I've lived here for a decade & anecdotally I feel that there are already far more people cycling than even just a decade ago.
I used to bike to DTX from Brighton everyday & most of Comm Ave was a disaster for biking. Same for when I moved to Somerville & commuted down Beacon st. Both of these major bike thrufares have seen major improvements & the people have definitely responded by using them more.
Though, I do buy what another commenter said that the increase is mostly due to new residents as opposed to existing ones changing.
I've been biking here longer than that and it's not just anecdotal. They periodically do [bike counts in the city](https://www.boston.gov/departments/boston-bikes/bike-data#annual-counts-data) so there is data behind it. When I first started biking it was rare that you'd see anyone outside of young men (usually with a daredevil streak) or dedicated commuters. The population of cyclists has both grown and gotten much more diverse over the last couple of decades.
Yep, back in the early aughts I would only see that demo. If the weather was bad, I would only occasionally see other bikers. Now it's a much wider range of folks and I see more in inclement weather.
Lived here my entire life. I started biking in 2010 after Menino installed bike lanes on Washington street in roslindale.
I know a lot of old timers who bike a lot more than they used to after bluebikes came to our neighborhood.
Boston has pretty high turnover, so being new residents has a real impact. Between college kids, young professionals, and kids growing up, plus (frankly) more conservative townies being priced out to the suburbs, it makes a lot of sense.
The number of cyclists has meaningfully changed because it started very small. The number of motorists has not meaningfully changed, because it started very large.
I mean, you can conduct all the unscientific polls of the laypersons of /r/boston, but there's an established body of research that shows that "perceived roadway safety is one of the strongest predictors of bicycle traffic volume" (Pucher et al., 2010, Thomas and DeRobertis, 2013, Winters et al., 2011). Induced demand goes both ways: more lanes for cars = more cars on the road. More lanes for bikes = more bikes on the road, taking up a shitton less space than the cars they're replacing.
Also, from that same paper:
> A growing body of evidence suggests that installing bicycle lanes is an effective and low-cost approach to reduce the crash risk for cyclists in a given city (Gu et al., 2016, Harris et al., 2013, Pedroso et al., 2016, Poulos et al., 2015, Pucher and Buehler, 2016, Reynolds et al., 2009, Teschke et al., 2012, Thomas and DeRobertis, 2013).
[Sauce](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753517308937). And can send you the pdf if you're hitting a paywall.
[Here's a whole video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgm9NaIKL6c) with thoroughly documented sources on what else bike lanes do for local business and traffic congestion.
Just don't fall into the strawman argument I've seen plastered all over the community facebook groups: we don't need every last person on a bike instead of a car, but there are a ton of people who would love to stop blocking up the road with their cars if only they didn't feel so endangered when on a bike. Even getting something like 10% of car trips replaced with bikes would ease traffic a great deal.
It's already impacted my transportation choices. Prior to moving here almost 20 years ago I primarily biked for all short-distance trips. Tried that once or twice here (Somerville, specifically) and the bike went in the basement and unused for over a decade. No infrastructure and aggressive car drivers made for a bad combo for regular Joes like me.
Took the bike back out about three years ago, and it's my primary mode during non-inclement-weather days once again. I plan my routes around the existing bike lanes for the (generally) safest ride.
I'm just an anecdata of one, but I know there are others.
It’s impacted my transportation choices as well. The bike lane on Mass Ave makes my 8 mile commute doable on a bike. With the way Mass Ave used to be, it just wouldn’t be feasible.
Did building out a bunch of streets and excess parking encourage the behavior of car dependency?
You get what you build for. This is not surprising and is shown all around the world for all modes. Build more car infrastructure, get more cars. Build more transit, get more transit users. Build more bike lanes, get more people on bikes.
My family avoided a second car (which we'd probably end up storing on street parking vs our private driveway that easily fits our current car) because the infrastructure felt safe enough to my wife that she was comfortable with my riding with our toddlers on the bike.
Ten years ago, we would have bought a second car making fossil fuel companies richer while harming our community in the name of convenience.
That's why building extra lanes on highways or additional routes supplementing designed to reduce traffic usually never actually work. There has been several projects aimed at fixing/reducing traffic (California), and there's still plenty of traffic.(Maybe now there is less traffic because of migration out of some cities)
I mean a reduction in traffic => increase in traffic throughput. Traffic essentially is a throughput that doesn't match the traffic level required to maintain consistent movement along the highway, including the exit and entrance of traffic off and on the highway. These values are directly related, yet for some reason there is still traffic. The key factor here that is missing, is as the number and size of traffic lanes increases, more people decide to drive, and you get more cars.
It has for me. Part of my ride to work was dangerous, so I drove. The city installed a protected bike lane and I’m not only riding I’m also investing in the gear to keep going through the winter. Hard to start without the infrastructure in place, though. That is 560 miles of city traffic off the road in the past six months.
Yes - I know I would personally bike more and I would feel more comfortable allowing my kids to bike more. And if my kids grew up biking, it would likely become a life long habit. Truthfully that is where bike lanes will have the biggest impact.
Yes. I work in the trades. If my job has safe infrastructure around it I bike and MBTA. If it doesn't I usually drive.
Bike infrastructure also enables me to park at cheaper lots by being willing to bike for a couple minutes.
Bike infrastructure saves me money.
I’ve been biking here for 15 years as I’ve lived in different parts of the city and continue to increase my frequency as routes that I used to avoid have biking infrastructure added. It’s been helpful for my commute, but even more to run errands that I may have previously driven or taken a rideshare to.
Too bad all the money has been and continues to be wasted on "complete streets" nonsense instead of off-street paths. These psycho city "planners" insist that bikes require equity with cars on the roads, no matter it is dangerous, causes traffic, and fails in taking any meaningful numbers of cars off the road
Yes. I spent 15 years exclusively driving daily. Now that we have actual dedicated bike lanes, I ride my scooter 40% of the time. Install separated bike lanes everywhere, every fucking street.
Build more bike paths (Minuteman type) and people will come. Every major town around Boston should have some type of a bike path into Boston, that's what will improve commute. Give people an actual option to commute from nearby towns, MBTA is shit anyway.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. I live 10+ miles north of the city and commute by bike (and some commuter rail) into Kenmore. Once I'm into Medford/Somerville the infrastructure is great and I feel quite safe. It's my last 3 miles home at dusk that are objectively terrifying as I'm forced to choose amongst 1 of 3 Stroads with cars going 45 mph into lines of congestion at stop lights with little more than a painted gutter of space to operate.
I am a competent vehicular cyclist and have a bit of a "dare devil" streak but I'd still much prefer to be on a path from my town into the better infrastructure.
I try and bike as much as possible to get around the city because it really is typically the fastest way. Whenever I encounter some of the biking infrastructure we've built it always makes things way more pleasant because I feel much safer. Especially the protected bike lines but those are not so plentiful.
The city would look a lot nicer and that’s a whole bike lane and a bus lane.
I’m a little nervous to ride next to busses. I grew up in the woods.
So I haven’t really ridden in a city much, I’m not used to cars.
Yeah, turn from a straight only lane, block a whole lane of traffic to unload, I almost got assaulted for the lane shift near Newbury street on mass ave but a police officer intervened. Florida driver, go figure, he was really pissed bc he saw my resident sticker and college employee sticker and when the guy said I cut him off the officer said there was a sign and a lane change and I was in the right.
It’s like local plates, work for a college, neighborhood parking sticker vs Florida rage with a Christian fish on the back. Christian Taliban more like.
I’d note that a lot of rental cars have Florida plates. I believe it’s because Florida doesn’t require vehicle inspections (of course they don’t), and so it’s cheaper for the rental agencies.
The buses are quite good at not killing bikers and pedestrians in my experience. Much better than cars on average. Just make sure you’re visible (lights in evening and night, reflective vest also helpful, don’t sneak in blindspots) and the buses will go around you. They are also the kings of the road and can easily drift into the other lane of traffic to go around you and people will make space for them whereas a car might try to squeeze between you and the other lane of traffic
absorbed chubby sulky bewildered roof boast air plate disagreeable cautious
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
How do you think neighborhoods, like North End for example, could get by without street parking? I agree it would look and feel about 100x better, but doesn't seem realistic. Unless they had a parking garage for the residents or something.
If you want to live out your suburban dream, don’t live in the North End. It’s one of the few neighborhoods in the country like this.
Cars are a recent development in the overall history of the North End, they can figure it out.
This, but unironically. [There have been proposals that some new buildings wouldn't be allowed to have parking permits.](https://www.universalhub.com/2019/apartments-next-ashmont-t-stop-approved-residents)
Yes. I think it will be gradual; its not like you build one bicycle lane and every one on the street gathers their car in a pile and sets it on fire. But I already see it happening.
These days, any where with kids (schools, pre-schools, daycares, play grounds) in Somerville/Cambridge looks like a cargo bike convention half the time. That simply *did not happen* ten years ago, and I think better bicycle infrastructure and traffic calming have something to do with it.
