Biking in Boston

Me: Have you heard of the new bike program in Boston?
Terry: No. You know I hate bicyclists.
Me: Yeah, but it is pretty cool.
Terry: How does it work?
Me: Well, you go on the company's website, you create an account, you pay $60, they mail you a key and a helmet, and any time you want to ...
Terry: I've lost interest, already. tl;dl - too long, didn't listen
 
I noticed one of these things right next to the still vacant former UNOs in Brighton.


Also, Brookline put a digital Police sign in Coolidge Corner reminding bicyclists and motorists to share the road and they both have to follow the same rules.
 
@jass isn't Harvard sponsoring the Lower Allston Hubway stations? Naturally, this is in anticipation of Cambridge coming on board in the future.

I think this is a fantastic program. And for those who are interested, the Hubway folks have a membership drive tomorrow at the Longwood T stop from 7-10am. If you sign up tomorrow, you get a free t-shirt or helmet (your choice).
 
BostonUrbEx said:
But I can't figure out citations... WTF. Oh well, I'll leave it to the citation bots and citation Nazis to fix them.
Click to expand...

You need to change

<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehubway.com/about|work=About Hubway|publisher=Hubway}}</ref>

to

<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thehubway.com/about|work=About Hubway|publisher=Hubway|title=thehubway.com}}</ref>

or whatever you want it to say.
 
bdurden said:
@jass isn't Harvard sponsoring the Lower Allston Hubway stations? Naturally, this is in anticipation of Cambridge coming on board in the future.
Click to expand...


Yes, Harvard sponsored those and presumably picked the location. Its probably why they got 4 in such a small area.

They wont get much use though. Theyre too close for people to want to bike between those 4 stations (obviously some people will, just not too many) and too independent for people to bike to/from the area.

If you had some on the cambridge campus, they would see a LOT of cross-river traffic.

Cambridge wont be on board at least until next year. And I dont fully understand why. Cambridge was 100% supportive of bike share in 2009 when the RFP went out. As was Brookline and Somerville.
 
jass said:
Im surprised, the BU stops are being put in the street, taking up parking spaces.

http://thehum.bostonbiker.org/2011/...-coming-boston-hubway-stations-land-all-over/

Especially at the 2nd BU station (agganis arena) the sidewalk is more than wide enough to accommodate the full station.

Im also surprised they just dumped it on the street without any form of protection, even simple reflective posts.
Click to expand...

The damage I've seen to stations thusfar appears to be from cars backing into them.

The delay for Greater Boston deployment probably has something to do with the organization not even being able to keep their launch date from slipping the week of the system launch. In some cases notification for specific station locations and community input didn't go out until this month. (This is why the Beacon Hill crowd threw a hissy fit in the Courant last week.) Any company so disorganized that it is rushing to catch up on implementing fairly basic and mission critical infrastructure prior to a long determined deadline doesn't inspire a whiff of confidence.

Cambridge, Brookline, and Somerville are probably watching to see if Alta can pull this off, without crashing and burning, before forking over funding in this economy.
 
The biggest surprise for the initial station rollout is that it doesn't more extensively cover Allston. Important crossroads are missed, Harvard/Brighton, Allston St/Comm Ave, Washington St/Comm Ave, Brighton Mills. That said, I think this will still be a success and prompt expansion. The Longwood area is going to see a surge, I just hope the mean streets around Binney, Longwood, Brookline Ave, are prepared (and..they aren't).
 
I don't understand the lack of stations there either. Since the system is "New Balance" Hubway you'd think the sponsorship dollars would have translated into a denser service area in New Balance's back yard.
 
Lurker said:
The damage I've seen to stations thusfar appears to be from cars backing into them.

The delay for Greater Boston deployment probably has something to do with the organization not even being able to keep their launch date from slipping the week of the system launch. In some cases notification for specific station locations and community input didn't go out until this month. (This is why the Beacon Hill crowd threw a hissy fit in the Courant last week.) Any company so disorganized that it is rushing to catch up on implementing fairly basic and mission critical infrastructure prior to a long determined deadline doesn't inspire a whiff of confidence.

