Biking in Boston

[piggiston]

Since there was something about weekend vs weekday, here's the number of trips over 72 hours in October (Sunday, Monday holiday, Tuesday) from data they gave out for a visualization contest a while back. MBTA bus GPS reports in the same period are below that in yellow, not that it answers any of the questions in this thread. (This was part of our contest entry, not something made just now.)

 

[datadyne007]

I freakin love infographics. Really well done.

I'm really surprised to see that Sunday morning ("Saturday night") data. I had no idea and never would have guessed that people were using Hubway at that time and at that volume -- around 80 trips at 3AM!

 

[metasyntactic]

I hate bikers who are obnoxious and arrogant, which is probably at least 1/2 of them. I also hate bikers who obey all the traffic rules for cars, because a bike is not a car, and I fail to see the reason to wait at red lights.

When a bicyclist runs red lights, people complain that they are breaking the law (and might get ticketed). When they habitually obey the traffic rules, there are also complaints. What is a bicyclist to do?

 

[Mark02474]

metasyntactic, a bicyclist is to get the law changed to what Idaho uses. Stop signs become yield, Red lights become stop signs for cyclists. Otherwise, flagrant, habitual lawlessness becomes contagious, social order breaks down, and motorists are encouraged to break the law more too. The most violated law I see by cyclists is not stopping at crosswalks, a $200 fine in MA - a bad one to encourage motorists and motorcyclists to break.

For statistics on bike share use instead of anecdotal observations, some have used the public XML feeds on bike availablity to extract bikes in use and migration patterns.
http://www.codeline-telemetry.com/maps/bos-depletion_yesterday.htm
http://bikes.oobrien.com/boston/

The top link only shows today and yesterday. Roll your own for longer longitudinal graphs.

People putting work into data are either financially benefiting from bike shares or users themselves, so statistics that are available generally paint a positive view. Individual taxpayers don't put in the effort to see that their money is well spent - they already know that answer!

 

[choo]

^ I know you don't believe the data because they must be lying because its them (or whatever you said) but some facts from a hubway newsletter

Hubway Stats Today
Active Annual Members = 7,303
Total rides to date = 330,000+
Average Trips per Day = 1,650
Busiest day = 2,622 trips (July 4th, 2012)
Rides Per Bike = 541

 

[Mark02474]

I believe the data, especially about recreational use being highest. This weekend was no exception, though its also a popular vacation week. Often times the wrong things are measured. One example is in audio, often where some electronics will sound great and measure poorly, while mass market gear with great specs sounds mediocre. "Trips" as a measurement was designed by them to inflate perceptions of usage along with the pricing model. In Brasil, a 15 min wait is needed before another check out of a bike. UNIQUE visitors per day would be a more telling indicator of usage than total check-in/outs of a bike. We will see how false the popularity stats are when they come back for more money.

 

[AmericanFolkLegend]

How is the Hubway needing subsidy different Tom the town of Arlington needing tax dollars to repave a road?

 

[HenryAlan]

How is the Hubway needing subsidy different Tom the town of Arlington needing tax dollars to repave a road?

You really need to ask this question? The difference is in whether or not it benefits Mark02474.

 

[Mark02474]

Wasting tax dollars

How is the Hubway needing subsidy different Tom the town of Arlington needing tax dollars to repave a road?

A key difference is that gasoline tax dollars which are a user fee for driving on roads goes to maintain them. $5.9M is far too much money for repaving a mile of 4 lane roadway. I wish it could just be repaving the road, modernizing 50 year old signals, patching a little bad sidewalk, and making ramps ADA compliant, likely less than half the cost. Oh, no, selectmen want $1M in landscaping as a bribe to replace a travel lane with bike lanes, narrowing the roadway to widen sidewalks, 40 sidewalk lights to combat no street crime, benches, planters, trees, and replacing all 2 mi. of sidewalk. Sadly, wasting tax dollars to bribe cities and towns with landscaping to force more bike lanes has become a standard practice in eastern Mass.