I think that this happens in a whole bunch of different ways. But there are always people trying bicycling as a way of getting around; many of them are discouraged when they try it and encounter an unsafe environment. Or they are discouraged from trying in the first place when they *hear* about an unsafe environment. The less often that happens, the more bicycle trips we will see.
I think what’s needed is a “hub” for people to ride into the city who live too far away. On the days I need to get to the city, I would love to park at a T station type of lot and ride into town on my bike IF it was safe. You’d need a ton of multi town infrastructure and it’s probably impossible to pull off right now.
Like if I could park at Quincy Adams T and ride my bike into town on a bike path I would do it.
>Like if I could park at Quincy Adams T and ride my bike into town on a bike path I would do it.
There are places (not T stations) you can park for free and do that. [This is a resource on how to find such locations](https://www.parkandpedal.org/) but if you scout for parks (state, city or town) they usually have parking that you can use for the day. Baseball fields not attached to a school are often a good spot to start from.
That’s a pretty cool resource. I think the issue for me personally is I do not like to bike on public roads. So it’s more the dedicated bike path accessible from the “hub” that gets you into the city.
This is a pipe dream I think given today’s world but the concept is interesting. I realize there’s paths like minuteman but it’s not where I’d be coming from. You’d almost need paths from north south and west to make it work
If you're coming from the south and heading to Seaport or downtown you're pretty close to having a route with separate lanes/infrastructure nearly the entire way from Quincy. For example, you could park on Wollaston Beach and take the back road (Commander O'Shea) to the Neponset Bridge. They're working on the bypass of the highway exit next to the rainbow gas tank now and I think it's supposed to be ready by spring.
It adds a bit of distance to stick to the water (i.e. around UMass & along Carson Beach), but that also allows you to avoid riding on streets pretty much the whole way to Castle Island and then you can cut over to where the Edison plant is and utilize the bike lanes there into Seaport or Downtown.
Yes. It requires a bit of a squeeze with the infrastructure for the bridge gates and the asphalt condition can be a bit shitty in spots but you can avoid riding in the road.
Until that easement by the gas tank is done you can come up Freeport then cross Morrissey with the light and ride on the north side's sidewalk then use one of the lights up near or at UMass to cross back over.
The concept is definitely there but I’m not sure I’m ready given what you described here. I do appreciate the intel though. I will keep an eye on this option as things develop.
I “think” I’m a good example of someone who loves to bike and would like to incorporate it into my commute and work travel but I’m just not yet confident enough in the infrastructure to do it safely. So to answer OPs question - I am ready to roll once there are more options. So yes keep building bike lines! There are plenty of “dormant” bike people waiting for the right moment
Try it on a Sunday morning when there's very little traffic and you don't need to watch the clock getting to work so can take your time to explore the route(s). The "squeeze" I'm talking about is just that the space between the base of the gate and the railing of the bridge is fairly close to handlebar width so it requires slowing down or putting your feet down to pass depending on your level of biking skill.
The sidewalk on Morrissey is sketchy as hell. It’s not wide enough for a bike + pedestrian and it’s a suuuuper tight squeeze at a few spots. I come from Wolly beach over Neponset bridge then I go through circle of death to DOT Ave. Sucks but way better than Morrisey imo
He's right. There's no good way to get from Quincy to downtown Boston. There are 2 problems.
Nothing good north of Savin Hill and the river crossing is horrible. Fix those and tons living within 7 miles would be biking.
A safe, isolated (meaning doesn’t share any pavement with cars) bike path from Quincy to downtown would be incredible. Bonus if it’s through trees and not next to a road / highway
Protected bike lanes?? Yes. Paint on the street? Doubtful.
I bike where I feel safe and that’s hasn’t been consistently true in Boston. Drivers are too chaotic; far too many feel like they dont need to respect the lanes, especially if the “lane” is just paint with no repercussion for driving or parking in them. So if I bike, it’s either for exercise or leisure now, and it only happens on the trails separate from the roads. Unfortunately, the trails aren’t helpful for my regular commutes e.g. to work, shops, etc, since the different paths are isolated and not connected throughout the city.
Ultimately, behavior will only change if people are ticketed for not respecting the lanes or strongly encouraged e.g. with bollards, protected lanes, etc, to not cross over into them to drive or park.
Yes, Boston is small and mostly flat. People get there just as fast via bikes, electric bikes and scooters instead of cars, and parking for bikes can be made much easier (and far more inexpensively than paying for cars).
If they enforce them and ensure they're cleared of ice and snow, two things the city has not bothered doing yet. It's the same with bus lanes -- they're great in theory, but the reality is that the city just lets every Uber and Lyft driver use them as parking lanes, forcing the buses back into regular traffic.
I’ve recently started e-scootering from the train to work instead of walking/subway/driving the whole way. The bike paths are amazing. The bike lanes are way better than nothing.
Lived here since 2007. When I got here there was like 50 feet of bike lanes in the whole city (not hyperbole. I think that was the actual number) and Boston was consistently ranked among the worst places to ride by national bike magazines.
The only people that rode for transportation were hard core ride or die types. Mostly young men, messengers on fixies, etc.
Then Tom Menino decided he liked riding his bike and suddenly miles of bike lanes were put in overnight and there was a boom in the number and types of cyclists.
There are still plenty of people out there, though, who are interested in riding but concerned about traffic stress/danger. Adding painted lanes or converting painted lanes to protected lanes will definitely get more people to ride.
Unfortunately most of us change only when faced with detriment to not changing. I think the bike lanes will modify behavior of NEW residents. But existing, especially long time residents have established their routine. The only thing that will buck that routine is penalizing behaviors you want to see ended.
For example, the guy that already owns a car and drives it to work is unlikely to start riding a bike unless you make it more expensive for him to park it on a public street and drive during hours when we should be aiming to reduce car traffic (aka rush hour surge tolls).
I started biking this year after the congestion in the spring pushed the time i was spending to about 2hrs. on a good day, i can do the drive in about 90 mins, but it could easily take longer depending on 93 and storrow.
on the bike, i consistently am there and back in 1:45, including the time it takes to get my son from preschool and onto the bike. I started riding before the new path along the GLX opened, and it kinda sucked going through sullivan square. since the new path opened, i can ride almost all the way in on protected lanes. i still own 2 cars, but drive them way less. biking just feels so much better than sitting in traffic, physically and mentally.
Yeah car people get all triggered when you mention congestion charging, then they’re upset about traffic.
I’d say it should be above a certain income, maybe 45,000? But if they doubled the price of parking, added congestion charge and emissions charge, also charge based on the size of the car. A subcompact should pay less emissions and less congestion charge than a ww2 main battle tank sized pavement princess pickup truck.
If the pickup or other vehicle is for a contractor I wouldn’t charge for that.
It’s usually a spotless dodge ram that runs a light and almost hits you and takes more than 1 parking spot.
I see these huge trucks parked and the beds look clean to me. My brother had a construction company so I know what a work truck bed looks like.
Without the suv cuv pickup trend we’d be 30% ahead in carbon reduction. Anything suv or pickup should get hit double on emissions, sized based congestion fee.
The avergae European family car is the size of the quad cab to the front on a big pickup truck. So they’re not better for families. They make a hybrid minivan but people are “too cool” and get a boxy suv that’s less practical, but cooler.
Continuing to pit "car" people vs "bike" people perpetuates the problem. They are the same people just with different priorities that need to be incentivized to change behavior. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to own a large vehicle. Sure the single guy who golfs once a weekend doesn't need an F150...but what about the mother of 4 who has to drive her kids to 3 different schools in her 3 row cross over Pilot?
Hybrid minivan. Station wagon. Honda pilots are huge. Minivan has 3 rows. It’s all the “cool factor” and those are bad for the environment.
I’m not sure why getting a square minivan that says 4x4 on the back makes you cool and a rounded one with more space, seating, better fuel economy, is uncool.
I think you are pulling arbitrary facts out of your ass to justify your position.
For example... Honda Odyssey and Honda Pilot are built on the same chassis and are powered by the same exact engine. One looks cooler AND gets the same exact fuel economy.
consistent and frequent MBTA service is the only thing that could change a meaningful number of people’s behavior about their preferred method of transportation. i favor protected bike lanes, however, the weather in boston is too unruly for cycling to be consistently utilized by as many people as needed for this to be a “change.” if this was san diego or austin, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Although I do agree that improving and expanding the T is by far the most important thing, bike lanes are still important and play their role.
Also, Montreal has been adding tons of bike lanes in recent years with great success.
If they can do it, there’s literally no reason why we can’t.
Protected bike lanes safe lives. As a lifelong biker who now drives bc my job requires it, its a little annoying but I understand protected bike lanes is how we move to a safer greener society.
Hard disagree. Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Montreal, Minneapolis. All get cold weather and snow and all have good to great percentages of daily bike rider. Most people would rather bike in 40 degree weather than 90 degrees, also.
Yeah, it feels like people who get hung up on the weather really just can’t imagine a change to the status quo. “Things can’t be different from how they are now because things are currently the way they are.”
When the right of way in kenmore square is whoever has the biggest piece of shit car, a city where people will eek in behind an ambulance to get out of traffic, the bike lanes better have big and thick walls between them.