Cambridge, Brookline, and Somerville are probably watching to see if Alta can pull this off, without crashing and burning, before forking over funding in this economy.
Click to expand...

I didnt see the Courant article, what did it say?


Alta didnt do a great job in DC, but they certainly didnt do a terrible job.

It seems that not only did they not learn from their mistakes in DC....but they arent even doing the things they did there right.

For example, at least the DC website was online more than a week prior to launch.

And they only just added the day/3 day prices on Tuesday, ie, the day they were supposed to launch.

Like in DC, theyve done absolutely no advertising or public outreach. A facebook page doesnt count, because you need to know about the page to visit it...


Also, the prices are higher than DC, even though the system is smaller...and hubway has 2.5 million in fed funding!


Finally, any on street station should obviously have basic protection, something like this.

freshpotParking.jpg


Remember these bikes are EXPENSIVE. Im talking $1,000 a pop. The stations itself? You dont even want to know.

A single errant van can wipe out $35,000 in a single hit.
 
My wife and I joined yestersay even though we live in Brookline. We support the effort and think it could be a great way to move around downtown / Back Bay where we work. Obviously I am hoping it comes to Brookline and Cambridge soon, but even in the interim I think this will be useful.

As they expand, I hope some of their station locations are revised or obvious ones added. For example, why no stop on the main Boylston Street Prudential Center Plaza - why is the stop serving the Prudential on Belvidere and Huntington? I would much prefer to bike Boylston/Newbury than Huntington in that area. Strange omissions like that.

Finally, I'm hoping that there's an outcry come November when they are about to take the bikes away, and they extend the system to be year-round.
 
Who's the moron that decided to place one of these huge bike racks projecting out from the Copley BPL's steps on Dartmouth, blocking off the majority of sidewalk/plaza from pedestrian traffic? Absolutely idiotic.
 
To be fair to Alta, station location needs to take into account three main things (besides obviously ridership potential)

1) Access to sunlight for certain hours a day
2) Friendliness of property owner or abutter
3) NIMBYs

The prudential center plaza is obviously prime positioning. Its POSSIBLE that the owners of the plaza said no.

If private land is not available, that laves sidewalk and parking, and this is where NIMBYS can come in.

So that can explain SOME odd choices.

That being said, BU for example was 100% open to bike share, so I cant see them saying no to a station in the agganis plaza and forcing it onto the street. Meaning that location is just baffling.

Ive seen some pictures and the locations mid-sidewalk also make no sense as they block off almost all movement.

You dont gain customers and make friends by pissing people off. Putting a wall in peoples way simply leads to vandalism.
 
It seems the next phase is the rest of Boston plus Brookline, Cambridge and Somerville. Will it expand beyond that?

Like what about Eastie? It's separated, so it would be like it's own little isolated bikeshare, separated form the world.

Could this expand to Watertown, Arlington, Medford, Everett, Malden? Doesn't have to be the cities as a whole, but just the dense parts.
 
Some initial reactions/observations as I've been playing with the app: Most of the LMA and the Fens has had 0 bikes available for a while now, all 6 stations around me. It seems to be working well downtown though with a relatively even distribution of out and in.
 
Only one bike is currently available in the entire South End! At least they had the courtesy to make sure it was at the station closest to Maison Lurker.
 
Why's the map at the North Station Kiosk showing "you are here" as Fenway/Kenmore?

The Mass Ave lanes to Cambridge aren't shown as a 2011 project either on those maps. Nor are the current semi-existent lanes for southern Mass Ave shown.
 
I just wish the machines could dispense helmets too (which you would return or incur a fine for the price of the helmet). It would be nice to have this sort of self-contained, ready-to-go bike system. You might want to go on a bike ride and not have a helmet with you at the time (maybe you took the T there).
 
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