Another difference with Hubway, is that I believe some comes from public mass transit funding - essentially leaving less for the MBTA, not that a drop in that ocean is noticeable. Scale wise, public funds going to hubway is fairly small, but single occupancy vehicles are hardly mass transit.

 

[whighlander]

Re: Wasting tax dollars

A key difference is that gasoline tax dollars which are a user fee for driving on roads goes to maintain them. $5.9M is far too much money for repaving a mile of 4 lane roadway. I wish it could just be repaving the road, modernizing 50 year old signals, patching a little bad sidewalk, and making ramps ADA compliant, likely less than half the cost. Oh, no, selectmen want $1M in landscaping as a bribe to replace a travel lane with bike lanes, narrowing the roadway to widen sidewalks, 40 sidewalk lights to combat no street crime, benches, planters, trees, and replacing all 2 mi. of sidewalk. Sadly, wasting tax dollars to bribe cities and towns with landscaping to force more bike lanes has become a standard practice in eastern Mass.

Another difference with Hubway, is that I believe some comes from public mass transit funding - essentially leaving less for the MBTA, not that a drop in that ocean is noticeable. Scale wise, public funds going to hubway is fairly small, but single occupancy vehicles are hardly mass transit.

Mark -- just think though no greenhouse gases!

Well of course we have to ban the 3 bean tacos, bean burritos and frijoles -- methane is so much more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2

 

[Corey]

So overall, has the Hubway been successful? The statistic mentioned above of 1,650 rides per day sounds good but I wonder if that is more or less than is expected.

I might take a bike out for a day the next time I am in town just for kicks. I assume the ridership is mostly from tourists and people curious about the system because most people who travel by bicycle would already have their own. I use a car-sharing system due to the high cost of owning an automobile, but the bike-sharing concept is interesting in that the price of a decent bicycle isn't much more than a yearly membership.

 

[MBTAddict]

Re: Wasting tax dollars

Judging it against other bikeshares, Hubway is absolutely a success. It reached the 100,000 rides milestone and 250,000 rides milestone faster than any other system in the U.S.

...Scale wise, public funds going to hubway is fairly small, but single occupancy vehicles are hardly mass transit.

Would you prefer if Hubway used bicycles built for 2? Yes, only one person at a time can sue the bike, but once they park it any other annual member or anyone who happens to be walking by on the street can buy a pass and hop on. Is it the same as a subway? Of course not, but it is another option in the public transportation system.

 

[Matthew]

It's a different use than owning your own bicycle. You don't need to worry about locking up your bike somewhere, or bringing it with you everywhere. You can easily mix Hubway and MBTA usage without dragging a bicycle onboard a bus or train.

Also, Hubway is sponsored by some local companies and a Federal grant. It does not detract from any other agency's funding. And if DC bikeshare is any example, it might end up paying for almost all of its operating costs. That article is funny because it treats the 98% operating expense recovery rate of the DC bikeshare as a disappointment, because its not over 100%.

 

[AmericanFolkLegend]

A key difference is that gasoline tax dollars which are a user fee for driving on roads goes to maintain them.

Mark, that's why I specifically said town of Arlington. Gas taxes pay for interstate highways and state highways. Last time I checked Arlington didn't have a gas tax.

 

[ant8904]

It's a different use than owning your own bicycle. You don't need to worry about locking up your bike somewhere, or bringing it with you everywhere. You can easily mix Hubway and MBTA usage without dragging a bicycle onboard a bus or train.

Also, Hubway is sponsored by some local companies and a Federal grant. It does not detract from any other agency's funding. And if DC bikeshare is any example, it might end up paying for almost all of its operating costs. That article is funny because it treats the 98% operating expense recovery rate of the DC bikeshare as a disappointment, because its not over 100%.

