With more plans to advance Boston as one of the best U.S. cities for cycling, the Hub is beginning to look more and more like a bicycle wheel.
Boston Bikes launched in 2007 and improved upon numerous infrastructure and bike programs this past year, ultimately winning the city national recognition, according to a press release on the Boston Bikes Annual Report.
The New Balance Hubway bike share system, launched in July, provided 60 stations and 600 bicycles for the city. Boston also installed bike lanes on Massachusetts Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue, creating 50 miles of bike lanes in Boston.
Community programs have given 8,000 students bike training and donated more than 1,000 bikes to low-income residents, according to the press release.
“Over the past four years, we have taken great strides toward making Boston a city that welcomes and encourages bicycling,” said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino in the press release. “This year, I’m proud to say that the car is no longer king in Boston. With 50 miles of bike lanes now on our streets and the huge success of Hubway, we are well on our way to making Boston one of the best cycling cities in the country.”
Jeremy Hanson, the community engagement and development associate at Bikes Not Bombs, said Boston Bikes has made impressive progress.
“Boston can be a tough city to work in just to get all the different agencies of government to work together on this,” Hanson said. “It’s impressive to see folks over at Boston Bikes has moved things forward like they have.”
David Watson, executive director of MassBike, the Massachusetts Bike Coalition, said Boston Bikes has helped engage more people in bicycling since the program began in 2007.
“The most important thing is that this is real evidence that the city has officially embraced bicycling as an important mode of transportation and an important activity and they want to encourage Boston residents,” he said.
Boston Bikes plans to add another 15 to 20 miles of bike lanes, install more bike parking, expand the Hubway bike share system into other parts of Boston and continue donating bikes to low-income residents through the Mayor’s Roll-it-Forward program, Watson said.
The streets have become safer after the expansion of the Boston Bikes, with the increase in the number of bike riders and programs to raise awareness about bike safety, said Kara Oberg, the program coordinator of LivableStreets Alliance.
“It is making biking more safer, more convenient and more accessible for students and everyone living in the Boston region as well,” Oberg said. “So over all it’s giving the Boston resident another way of getting around and making that option a lot easier and safer.”
Oberg said the expansion of biking in Boston has helped foster a biking community for people who ride bikes, advocate for bikes or are interested in trying to bike.
“I think,” she said, “it is definitely building a bigger and bigger community in Boston each year.”
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Was there any fact checking to verify claims of increased safety? Have more bike lanes and education classes reduced accidents and injuries? Has compliance with traffic laws increased? Has the removal of shared travel lanes and parking to make bike-only lanes had any adverse effects? Did journalists at The Daily Free Press seek any alternate points of view?