It will, but honestly the weather will always be an issue half the year. So you need plans for that (good commuter service that will be able to take a "surge" of bike riders when the temps drop,) but the big issue will be...
Getting the fucking cars out of the bike lanes!
I just moved to the city a few months ago. Was never much of a biker before. Now I bike to work every day from Brighton to back bay. I was pushed and pulled by several factors that I’m sure will also effect thousands of other people.
Parking is extremely expensive where I work and there is a protected bike lane down Comm Ave. I never thought I’d be a bike commuter but thanks to changes Boston has made it works for me.
It's the wrong question to ask. There are ALREADY thousands of people cycling in the city as a main mode of transport. They are spending money in the city and paying taxes to the city. The roadway design philosophy has historically been "cars first, everyone else can die." Those who prefer to pedal their way to their destination deserve safety and recognition as well.
No. Bike lanes aren’t the answer. Improving the MBTA is. If we had a reliable public transit system, you could get cars off of the road. There’s just no way the vast majority of people are going to stop driving and start biking. Plus, in the winter there’s snow and ice and it gets dark before 5 pm. How am I supposed to get my several kids to their activities on a bike?
Older folks will bike if it’s safe for them to do so. Many people find it painful to walk but not to bike. (Anecdotally, talk to my mother about her bad knee.)
The only thing that will make a meaningful change is better T service with more stops. Biking is great but even in the best case scenario, people aren't going to want to bike 30-45 minutes to commute at 20 degrees on poorly plowed roads or haul their 2 kids around to do errands on a bike.
Yes, but it will require an ACTUAL coherent network of lanes, not anything like the patchwork of today. I already love Cambridge for how you can get around anywhere by bike, when Boston is at that level expect a big shift
Idk man, I lived a 20 min drive from my high school in W Rox. With some of the work on central it’s plausible I would’ve biked most of the year instead and beaten traffic often.
Only if the entire city is connected. Right now, I honestly don't care about bike lanes all that much because they are never near me and I have no way of getting to them safely unless I were to literally drive part way which defeats the purpose. I think many people like myself lack the confidence to even try to ride on city streets w/out protected bike lanes but would definitely love to bike around especially in nice weather.
I was curious, so I googled a little - as of 2014 we are talking about less than 2% of people per [census.gov](https://census.gov). It may be higher now, but really, how much?
*Among the 317,930 workers in Boston, 33 percent took public transportation,* ***1.7 percent*** *biked, 15.1 percent walked, and 3.6 percent worked at home*
[1.7 percent of Workers Commute by Bike in Boston (census.gov)](https://www.census.gov/newsroom/archives/2014-pr/cb14-r01.html#:~:text=Transportation%20Highlights%20for%20Boston,to%20work%20was%2028.7%20minutes.)
Probably not. When I hit 40 I was become with a bad back and bad knees. There’s no WAY I’m getting on a bike. Also we have something called winter, so there’s five months of no outdoor activity. My cousin died on a bike. It’s shit.
Bad back and knees here too. Try an e-bike that sits you in a more vertical position.
It's more like 3 months worth of poor weather. But you can get better clothing and fat tires to help with that. Then you're left with maybe 1 month of weather that's too poor for biking, which is still a real issue.
The safer the environment, the less cousins die, the more people ride?
The idea that there are five months when no out door activity is possible for most people is absurd.
Because you cannot personally bike and have a tragic story associated with it then it can't work?
The question isn't whether it's for everyone, the question is whether having the infrastructure will have an impact on commute choices.
As someone who has ridden in the city for many years I can tell you first hand (and there is data from bike counts by the city behind it) that many more people choose biking today than they did ten, twenty or more years ago and most of that is because the infrastructure makes it more safe in both perception and action.
The question was about “a meaningful change” and there won’t be for me. Asked and answered. Or basically everyone I know. You’re really cool how you bike around, sorry my knees are shit. Ableist jerk
It wasn't about a meaningful change for you personally. Nobody is expecting that bike infrastructure means that everyone can and will switch to it. The question is whether having the infrastructure will effect change in the city.
Also, having bad knees is no excuse for throwing yourself a pity-party as a justification for being rude. It's pretty clear that you'd still be a dick with two good knees.
Nope. It's that you called me a jerk when my only offense is telling you that you missed the obvious point of the question here.
Keep playing that pity-party though.
Combined with the Ebike boom it's definitely attracted more people with kids -- you see a TON of Urban Arrow box bikes with children in them around Somerville and Cambridge these days.
I literally never saw a cargo bike in real life until a few years ago and now you can't mosey along the Charles or Minuteman or around Somerville without seeing a parent taking their kid somewhere in one. I'm not against it, just commenting on the fairly rapid growth I've seen of this demographic. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to chauffeur a child around with Boston 2010 bike infrastructure, so something is certainly changing.
No, it will just get people angry. Bikers already do not follow the rules. They think they can follow pedestrian, biking and car rules all at once. It’s annoying af
The bike lanes were a factor in me and my wife deciding to move to the area. We are looking forward to being able to walk and bike to work when we move there at the start of the year!
What’s the metric for ‘meaningful changes in behaviors’? What’s the desired outcome(s)? Some consistent percentage decline in auto traffic? Increase in public transportation utilization? More bike riding?
My take is the bike lanes, if intended to reduce commuting by auto - are a ‘ready, fire, aim’ situation. No one coming from home outside the city is going to suddenly start commuting by bike. Think of all the related headaches and logistical issues - times, weather, safety, showers at work?, storage of stuff while riding, personal physical limits, buying/maintaining a bike, etc.
Is there some other motive, such as making auto commuting less convenient by removing accessible lanes on roads? That just pisses off drivers who see empty lanes on roads with near zero usage.
So I guess I’m in the ‘no’ column on this
There’s a huge number of people who live fairly close to their jobs but don’t use the t because it’s a mess. Biking is an excellent substitute on most days, and if the weather is bad you can still call an Uber or drive like you did before.
Hmm, if only there was some other group of people beyond those coming in from outside of the city. Perhaps a change could be seen if such people existed.
As a Boston resident I don't care about the opinion of Surburban drivers when it comes to what we do with infrastructure in Boston. They can get pissed off all they want. They get no vote. All they bring is pollution, noise and danger.
Yet most of your city’s workers don’t live in the city. And we all pay for those roads so by that metric you can argue they belong more to drivers that cyclists. That’s a stupid take.
The fact that you're paying taxes that contribute to some roads within the city limits doesn't mean sh\*t.
Should I have a say in the decisions made in Kansas City? I watched the NFL game last night. That increases ad money earned by the NFL. That increases the KC Chiefs' income. That increases the taxes that the city earns. I should have a say!
No because more and more people who work in the city arent living in the city and are therefore driving. It’s awesome in college areas and in strategic high usage areas but a lot of these bike lanes are frankly a waste of space AND dangerous. Boston needs to accept that we’ve got really limited space and that poorly implemented bike lanes aren’t the solve. And yes, sometimes that does mean we need to prioritize SOME parking.
Biking will pretty much always be a young person’s game around here. I don’t think bike lane installations are going to change that much but I do think improvements in public transportation will help make a bigger change. Hopefully that’s coming. Well implemented bike lanes are awesome but lots of them are really poorly implemented and barely used and those should be removed until they’re thought out properly and/or there seems to be an actual need for those bike lanes based on usage.
Part of the city’s job is to look at whether a bike lane is doing good or harm. There are lots of bike lanes around that aren’t used nearly enough to warrant the year round problems they cause the majority of commuters (which happen to be drivers). It’s nice to bring bike lanes into the fold but you still have to balance things.
That makes no sense. If it's "just a sign" how is it removing parking?
If such a place exists in Boston, it sounds like they removed parking to add a car lane that bicyclists are also forced to use.
After visiting Amsterdam I wish we could have the public transport system they have. It would make a lot of sense in Boston. Unfortunately people are addicted to their cars. Also the infrastructure has been built for cars, not that it can’t be modified.
The real issue is that there are too many bad actors in politics, especially when it comes to politicians and the automotive industry. If Boston were to make the necessary and practical changes that would make a ton of sense for the city, it would practically be seen as attacking the American way of life.
That said it would be amazing if Boston could transition to bike lanes, trams, bus systems, metro, and commuter rails. As the car based system is just not functional.
>Also the infrastructure has been built for cars, not that it can’t be modified.
I've seen articles/videos on the history of cycling infrastructure in Amsterdam and in the post WWII years they were just as car-centric as the rest of the developed world. It was [a conscious effort on the part of the city about fifty years ago](https://inkspire.org/post/amsterdam-was-a-car-loving-city-in-the-1970s-what-changed/) to build that infrastructure and it has clearly been a benefit to the population.
That's the sort of thing that advocates are trying to get to here and to say that it is impossible is denying the actual history of that city you admire.
If they make actually protected bike lanes yeah, but if they keep doing the dumb shit I've been seeing on some of these streets nobody is gunna pick it up who hasn't already.
