly weekday service and no weekend service, is scheduled for 35 minutes to South Station. So, if your starting point is literally at a commuter rail station and your end point is right next to South Station and there is a train pulling into the station right now, then yes, it is quicker.

A bus and the orange line is going to take you an hour, not counting waiting time. So, if there is not a commuter rail train pulling in right now and your end point and starting point are not next to the commuter rail stations, it is going to be quicker to bike. Not to mention if you are traveling between West Roxbury and Brookline, Allston, Brighton, Cambridge, Somerville, Dorchester, Mattapan, South Boston, North End, etc. it's always going to be quicker to bike.
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right - getting anywhere other than downtown is going to be faster by bike - which is why the city really needs to focus on the outer neighborhoods and connections to cambridge/brookline/somerville rather than downtown.

EDIT: Also, if you bike somehwat regularly, you'll beat Google's bike times. You will never, EVER, beat the T's posted times.
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except if you have a transfer on a subway line and there's a disabled train - which is usually once a week on the red line.
 
bigeman312 said:
I believe that. Usually the T wins a race if you are traveling along the line (except the B, E, sometimes C above ground), it's whenever your travels are not from one station on a line to another station on the same line that bikes have the advantage.

Speaking of which, I biked the Charles River Bike Path from Auburndale to Charlestown (via North Bank Bridge) today and took a bunch of pictures. Anyone mind a photo overload later when I get around to it? The upper charles beyond Watertown Square is an underutilized gem.
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I was really thinking about a planned trip, so waiting for the train isn't part of the calculation. Highland to Back Bay is supposed to be 17 minutes, I realize they probably haven't hit that once since the rules changed about passengers opening doors and traps. So say 22 minutes. Most people can't bike that route in 22 minutes. I do Rozzie Square to Back Bay in about 22 minutes, but the train is scheduled for 12 between those locations.
 
That Southie station is going to be fantastic, same with the new Charlestown one. I think the big need in JP is a hubway station right at the orange line stations to make the walk over to Centre street a five minute bike ride instead. There are still 'pending' locations at Jackson Square, Green Street, and Forest Hills. I wonder if there is some difficulty getting the T onboard?
 
Scipio said:
That Southie station is going to be fantastic, same with the new Charlestown one. I think the big need in JP is a hubway station right at the orange line stations to make the walk over to Centre street a five minute bike ride instead. There are still 'pending' locations at Jackson Square, Green Street, and Forest Hills. I wonder if there is some difficulty getting the T onboard?
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Forest Hills is tricky - the better site in terms of use would be across new washington at the start of the SW corridor path - but it wouldn't be very visible - putting it just outside the station would be better in terms of visibility, but then someone would have to traverse old trolley tracks and through a narrow pedestrian crossing to get to the SW corridor. Plus, biking between Ukraine and New Washington really sucks.

I've seen "hubway station" in all the recent design drafts for the casey arborway project - so it's coming, but any location now is going to be temporary (and more challenging next year once demolition starts) - and I think that's probably why they're holding off.

I'm not sure what the hold up is with Jackson Square and Green - both stations have plenty of space, so maybe it's just going through T review.
 
dshoost88 said:
I thought Hubway was going to keep the system open year round beginning this year.
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According to their facebook, thats another broken promise

Hubway Technically, Hubway's offseason is Dec-Feb. Hoping for good weather to go as deep into November as we can.
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There have been a few more Hubway additions in the last few days:

Green St (JP)
Jackson Sq (JP)
Summer St / Cutter St (Somerville)

I didn't realize Somerville was getting another infill, but it's a good location at the other end of Davis.
 
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