But jezz, 98%? That so close to breaking even (capital cost aside) that it screams that there has to be some way to put it over the top.

---

@Mark

Along with responding AmericanFolkLegend, I should point out the USNews Article address your criticism that the bike system cannibalize public transportation. It says that it turns out the uses are using it in tandem with public transportation. As in someone coming out of Kenmore station will then subsequently take a Hubway bike to ride the last half-mile and put it at that station near the person's destination.

Whereas before the person would have walk and lose 15 minutes, now the person gain 10 minutes and reducing a 40 minute commute to 30 is very nice.

With understanding that after capital cost, operating usage can be broke even and the extra benefits it has to public transportation users, I think you can belay your concerns of cannibalization.

Also I should point out your criticism about bikes as not being mass transit, you can't say bikes fall in the same category as cars. The bike takes fraction of the car's space it takes and you have to remember this is a bike rental system. As in the bike get passed on to another user. It is logically comparable to zipcars and not regular cars as you are doing. And still, it doesn't sake the same space as a zipcar.

 

[HenryAlan]

Bikes also cause essentially no roadway damage. They are far less subsidozed than a car.

 

[Roxxma]

It's a different use than owning your own bicycle. You don't need to worry about locking up your bike somewhere, or bringing it with you everywhere. You can easily mix Hubway and MBTA usage without dragging a bicycle onboard a bus or train.

That's exactly why I tend to use it more than my own bikes. I have two bicycles, a road bike for long rides and a hybrid for getting around. Rather than schlep one through my apartment and deal with locking it up at the destination, I walk down the street to the Hubway station, ride to another near my destination with no worries. I usually do my grocery shopping this way. I live in the South End and pick up at Rutland and Washington, ride to the Pru at Belvedere and go to Trader Joe's or Shaw's and then either walk (or ride from one station to another on either side of the Christian Science Plaza) to Whole Foods then from the station near Whole Foods back to Rutland and Washington. The only issue I run into is that sometimes in the evening the Rutland Washington station has no empty docks.

 

[davem]

Re: Wasting tax dollars

Oh, no, selectmen want $1M in landscaping as a bribe to replace a travel lane with bike lanes, narrowing the roadway to widen sidewalks, 40 sidewalk lights to combat no street crime, benches, planters, trees, and replacing all 2 mi. of sidewalk. Sadly, wasting tax dollars to bribe cities and towns with landscaping to force more bike lanes has become a standard practice in eastern Mass.

Good! I don't really know wtf you're talking about with bribes, but this should be standard practice in the entire country, not just eastern mass. Cars have their place, but that place does not need to be, nor does it deserve to be the entire fucking road.

Streets have for their entire history outside of the last 50 years been multi-modal paths for all users. It was only in the interstate era that car crazed DPWs started prioritizing automobiles over all other forms of transit, whether in an approperate context or not. All that you describe above is a mistake being undone. If you dislike it so much may I suggest taking up residence at the center of a rotary, or perhaps the median of an interstate.

 

[Mark02474]

So many false claims, so little time!

First, on the Arlington Mass Ave project. I failed to point out that 2 linear miles of granite curbing are also to get replaced. Between acres of sidewalks cement, decorative sidewalk pavers, 40x$4,000 pedestrian scale sidewalk lights, and all the work to move curb lines inward with moving associated storm drains and conflicting utility lines, will the extra greenhouse gas produced for materials removal, destruction, replacement materials, and diesel fuel expended in construction + added losses due to increased driving congestion EVER be made up by INCREASED bicycling? I won't speculate like others would, but merely suggest the calculation needs to be made for every construction project that adds work to put in bike lanes, which by the way, don't reduce accidents over wide outside travel lanes according to studies.

 

[underground]

will the extra greenhouse gas produced for materials removal, destruction, replacement materials, and diesel fuel expended in construction + added losses due to increased driving congestion EVER be made up by INCREASED bicycling?

We should basically never do anything ever.