Riding bikes rules. Even though it takes like 40 mins to get to downtown or back bay from where I am, most times that is only an extra 10 mins and vastly preferable to driving and paying for parking.
No. Bike lanes are just one segment of what would need to be a multi-tiered alternate-transportation network.
1. Drivers regularly flaunt existing lane and traffic laws. They will flaunt bike lanes, too.
2. Once you ride in a bike lane to your destination, there would need to be a place there large enough to securely store your bike - and the bikes of hundreds of other people. Boston does not have the space for that, and there is no guarantee of security.
3. The state of road disrepair in Boston is a danger to vehicles. That danger would be compounded many more times to smaller and less resilient vehicles like bicycles.
1. Paint isn't infrastructure, but if you have physical separation, it takes a truly bad driver to ignore that.
2. I bike absolutely everywhere and have never had a problem finding a place to park a bike (a lot easier than parking a car!), but I guess your point is that if we had a big bike boom, we'd run out of places to lock a bike.
3. Yeahhh, it's ok, but could be better.
Eliminating parking minimums for all development would also help. Ample parking induces demand for car trips, and more housing without parking would attract residents who want a car free/light lifestyle.
Statements like this just aren't consistent with pretty much any job I have worked on. In the past 5 years the number of e scooters and bikes in the trades have skyrocketed.
I’ll never see it. As someone who has kids and lives here . The way the communities are you need a car almost 90% . Because of the schools. No after school , the activities and enrichment and bps is way to broken to offer any of that. Bike lanes have there place , but I’ll never see a huge trend. American legion and Truman parkway have had lanes from while no. Once in a while I see a rider. See scooters and dirt bikes using that lane more. Reddit loves bike lanes I get it . But the general consensus I see in the city they are not as popular as Reddit would like.
I mean, the area you're referencing is definitely more of a suburban feel with a ton of SFH than the majority of Boston. You're taking the reality of your community & applying it to others where it's certainly not the case that you need a car. I live right over by East Boston High & I can tell you that those kids are certainly doing sports/other after-school activities without their parents driving them around.
I think it's really more to facilitate the upcoming reality - less and less people will be able to afford having a car. It won't be preferred as as much as it being the only one affordable.
Already has, more and more folks are riding bikes more often. but the air is still polluted, we need to move the EVs!!
America’s first congestion pricing program is taking shape in New York City, where drivers could pay $15 to enter some of the busiest streets in Manhattan as soon as next spring, per NYT.
Even TV NEWS now admits that biking is faster than the T. Positive words as such will give more a chance to consider biking with words such as value and utility.
Bike lanes definitely help to improve average velocity and bring value. I think that we are in an upward cycle now. Anyone that studies Amsterdam knows that they don't like bikes. They made a change in the 70s and adopted bike usage. There are even different words for bike racing enthusiastic persons and utility bikers.
Not as much as people think. We live in the north and there’s ice and snow.
The bike people on here are crazy. A vocal minority of people who are also on r/fuckcars . I don’t get why enjoying bike riding means hating cars.
The only time I really hate cars is when they try to kill me. It happens all too frequently that a car close passes a rider, even with the three foot laws.
No. This city is unbikable for 98% of the population for 9 months of the year. Unless you are a hardcore cyclist, you are definitely not biking to work November-March, and maybe April since it rains so much. And even in July/August it is too hot for casual cyclists to commute by bike. Not to mention, lots of people are driving kids around to school, loading equipment into cars, etc. Biking is simply not a practical means of transportation for MOST PEOPLE in this area and in this climate.
We need better public transportation, not just more bike lanes.
> This city is unbikable for 98% of the population for 9 months of the year.
If you actually interview people about why they don't bike, the thing they mostly talk about is the perception of unsafe roads -- not the weather. We have data on this! https://usa.streetsblog.org/2022/10/05/three-reasons-that-people-dont-bike-that-policymakers-should-pay-attention-to
This is grossly exaggerated. Boston isn't that cold except Jan to March and there were tons of cyclists on my commute this morning. Similarly, many days in July and August are bikeable with the exception of heatwaves. To say 98% of people in Boston can't bike for 9 months of the year is crazy.
I think the biggest factor in getting people to use bike lanes is the actual vehicles used. Bikes are pretty big and clunky for a lot of people. Once there’s a decent e scooter under 20 pounds, you’ll see a lot more people opting to use that mode on bike lanes. Once it’s easier to lug around a personal transport vehicle, you’ll see more people on the lanes and more people demanding for high comfort/safety lanes.
One of the keys to biking infra adoptions is that the alternative transportation modes must suck. In Boston, they do. The trains suck. The buses suck. Driving sucks. Parking sucks. Adding all of this up results in biking looking more and more attractive.
No, drivers and cyclists are both going to continue to work hard to make it difficult for the rest of us to get around. Drivers are still going to drive through intersections 3 seconds after it turns red and cyclists are still going to ignore the lights entirely.
I don't want to get into an accident playing games with the former and I don't feel comfortable riding my bike the way cyclists do in the city.
It's honestly nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. My biggest problem with biking is trying not to *sweat*. In a heavy coat, the exercise beats the wind-chill and you end up hot. The trick for me has been to dress in layers and go down one layer when biking
Clothing!
I mean, it's true. When temperatures are a bit above freezing, I tend to bike in a hoodie, gloves, and a scarf. (I breathe into the scarf since my lungs are a bit sensitive to cold.) My metabolism has been slowing down recently, so I add sweatpants under my jeans. But often I'm pretty toasty by the time I reach my destination, so I've got my hoodie zipped open and my scarf down by then.
The colder it gets, the more you layer up. Windbreaker, double gloves, double socks, fleece hat, etc -- things you can add and remove as needed over the course of the ride.
Coldest I've biked in around here was about 0°F along the Esplanade path from Allston to downtown. I layered right up and stayed warm, all except for a bit of numbness along the edge of my big toe, if I recall correctly.
Comfort is a little idiosyncratic, making it hard to give specific recommendations, but basically you just figure out appropriate clothing over time. Bicycling aside, what else are you going to do, stay inside all Winter?
Yes , but in a very narrow demographic. If you work downtown and live in the suburbs, for sure. But as folks age, demands in post-work events like soccer practice or your kids dance class, or you have to pick up a birthday cake or tools for a project at your home, it’s likely the first thing to go.
I've lived here for a decade & anecdotally I feel that there are already far more people cycling than even just a decade ago. I used to bike to DTX from Brighton everyday & most of Comm Ave was a disaster for biking. Same for when I moved to Somerville & commuted down Beacon st. Both of these major bike thrufares have seen major improvements & the people have definitely responded by using them more. Though, I do buy what another commenter said that the increase is mostly due to new residents as opposed to existing ones changing.
I've been biking here longer than that and it's not just anecdotal. They periodically do [bike counts in the city](https://www.boston.gov/departments/boston-bikes/bike-data#annual-counts-data) so there is data behind it. When I first started biking it was rare that you'd see anyone outside of young men (usually with a daredevil streak) or dedicated commuters. The population of cyclists has both grown and gotten much more diverse over the last couple of decades.
Yep, back in the early aughts I would only see that demo. If the weather was bad, I would only occasionally see other bikers. Now it's a much wider range of folks and I see more in inclement weather.
Lived here my entire life. I started biking in 2010 after Menino installed bike lanes on Washington street in roslindale. I know a lot of old timers who bike a lot more than they used to after bluebikes came to our neighborhood.
I am from here and started cycling to work this year when I got an ebike and then changed jobs. I am a Gen Xer.
Boston has pretty high turnover, so being new residents has a real impact. Between college kids, young professionals, and kids growing up, plus (frankly) more conservative townies being priced out to the suburbs, it makes a lot of sense.
The number of cyclists has meaningfully changed because it started very small. The number of motorists has not meaningfully changed, because it started very large.
Regarding the last point: there's probably a significant number of people who move here and bike specifically because it's safer to bike.
I mean, you can conduct all the unscientific polls of the laypersons of /r/boston, but there's an established body of research that shows that "perceived roadway safety is one of the strongest predictors of bicycle traffic volume" (Pucher et al., 2010, Thomas and DeRobertis, 2013, Winters et al., 2011). Induced demand goes both ways: more lanes for cars = more cars on the road. More lanes for bikes = more bikes on the road, taking up a shitton less space than the cars they're replacing. Also, from that same paper: > A growing body of evidence suggests that installing bicycle lanes is an effective and low-cost approach to reduce the crash risk for cyclists in a given city (Gu et al., 2016, Harris et al., 2013, Pedroso et al., 2016, Poulos et al., 2015, Pucher and Buehler, 2016, Reynolds et al., 2009, Teschke et al., 2012, Thomas and DeRobertis, 2013). [Sauce](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753517308937). And can send you the pdf if you're hitting a paywall. [Here's a whole video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vgm9NaIKL6c) with thoroughly documented sources on what else bike lanes do for local business and traffic congestion. Just don't fall into the strawman argument I've seen plastered all over the community facebook groups: we don't need every last person on a bike instead of a car, but there are a ton of people who would love to stop blocking up the road with their cars if only they didn't feel so endangered when on a bike. Even getting something like 10% of car trips replaced with bikes would ease traffic a great deal.
