Biking in Boston

czsz said:
What is with the overzealous landscaping effort on some of these traffic islands. Is that Cape Cod dune grass on one of them? Are they just planting this shit now so people will assume it's intentional when no one weeds them?
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In a word, yes.
 
My Brother goes to BU and he told me cars aren't paying attention to the new bicycle lanes. Double parking everywhere.
 
If it made sense to have a street path set aside for bikes, wouldn't we allow pedestrians to walk on the road? But we don't, because we realize they'd get hit by passing cars, all the time.

So why do we expect bikes and cars to share the road?
 
Because we're both on wheels, and in the city, our speed difference often isn't that significant.
 
The more they change poor Kenmore Square, the more it stays the same.
 
Heres the other side of kenmore square I mentioned.

Bike lane from comm ave, sharrows for beacon, bike lane for brookline ave

IMG_3972.jpg



Looks like the comm ave lane was tweaked. I like that they moved the outer line further out (away from door zone) but I dont like that they removed the inner line, as it worked to box in cars.
 
So this weekend would have been to start of service for the bikeshare company I was working with. We lost out to Bixi. (A third company was also competing).

I'm a little bit concerned that no public information has been released for the planned bixi system. No maps, no community meetings, no advance subscription sales, no announced start date.
 
Does anyone know how to go about helping Google with their Cycling maps? Or at least reporting errors?
 
jass said:
So this weekend would have been to start of service for the bikeshare company I was working with. We lost out to Bixi. (A third company was also competing).

I'm a little bit concerned that no public information has been released for the planned bixi system. No maps, no community meetings, no advance subscription sales, no announced start date.
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Yeah, it's a little bizarre that there's been no news on this...
 
I'm not sure whether this is reflective of current status or just wishful thinking, but Boston has moved from being rated one of the worst big cities for biking to one of the best.

http://www.bicycling.com/topbikefriendlycities/slide28.html

Obviously we should strive for better than 26th place, but that is still a very good rating when the competition is all cities with more than 100,000 people. My own sense is that we do have better infrastructure and facilities, and that more people are cycling.
 
Boston Metro - April 7, 2010
Pedaling bridge safety in the commonwealth

Reaching the foot of the Neponset River Bridge on bike each morning, Jasmin Burke thinks, ?My nemesis!? before navigating potholes, debris and, worst of all, rush hour traffic that dumps into perhaps the most nefarious rotary in the city.

?It?s the one portion in my ride that?s most difficult and I usually ride on Morrissey Boulevard,? the Quincy resident said of her eight-mile commute to her South Boston office. ?And that?s not as bad.?

The majority of commonwealth bridges are no joy ride and Burke is one of hundreds of bike advocates making sure the state?s Accelerated Bridge Program accounts for two-wheelers too.

Over the next eight years, $3 billion in funding will be accelerated to improve the commonwealth?s most neglected bridges.

?The biking community has been taking a stance every time they do this type of project,? Burke said. ?Every time they have a community meeting we have someone go make sure they know they need to take this into consideration.

?The movement is coming slowly but surely.?

Burke, a member of DotBike and the Quincy Bike Committee, hopes state officials will eventually account for bikers needs without much prodding.

?The infrastructure is first and foremost,? said MassDOT?s Highway Division Administrator, Luisa Paiewonsky, ?but we recognize there are many different uses of structures, not just vehicles crossing these bridges.

?We certainly welcome them to our meetings but multimodal travel is already a part of daily thinking at MassDOT.?
Justin A. Rice
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?We certainly welcome them to our meetings but multimodal travel is already a part of daily thinking at MassDOT.?

The comm ave/bu bridge intersection doesnt even have wheelchair ramps.

DCR has been pretty good about planning bike lanes on all the river bridges. I hope the turnpike people that were eaten by massdot are just as open to it.
 
Did you guys just hear about the cyclist who was killed on the 39 route? It was at the intersection of Huntington and S. Huntington. That intersection sucks even worse than Van's moderating skills!
 
Really very very sad. What the swerving stop-and-go 39 route could use is a smooth predictable trolley that with its guided route and steady operation doesn't pose as large a threat to bikes and pedestrians. Wonder where we could find some of those?

Bikes and cars can often coexist. Having biked for years along the #1 route, I can say that bikes and buses can't, not even with bike lanes - and they shouldn't be forced to.
 
Unfortunately those trolley tracks you speak of probably contributed to the accident.
 
It appears the cyclist was trying to pass the bus on the left and the driver didn't see him and accidently ran him over. I personally witnessed 2 accidents with cyclists at this intersection last year and I think it's one of the most dangerous places to BIKE IN BOSTON.
 
Ron Newman said:
Unfortunately those trolley tracks you speak of probably contributed to the accident.
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Yes, but 1) there are ways of minimizing the impact of street tracks on bikers - construction methods and materials, but even something as simple as a painted area around the tracks to warn bikers would be an improvement. 2) Unless they're turning left, bikes should hug to the right - the only reason they don't along the 39 route is because you will be sandwiched by an articulated bus suddenly pulling into a stop.

Bikes and trolleys may not be a match made in heaven, but their coexistence is definitely happier on narrow roads than bikes and buses.
 
Shepard said:
Bikes and cars can often coexist. Having biked for years along the #1 route, I can say that bikes and buses can't, not even with bike lanes - and they shouldn't be forced to.
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There is much wisdom in this. Cars behave predictably, buses not so much. I ride a lot on Washington St. in Roslindale, and the 9 bus lines* running past the bike lanes cause many situations requiring me to leave the bike lane. The buses move over when they want to, whether or not a bike is passing the bus stop at the time.

* it should require an automatic upgrade to rapid transit when a single corridor has this many buses.
 
Shepard said:
Bikes and trolleys may not be a match made in heaven,
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Oye, this reminds me of my worst accident to date.... was crossing Coolidge Corner south to north on a wet February day, barely tapped my brakes as I was going over the tracks, and my front wheel caved out due to how slippery the rubberized buffer sections were. Got a super awesome concussion from that.
 
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