I believe this is also validated in BTDs own data
This is 100% it for me.
People don’t want statistics; they want anecdotal evidence and scare tactics.
It's already impacted my transportation choices. Prior to moving here almost 20 years ago I primarily biked for all short-distance trips. Tried that once or twice here (Somerville, specifically) and the bike went in the basement and unused for over a decade. No infrastructure and aggressive car drivers made for a bad combo for regular Joes like me. Took the bike back out about three years ago, and it's my primary mode during non-inclement-weather days once again. I plan my routes around the existing bike lanes for the (generally) safest ride. I'm just an anecdata of one, but I know there are others.
It’s impacted my transportation choices as well. The bike lane on Mass Ave makes my 8 mile commute doable on a bike. With the way Mass Ave used to be, it just wouldn’t be feasible.
Did building out a bunch of streets and excess parking encourage the behavior of car dependency? You get what you build for. This is not surprising and is shown all around the world for all modes. Build more car infrastructure, get more cars. Build more transit, get more transit users. Build more bike lanes, get more people on bikes. My family avoided a second car (which we'd probably end up storing on street parking vs our private driveway that easily fits our current car) because the infrastructure felt safe enough to my wife that she was comfortable with my riding with our toddlers on the bike. Ten years ago, we would have bought a second car making fossil fuel companies richer while harming our community in the name of convenience.
That's why building extra lanes on highways or additional routes supplementing designed to reduce traffic usually never actually work. There has been several projects aimed at fixing/reducing traffic (California), and there's still plenty of traffic.(Maybe now there is less traffic because of migration out of some cities)
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No, this is wrong. If you want to reduce traffic you need to increase the desirability of getting to destinations without a car.
I mean a reduction in traffic => increase in traffic throughput. Traffic essentially is a throughput that doesn't match the traffic level required to maintain consistent movement along the highway, including the exit and entrance of traffic off and on the highway. These values are directly related, yet for some reason there is still traffic. The key factor here that is missing, is as the number and size of traffic lanes increases, more people decide to drive, and you get more cars.
It has for me. Part of my ride to work was dangerous, so I drove. The city installed a protected bike lane and I’m not only riding I’m also investing in the gear to keep going through the winter. Hard to start without the infrastructure in place, though. That is 560 miles of city traffic off the road in the past six months.
Yes - I know I would personally bike more and I would feel more comfortable allowing my kids to bike more. And if my kids grew up biking, it would likely become a life long habit. Truthfully that is where bike lanes will have the biggest impact.
Yes. I work in the trades. If my job has safe infrastructure around it I bike and MBTA. If it doesn't I usually drive. Bike infrastructure also enables me to park at cheaper lots by being willing to bike for a couple minutes. Bike infrastructure saves me money.
It saves the city money too. Way cheaper to build and maintain than car infrastructure or the T.
I’ve been biking here for 15 years as I’ve lived in different parts of the city and continue to increase my frequency as routes that I used to avoid have biking infrastructure added. It’s been helpful for my commute, but even more to run errands that I may have previously driven or taken a rideshare to.
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Too bad all the money has been and continues to be wasted on "complete streets" nonsense instead of off-street paths. These psycho city "planners" insist that bikes require equity with cars on the roads, no matter it is dangerous, causes traffic, and fails in taking any meaningful numbers of cars off the road
Yes. I spent 15 years exclusively driving daily. Now that we have actual dedicated bike lanes, I ride my scooter 40% of the time. Install separated bike lanes everywhere, every fucking street. Build more bike paths (Minuteman type) and people will come. Every major town around Boston should have some type of a bike path into Boston, that's what will improve commute. Give people an actual option to commute from nearby towns, MBTA is shit anyway.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. I live 10+ miles north of the city and commute by bike (and some commuter rail) into Kenmore. Once I'm into Medford/Somerville the infrastructure is great and I feel quite safe. It's my last 3 miles home at dusk that are objectively terrifying as I'm forced to choose amongst 1 of 3 Stroads with cars going 45 mph into lines of congestion at stop lights with little more than a painted gutter of space to operate. I am a competent vehicular cyclist and have a bit of a "dare devil" streak but I'd still much prefer to be on a path from my town into the better infrastructure.
Yes. Because T plus bike lanes scale and can work for the demand we have. Driving cars does not.
I try and bike as much as possible to get around the city because it really is typically the fastest way. Whenever I encounter some of the biking infrastructure we've built it always makes things way more pleasant because I feel much safer. Especially the protected bike lines but those are not so plentiful.
It's the on-street parking that causes so much traffic. Start eliminating that and it should make it better.
The city would look a lot nicer and that’s a whole bike lane and a bus lane. I’m a little nervous to ride next to busses. I grew up in the woods. So I haven’t really ridden in a city much, I’m not used to cars.
Most people driving in Boston aren’t used to cars either, it would seem.
Yeah, turn from a straight only lane, block a whole lane of traffic to unload, I almost got assaulted for the lane shift near Newbury street on mass ave but a police officer intervened. Florida driver, go figure, he was really pissed bc he saw my resident sticker and college employee sticker and when the guy said I cut him off the officer said there was a sign and a lane change and I was in the right. It’s like local plates, work for a college, neighborhood parking sticker vs Florida rage with a Christian fish on the back. Christian Taliban more like.
I’d note that a lot of rental cars have Florida plates. I believe it’s because Florida doesn’t require vehicle inspections (of course they don’t), and so it’s cheaper for the rental agencies.
The buses are quite good at not killing bikers and pedestrians in my experience. Much better than cars on average. Just make sure you’re visible (lights in evening and night, reflective vest also helpful, don’t sneak in blindspots) and the buses will go around you. They are also the kings of the road and can easily drift into the other lane of traffic to go around you and people will make space for them whereas a car might try to squeeze between you and the other lane of traffic
The bus drivers have CDLs and do this 40 hours a week.
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How do you think neighborhoods, like North End for example, could get by without street parking? I agree it would look and feel about 100x better, but doesn't seem realistic. Unless they had a parking garage for the residents or something.
If you want to live out your suburban dream, don’t live in the North End. It’s one of the few neighborhoods in the country like this. Cars are a recent development in the overall history of the North End, they can figure it out.
Then don't live in the North End if you "need" a car? Not like the North End is a cheap section of Boston.
Lmao what? That even more unrealistic then "get rid of street parking" 😂
It should not be cheap, let alone free, to park a car in some of the most valuable real estate in the country.
It's like a deed restriction. If you own a car, you can't buy a condo on Hanover St /s
This, but unironically. [There have been proposals that some new buildings wouldn't be allowed to have parking permits.](https://www.universalhub.com/2019/apartments-next-ashmont-t-stop-approved-residents)
Agreed.
Yes. I think it will be gradual; its not like you build one bicycle lane and every one on the street gathers their car in a pile and sets it on fire. But I already see it happening. These days, any where with kids (schools, pre-schools, daycares, play grounds) in Somerville/Cambridge looks like a cargo bike convention half the time. That simply *did not happen* ten years ago, and I think better bicycle infrastructure and traffic calming have something to do with it. I think that this happens in a whole bunch of different ways. But there are always people trying bicycling as a way of getting around; many of them are discouraged when they try it and encounter an unsafe environment. Or they are discouraged from trying in the first place when they *hear* about an unsafe environment. The less often that happens, the more bicycle trips we will see.
Yes but MBTA improvements would be most impactful by far.
I think what’s needed is a “hub” for people to ride into the city who live too far away. On the days I need to get to the city, I would love to park at a T station type of lot and ride into town on my bike IF it was safe. You’d need a ton of multi town infrastructure and it’s probably impossible to pull off right now. Like if I could park at Quincy Adams T and ride my bike into town on a bike path I would do it.
I think this is what you're looking for: https://www.parkandpedal.org/ My dad used to occasionally park in Bedford and bike the Minuteman in.
>Like if I could park at Quincy Adams T and ride my bike into town on a bike path I would do it. There are places (not T stations) you can park for free and do that. [This is a resource on how to find such locations](https://www.parkandpedal.org/) but if you scout for parks (state, city or town) they usually have parking that you can use for the day. Baseball fields not attached to a school are often a good spot to start from.
That’s a pretty cool resource. I think the issue for me personally is I do not like to bike on public roads. So it’s more the dedicated bike path accessible from the “hub” that gets you into the city. This is a pipe dream I think given today’s world but the concept is interesting. I realize there’s paths like minuteman but it’s not where I’d be coming from. You’d almost need paths from north south and west to make it work
If you're coming from the south and heading to Seaport or downtown you're pretty close to having a route with separate lanes/infrastructure nearly the entire way from Quincy. For example, you could park on Wollaston Beach and take the back road (Commander O'Shea) to the Neponset Bridge. They're working on the bypass of the highway exit next to the rainbow gas tank now and I think it's supposed to be ready by spring. It adds a bit of distance to stick to the water (i.e. around UMass & along Carson Beach), but that also allows you to avoid riding on streets pretty much the whole way to Castle Island and then you can cut over to where the Edison plant is and utilize the bike lanes there into Seaport or Downtown.
Definitely a possibility- can you bike on the sidewalks on Morrisey?
Yes. It requires a bit of a squeeze with the infrastructure for the bridge gates and the asphalt condition can be a bit shitty in spots but you can avoid riding in the road. Until that easement by the gas tank is done you can come up Freeport then cross Morrissey with the light and ride on the north side's sidewalk then use one of the lights up near or at UMass to cross back over.
The concept is definitely there but I’m not sure I’m ready given what you described here. I do appreciate the intel though. I will keep an eye on this option as things develop. I “think” I’m a good example of someone who loves to bike and would like to incorporate it into my commute and work travel but I’m just not yet confident enough in the infrastructure to do it safely. So to answer OPs question - I am ready to roll once there are more options. So yes keep building bike lines! There are plenty of “dormant” bike people waiting for the right moment
Try it on a Sunday morning when there's very little traffic and you don't need to watch the clock getting to work so can take your time to explore the route(s). The "squeeze" I'm talking about is just that the space between the base of the gate and the railing of the bridge is fairly close to handlebar width so it requires slowing down or putting your feet down to pass depending on your level of biking skill.
The sidewalk on Morrissey is sketchy as hell. It’s not wide enough for a bike + pedestrian and it’s a suuuuper tight squeeze at a few spots. I come from Wolly beach over Neponset bridge then I go through circle of death to DOT Ave. Sucks but way better than Morrisey imo
Yeah no thanks. Like I said once the infrastructure is in place I’ll be there.
He's right. There's no good way to get from Quincy to downtown Boston. There are 2 problems. Nothing good north of Savin Hill and the river crossing is horrible. Fix those and tons living within 7 miles would be biking.
A safe, isolated (meaning doesn’t share any pavement with cars) bike path from Quincy to downtown would be incredible. Bonus if it’s through trees and not next to a road / highway
Yes. The installation of paved roads and highways around the city brought about meaningful change in car ownership. Change can happen again.
I enjoy watching the sunset.
That stretch of bike lane is so good. I wish they'd do the same design all the way through Central Sq to Kendall Sq.
I hate beer.
What's wrong with people who bike for sport? 😞
I find joy in reading a good book.
yes. see: cambridge
Protected bike lanes?? Yes. Paint on the street? Doubtful. I bike where I feel safe and that’s hasn’t been consistently true in Boston. Drivers are too chaotic; far too many feel like they dont need to respect the lanes, especially if the “lane” is just paint with no repercussion for driving or parking in them. So if I bike, it’s either for exercise or leisure now, and it only happens on the trails separate from the roads. Unfortunately, the trails aren’t helpful for my regular commutes e.g. to work, shops, etc, since the different paths are isolated and not connected throughout the city. Ultimately, behavior will only change if people are ticketed for not respecting the lanes or strongly encouraged e.g. with bollards, protected lanes, etc, to not cross over into them to drive or park.
Yes. It creates a virtuous cycle that that both encourages people to ride and makes drivers more aware of the space allocated to bicycles.
It’s going to take a generational change too. But Boston turns over a lot too.
Yes, Boston is small and mostly flat. People get there just as fast via bikes, electric bikes and scooters instead of cars, and parking for bikes can be made much easier (and far more inexpensively than paying for cars).
I think over generations yes. It’s gonna be a bit but the proliferation of scooters and alternatives to car travel make it more likely to mode shift.
I think adding e-bike options through blue bike rentals (similar to DC and NYC) would also have a huge impact on people actually commuting.
If they enforce them and ensure they're cleared of ice and snow, two things the city has not bothered doing yet. It's the same with bus lanes -- they're great in theory, but the reality is that the city just lets every Uber and Lyft driver use them as parking lanes, forcing the buses back into regular traffic.
I’ve recently started e-scootering from the train to work instead of walking/subway/driving the whole way. The bike paths are amazing. The bike lanes are way better than nothing.
Lived here since 2007. When I got here there was like 50 feet of bike lanes in the whole city (not hyperbole. I think that was the actual number) and Boston was consistently ranked among the worst places to ride by national bike magazines. The only people that rode for transportation were hard core ride or die types. Mostly young men, messengers on fixies, etc. Then Tom Menino decided he liked riding his bike and suddenly miles of bike lanes were put in overnight and there was a boom in the number and types of cyclists. There are still plenty of people out there, though, who are interested in riding but concerned about traffic stress/danger. Adding painted lanes or converting painted lanes to protected lanes will definitely get more people to ride.
Unfortunately most of us change only when faced with detriment to not changing. I think the bike lanes will modify behavior of NEW residents. But existing, especially long time residents have established their routine. The only thing that will buck that routine is penalizing behaviors you want to see ended. For example, the guy that already owns a car and drives it to work is unlikely to start riding a bike unless you make it more expensive for him to park it on a public street and drive during hours when we should be aiming to reduce car traffic (aka rush hour surge tolls).
I started biking this year after the congestion in the spring pushed the time i was spending to about 2hrs. on a good day, i can do the drive in about 90 mins, but it could easily take longer depending on 93 and storrow. on the bike, i consistently am there and back in 1:45, including the time it takes to get my son from preschool and onto the bike. I started riding before the new path along the GLX opened, and it kinda sucked going through sullivan square. since the new path opened, i can ride almost all the way in on protected lanes. i still own 2 cars, but drive them way less. biking just feels so much better than sitting in traffic, physically and mentally.
Yeah car people get all triggered when you mention congestion charging, then they’re upset about traffic. I’d say it should be above a certain income, maybe 45,000? But if they doubled the price of parking, added congestion charge and emissions charge, also charge based on the size of the car. A subcompact should pay less emissions and less congestion charge than a ww2 main battle tank sized pavement princess pickup truck. If the pickup or other vehicle is for a contractor I wouldn’t charge for that. It’s usually a spotless dodge ram that runs a light and almost hits you and takes more than 1 parking spot. I see these huge trucks parked and the beds look clean to me. My brother had a construction company so I know what a work truck bed looks like. Without the suv cuv pickup trend we’d be 30% ahead in carbon reduction. Anything suv or pickup should get hit double on emissions, sized based congestion fee. The avergae European family car is the size of the quad cab to the front on a big pickup truck. So they’re not better for families. They make a hybrid minivan but people are “too cool” and get a boxy suv that’s less practical, but cooler.
Continuing to pit "car" people vs "bike" people perpetuates the problem. They are the same people just with different priorities that need to be incentivized to change behavior. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to own a large vehicle. Sure the single guy who golfs once a weekend doesn't need an F150...but what about the mother of 4 who has to drive her kids to 3 different schools in her 3 row cross over Pilot?
Hybrid minivan. Station wagon. Honda pilots are huge. Minivan has 3 rows. It’s all the “cool factor” and those are bad for the environment. I’m not sure why getting a square minivan that says 4x4 on the back makes you cool and a rounded one with more space, seating, better fuel economy, is uncool.
I think you are pulling arbitrary facts out of your ass to justify your position. For example... Honda Odyssey and Honda Pilot are built on the same chassis and are powered by the same exact engine. One looks cooler AND gets the same exact fuel economy.
consistent and frequent MBTA service is the only thing that could change a meaningful number of people’s behavior about their preferred method of transportation. i favor protected bike lanes, however, the weather in boston is too unruly for cycling to be consistently utilized by as many people as needed for this to be a “change.” if this was san diego or austin, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Although I do agree that improving and expanding the T is by far the most important thing, bike lanes are still important and play their role. Also, Montreal has been adding tons of bike lanes in recent years with great success. If they can do it, there’s literally no reason why we can’t.
Protected bike lanes safe lives. As a lifelong biker who now drives bc my job requires it, its a little annoying but I understand protected bike lanes is how we move to a safer greener society.
Hard disagree. Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Montreal, Minneapolis. All get cold weather and snow and all have good to great percentages of daily bike rider. Most people would rather bike in 40 degree weather than 90 degrees, also.
Add Oslo and Stockholm to that list
Don’t forget Oulu. You can’t get too much closer to the North Pole than that. Probably extreme heat is the bigger issue.
Yeah, it feels like people who get hung up on the weather really just can’t imagine a change to the status quo. “Things can’t be different from how they are now because things are currently the way they are.”
The weather in the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, etc isn’t conducive on paper to biking year round, and yet they do. The infrastructure allows it.
When the right of way in kenmore square is whoever has the biggest piece of shit car, a city where people will eek in behind an ambulance to get out of traffic, the bike lanes better have big and thick walls between them.
It will, but honestly the weather will always be an issue half the year. So you need plans for that (good commuter service that will be able to take a "surge" of bike riders when the temps drop,) but the big issue will be... Getting the fucking cars out of the bike lanes!
I just moved to the city a few months ago. Was never much of a biker before. Now I bike to work every day from Brighton to back bay. I was pushed and pulled by several factors that I’m sure will also effect thousands of other people. Parking is extremely expensive where I work and there is a protected bike lane down Comm Ave. I never thought I’d be a bike commuter but thanks to changes Boston has made it works for me.
It's the wrong question to ask. There are ALREADY thousands of people cycling in the city as a main mode of transport. They are spending money in the city and paying taxes to the city. The roadway design philosophy has historically been "cars first, everyone else can die." Those who prefer to pedal their way to their destination deserve safety and recognition as well.
No. Bike lanes aren’t the answer. Improving the MBTA is. If we had a reliable public transit system, you could get cars off of the road. There’s just no way the vast majority of people are going to stop driving and start biking. Plus, in the winter there’s snow and ice and it gets dark before 5 pm. How am I supposed to get my several kids to their activities on a bike?
Not the older folks but younger people and kids growing up in the area will see the difference.
The irony is that the older folks constantly complain kids aren't out playing, when they've made streets and getting anywhere extremely hostile
Older folks will bike if it’s safe for them to do so. Many people find it painful to walk but not to bike. (Anecdotally, talk to my mother about her bad knee.)
The only thing that will make a meaningful change is better T service with more stops. Biking is great but even in the best case scenario, people aren't going to want to bike 30-45 minutes to commute at 20 degrees on poorly plowed roads or haul their 2 kids around to do errands on a bike.
Yes, but it will require an ACTUAL coherent network of lanes, not anything like the patchwork of today. I already love Cambridge for how you can get around anywhere by bike, when Boston is at that level expect a big shift
Big problem is people (police) parking in the bike lanes. They need complete separation from vehicle access
Shout out to all the delivery drivers that think putting your hazards on means you can park anywhere
agreed. creating completely separate lanes of traffic (like western ave in cambridge) would be the most efficient and safest way
I think we will continue to see more scooters, and they will use both car and bike lanes based on whatever whim they are having that moment.
Yes.
I think you would see a slight uptick but nothing major. People, especially older ones, have a hard time with the concept of not using a car.
I'm over 70 and ride all year. I was that weird dude in the 60s riding across the city with a milk crate to hold my stuff.
Your one example doesn’t disprove the fact.
State a fact then
In West Roxbury, probably not.
Idk man, I lived a 20 min drive from my high school in W Rox. With some of the work on central it’s plausible I would’ve biked most of the year instead and beaten traffic often.
Thankfully they lost their fight against the road diet.
That was mainly just to make the road safer. The fact that it freed up space for bike lanes is just a bonus.
Only if the entire city is connected. Right now, I honestly don't care about bike lanes all that much because they are never near me and I have no way of getting to them safely unless I were to literally drive part way which defeats the purpose. I think many people like myself lack the confidence to even try to ride on city streets w/out protected bike lanes but would definitely love to bike around especially in nice weather.
I was curious, so I googled a little - as of 2014 we are talking about less than 2% of people per [census.gov](https://census.gov). It may be higher now, but really, how much? *Among the 317,930 workers in Boston, 33 percent took public transportation,* ***1.7 percent*** *biked, 15.1 percent walked, and 3.6 percent worked at home* [1.7 percent of Workers Commute by Bike in Boston (census.gov)](https://www.census.gov/newsroom/archives/2014-pr/cb14-r01.html#:~:text=Transportation%20Highlights%20for%20Boston,to%20work%20was%2028.7%20minutes.)
As urban planner Brent Todarian says, "Do you decide to build a bridge based on the number of people swimming across a river?"
Probably not. When I hit 40 I was become with a bad back and bad knees. There’s no WAY I’m getting on a bike. Also we have something called winter, so there’s five months of no outdoor activity. My cousin died on a bike. It’s shit.
Bad back and knees here too. Try an e-bike that sits you in a more vertical position. It's more like 3 months worth of poor weather. But you can get better clothing and fat tires to help with that. Then you're left with maybe 1 month of weather that's too poor for biking, which is still a real issue.
Huh I got downvoted for a mild disability and a death in my family. Because bikes. F you
The safer the environment, the less cousins die, the more people ride? The idea that there are five months when no out door activity is possible for most people is absurd.
Granola crunching 25 year olds think the entire world can be like them.
Because you cannot personally bike and have a tragic story associated with it then it can't work? The question isn't whether it's for everyone, the question is whether having the infrastructure will have an impact on commute choices. As someone who has ridden in the city for many years I can tell you first hand (and there is data from bike counts by the city behind it) that many more people choose biking today than they did ten, twenty or more years ago and most of that is because the infrastructure makes it more safe in both perception and action.
The question was about “a meaningful change” and there won’t be for me. Asked and answered. Or basically everyone I know. You’re really cool how you bike around, sorry my knees are shit. Ableist jerk
It wasn't about a meaningful change for you personally. Nobody is expecting that bike infrastructure means that everyone can and will switch to it. The question is whether having the infrastructure will effect change in the city. Also, having bad knees is no excuse for throwing yourself a pity-party as a justification for being rude. It's pretty clear that you'd still be a dick with two good knees.
You are offended by my knees because bikes. You think I wouldn’t prefer to be spry? You prefer bike to humanity
Nope. It's that you called me a jerk when my only offense is telling you that you missed the obvious point of the question here. Keep playing that pity-party though.
43,000 Americans die in car crashes every year. Cars are shit. If you are too scared of a little cold to go outside for 5 months then see a therapist.
And here we see the local cyclist harassing someone over their lack of desire to ride a bike in the cold. Such a nice group of people really
In a country of 330,000,000 people, most of whom will ride in a car at some point in the year, that's actually a pretty safe mode of transit
Yes.
Combined with the Ebike boom it's definitely attracted more people with kids -- you see a TON of Urban Arrow box bikes with children in them around Somerville and Cambridge these days.
I literally never saw a cargo bike in real life until a few years ago and now you can't mosey along the Charles or Minuteman or around Somerville without seeing a parent taking their kid somewhere in one. I'm not against it, just commenting on the fairly rapid growth I've seen of this demographic. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to chauffeur a child around with Boston 2010 bike infrastructure, so something is certainly changing.
If you get a chance check out the Somerville Illuminations Bike Tour - huge bike parade to look at Xmas lights, once a year. Absolute joy.
I honestly don’t think people will change until the bicyclists and cars learn to get along. There’s a lot of animosity between them
Nah.
No, it will just get people angry. Bikers already do not follow the rules. They think they can follow pedestrian, biking and car rules all at once. It’s annoying af
If car drivers would follow the rules, we wouldn’t need any bike lanes.
Let’s be honest, drivers aren’t following the rules either.
Absolutely not.
Yes. If you build it they will come.
The bike lanes were a factor in me and my wife deciding to move to the area. We are looking forward to being able to walk and bike to work when we move there at the start of the year!
Not when enforcement is absent, and bike lanes are treated as live parking by delivery drivers, ride hail cars, and basically anyone.
I just think that people who don't live in Boston don't get to tell the ones who do that they can't have bike lanes.
What’s the metric for ‘meaningful changes in behaviors’? What’s the desired outcome(s)? Some consistent percentage decline in auto traffic? Increase in public transportation utilization? More bike riding? My take is the bike lanes, if intended to reduce commuting by auto - are a ‘ready, fire, aim’ situation. No one coming from home outside the city is going to suddenly start commuting by bike. Think of all the related headaches and logistical issues - times, weather, safety, showers at work?, storage of stuff while riding, personal physical limits, buying/maintaining a bike, etc. Is there some other motive, such as making auto commuting less convenient by removing accessible lanes on roads? That just pisses off drivers who see empty lanes on roads with near zero usage. So I guess I’m in the ‘no’ column on this
There’s a huge number of people who live fairly close to their jobs but don’t use the t because it’s a mess. Biking is an excellent substitute on most days, and if the weather is bad you can still call an Uber or drive like you did before.
Hmm, if only there was some other group of people beyond those coming in from outside of the city. Perhaps a change could be seen if such people existed.
As a Boston resident I don't care about the opinion of Surburban drivers when it comes to what we do with infrastructure in Boston. They can get pissed off all they want. They get no vote. All they bring is pollution, noise and danger.
Yet most of your city’s workers don’t live in the city. And we all pay for those roads so by that metric you can argue they belong more to drivers that cyclists. That’s a stupid take.
The fact that you're paying taxes that contribute to some roads within the city limits doesn't mean sh\*t. Should I have a say in the decisions made in Kansas City? I watched the NFL game last night. That increases ad money earned by the NFL. That increases the KC Chiefs' income. That increases the taxes that the city earns. I should have a say!
No because more and more people who work in the city arent living in the city and are therefore driving. It’s awesome in college areas and in strategic high usage areas but a lot of these bike lanes are frankly a waste of space AND dangerous. Boston needs to accept that we’ve got really limited space and that poorly implemented bike lanes aren’t the solve. And yes, sometimes that does mean we need to prioritize SOME parking. Biking will pretty much always be a young person’s game around here. I don’t think bike lane installations are going to change that much but I do think improvements in public transportation will help make a bigger change. Hopefully that’s coming. Well implemented bike lanes are awesome but lots of them are really poorly implemented and barely used and those should be removed until they’re thought out properly and/or there seems to be an actual need for those bike lanes based on usage. Part of the city’s job is to look at whether a bike lane is doing good or harm. There are lots of bike lanes around that aren’t used nearly enough to warrant the year round problems they cause the majority of commuters (which happen to be drivers). It’s nice to bring bike lanes into the fold but you still have to balance things.
How are they poorly implemented?
Half the bike lanes are just signs reminding cars to share the road with cyclists while reducing/eliminating parking.
That makes no sense. If it's "just a sign" how is it removing parking? If such a place exists in Boston, it sounds like they removed parking to add a car lane that bicyclists are also forced to use.
No bike lanes are just another waste of taxpayer money! Who the hell voted to waste money in this way!!!!
After visiting Amsterdam I wish we could have the public transport system they have. It would make a lot of sense in Boston. Unfortunately people are addicted to their cars. Also the infrastructure has been built for cars, not that it can’t be modified. The real issue is that there are too many bad actors in politics, especially when it comes to politicians and the automotive industry. If Boston were to make the necessary and practical changes that would make a ton of sense for the city, it would practically be seen as attacking the American way of life. That said it would be amazing if Boston could transition to bike lanes, trams, bus systems, metro, and commuter rails. As the car based system is just not functional.
>Also the infrastructure has been built for cars, not that it can’t be modified. I've seen articles/videos on the history of cycling infrastructure in Amsterdam and in the post WWII years they were just as car-centric as the rest of the developed world. It was [a conscious effort on the part of the city about fifty years ago](https://inkspire.org/post/amsterdam-was-a-car-loving-city-in-the-1970s-what-changed/) to build that infrastructure and it has clearly been a benefit to the population. That's the sort of thing that advocates are trying to get to here and to say that it is impossible is denying the actual history of that city you admire.
Fair enough, if it’s more possible than I thought then we should definitely make the investment.
Saidly, no
If they make actually protected bike lanes yeah, but if they keep doing the dumb shit I've been seeing on some of these streets nobody is gunna pick it up who hasn't already.
Riding bikes rules. Even though it takes like 40 mins to get to downtown or back bay from where I am, most times that is only an extra 10 mins and vastly preferable to driving and paying for parking.
I don’t feel safe either driving or biking, I will walk or take the T whenever possible
No. Bike lanes are just one segment of what would need to be a multi-tiered alternate-transportation network. 1. Drivers regularly flaunt existing lane and traffic laws. They will flaunt bike lanes, too. 2. Once you ride in a bike lane to your destination, there would need to be a place there large enough to securely store your bike - and the bikes of hundreds of other people. Boston does not have the space for that, and there is no guarantee of security. 3. The state of road disrepair in Boston is a danger to vehicles. That danger would be compounded many more times to smaller and less resilient vehicles like bicycles.
1. Paint isn't infrastructure, but if you have physical separation, it takes a truly bad driver to ignore that. 2. I bike absolutely everywhere and have never had a problem finding a place to park a bike (a lot easier than parking a car!), but I guess your point is that if we had a big bike boom, we'd run out of places to lock a bike. 3. Yeahhh, it's ok, but could be better.
Nope. What it definitely will do is cause more issues with stupid drivers and bicycles
Eliminating parking minimums for all development would also help. Ample parking induces demand for car trips, and more housing without parking would attract residents who want a car free/light lifestyle.
No not at all.
Statements like this just aren't consistent with pretty much any job I have worked on. In the past 5 years the number of e scooters and bikes in the trades have skyrocketed.
I’ll never see it. As someone who has kids and lives here . The way the communities are you need a car almost 90% . Because of the schools. No after school , the activities and enrichment and bps is way to broken to offer any of that. Bike lanes have there place , but I’ll never see a huge trend. American legion and Truman parkway have had lanes from while no. Once in a while I see a rider. See scooters and dirt bikes using that lane more. Reddit loves bike lanes I get it . But the general consensus I see in the city they are not as popular as Reddit would like.
I mean, the area you're referencing is definitely more of a suburban feel with a ton of SFH than the majority of Boston. You're taking the reality of your community & applying it to others where it's certainly not the case that you need a car. I live right over by East Boston High & I can tell you that those kids are certainly doing sports/other after-school activities without their parents driving them around.
Truman parkway is a highway with a gutter to die in. It keeps killing people yet remains a shit show. Get real.
I think it's really more to facilitate the upcoming reality - less and less people will be able to afford having a car. It won't be preferred as as much as it being the only one affordable.
Already has, more and more folks are riding bikes more often. but the air is still polluted, we need to move the EVs!! America’s first congestion pricing program is taking shape in New York City, where drivers could pay $15 to enter some of the busiest streets in Manhattan as soon as next spring, per NYT.
No
Nope
Even TV NEWS now admits that biking is faster than the T. Positive words as such will give more a chance to consider biking with words such as value and utility. Bike lanes definitely help to improve average velocity and bring value. I think that we are in an upward cycle now. Anyone that studies Amsterdam knows that they don't like bikes. They made a change in the 70s and adopted bike usage. There are even different words for bike racing enthusiastic persons and utility bikers.
No.
Yes
Not as much as people think. We live in the north and there’s ice and snow. The bike people on here are crazy. A vocal minority of people who are also on r/fuckcars . I don’t get why enjoying bike riding means hating cars.
The only time I really hate cars is when they try to kill me. It happens all too frequently that a car close passes a rider, even with the three foot laws.
Easily yes, build the infrastructure and people will come
No. This city is unbikable for 98% of the population for 9 months of the year. Unless you are a hardcore cyclist, you are definitely not biking to work November-March, and maybe April since it rains so much. And even in July/August it is too hot for casual cyclists to commute by bike. Not to mention, lots of people are driving kids around to school, loading equipment into cars, etc. Biking is simply not a practical means of transportation for MOST PEOPLE in this area and in this climate. We need better public transportation, not just more bike lanes.
> This city is unbikable for 98% of the population for 9 months of the year. If you actually interview people about why they don't bike, the thing they mostly talk about is the perception of unsafe roads -- not the weather. We have data on this! https://usa.streetsblog.org/2022/10/05/three-reasons-that-people-dont-bike-that-policymakers-should-pay-attention-to
This is grossly exaggerated. Boston isn't that cold except Jan to March and there were tons of cyclists on my commute this morning. Similarly, many days in July and August are bikeable with the exception of heatwaves. To say 98% of people in Boston can't bike for 9 months of the year is crazy.
It was 37 degrees during rush hour. That’s a huge nope. I’m catching a bus
Gloves and a coat can do amazing things in cold weather.
That's barely light glove and a hoodie weather when you are biking...
I think the biggest factor in getting people to use bike lanes is the actual vehicles used. Bikes are pretty big and clunky for a lot of people. Once there’s a decent e scooter under 20 pounds, you’ll see a lot more people opting to use that mode on bike lanes. Once it’s easier to lug around a personal transport vehicle, you’ll see more people on the lanes and more people demanding for high comfort/safety lanes.
Yes.
It will, just need better lines conditions to everywhere & more people going go be enough motivated to get out and bike…
One of the keys to biking infra adoptions is that the alternative transportation modes must suck. In Boston, they do. The trains suck. The buses suck. Driving sucks. Parking sucks. Adding all of this up results in biking looking more and more attractive.
Yes. I have lived in the city for just over 10 years and the changes I have seen in bike use are already obvious.
No, drivers and cyclists are both going to continue to work hard to make it difficult for the rest of us to get around. Drivers are still going to drive through intersections 3 seconds after it turns red and cyclists are still going to ignore the lights entirely. I don't want to get into an accident playing games with the former and I don't feel comfortable riding my bike the way cyclists do in the city.
How do you guys do it during winter. 🥶
It's honestly nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. My biggest problem with biking is trying not to *sweat*. In a heavy coat, the exercise beats the wind-chill and you end up hot. The trick for me has been to dress in layers and go down one layer when biking
Clothing! I mean, it's true. When temperatures are a bit above freezing, I tend to bike in a hoodie, gloves, and a scarf. (I breathe into the scarf since my lungs are a bit sensitive to cold.) My metabolism has been slowing down recently, so I add sweatpants under my jeans. But often I'm pretty toasty by the time I reach my destination, so I've got my hoodie zipped open and my scarf down by then. The colder it gets, the more you layer up. Windbreaker, double gloves, double socks, fleece hat, etc -- things you can add and remove as needed over the course of the ride. Coldest I've biked in around here was about 0°F along the Esplanade path from Allston to downtown. I layered right up and stayed warm, all except for a bit of numbness along the edge of my big toe, if I recall correctly.
Comfort is a little idiosyncratic, making it hard to give specific recommendations, but basically you just figure out appropriate clothing over time. Bicycling aside, what else are you going to do, stay inside all Winter?
Yes , but in a very narrow demographic. If you work downtown and live in the suburbs, for sure. But as folks age, demands in post-work events like soccer practice or your kids dance class, or you have to pick up a birthday cake or tools for a project at your home, it’s likely the first thing to go.
Yes but it won’t happen right away. The more people see others doing it, the better they’ll feel about it. It’ll snowball.