Transcript
Summary of this research paper:
The Boston city government launched the program Boston Bike to
change Boston into a bike friendly city. It’s part of American
nation-wide transition. This paper tells what the government has
done and the benefits of becoming a bike friendly city. It also
shows the tension and difficulties during the transition from a
car culture city. Looking into Western Europe and China, the
paper at the same time examines the experiences that Boston could
learn from them. In the end, the paper also looks what possible
stories could be done under this topic.
Bike friendly Boston research paper
When I was in China, I rode a bike every day, so I miss my bike a
lot when I am in US. When I see the bike-share system covering
more areas, and more marked bike lanes, I am very excited and I
feel the city is actually changing. If a person first learns the
changes that a plan describes from his or her daily life instead
from the plan, I think this is the best way to prove the plan is
working. This makes me have interest to do research on this
topic.
Unknown history--Boston: Birthplace of American Bicycling
From 1877 to 1896, the popularity of bicycles increased
exponentially, and Boston was in on it from the start. The Boston
Bicycle Club was the first in the nation, and the city’s cyclists
formed a new national organization, the League of American
Wheelmen (LAW). The sport was becoming a craze, and Massachusetts
had the largest per capita membership in the league in the 1890s
and the largest percentage of women members. Several prominent
cycling magazines were published in Boston, making cycling a
topic of press coverage and growing cultural influence as well as
a form of recreation.
Nationwide, there were 102,636 LAW members in 1898. By 1902,
there were 8,692 members. The bicycle craze was over and the LAW
closed their doors.
Cycling steadily became more important in Europe over the first
half of the twentieth century, but it dropped off dramatically in
the United States between 1900 and 1910.
In his book, “Boston's Cycling Craze, 1880-1900--A Story of Race,
Sport, and Society”, Lorenz J. Finison examines that time. (The
book will be published in June of 2014, so I don’t have the
chance to read it. I get some information from other report. I
list the links of those report at the end of this section. In all
the following sections, I will give the links of all materials
used in each section.) The bike also became a tool to promote
women’s liberation and racial equality, though it was an
unsuccessful challenge to the color bar. LAW bowed to pressure
from its southern members and restricted its membership to whites
only.
http://www.umass.edu/umpress/title/bostons-cycling-craze-1880-
1900#sthash.fg0vMKqt.dpuf
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/the-bittersweet-
history-of-bike-clubs/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
http://www.m-bike.org/blog/2009/10/10/who-killed-the-league-of-
american-wheelmen/
http://blog.livablestreets.info/?p=92
What is a bike-friendly city?
Of course, it needs to build bike facilities. More importantly,
bikers should have the equal rights and also be regulated
equally. Different government departments and companies take bike
into consideration when making their development or business
plans, so bikers can get more convenience and freedom (I see your
comment that you want further explanation here. The following
complete system, safety sections all explain this idea. I feel
hard to include so many things in this introduction part. I
actually doubted about this expression and tried to think a
better and clearer way, but I couldn’t. I have to leave it that
way). Ultimately, biking becomes a way of life without obstacles.
Boston Bike plan
Boston was not a bike-friendly city at all before. It had
appeared on the worst American bike cities list of Bicycling
Magazine. However, in 2007, Mayor Thomas Menino launched Boston
Bike, the citywide program to encourage citizens and visitors to
use bikes. Biking to work soared by 82 percent between 2008 and
2011, and other surveys show double-digit increases in all types
of bicycling each year. The cumulative length of bike routes in
Boston is 120 miles by 2013. The number plans to reach 356 in
2043. The bike lanes should be comfortable and safe with direct
connectivity to workplaces, schools, parks, and public
transportation, becoming a seamless network. The plan also
includes the building of other bike facilities, including bike
racks, signs for bikers (like “0.2 miles to Government Center”),
and parklets (public sidewalk extension, a place for people to
rest, combining seating, trees, umbrellas).
Boston bike program is part of the very ambitious Boston Climate
Action Plan, which sets a goal of reducing its overall greenhouse
gas emissions 25 percent by 2020 and 80 percent by 2050, though
the bike program only contributes 1 percent in the reduction by
estimation.
https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/Boston%20Bike
%20Network%20Plan%2C%20Fall%202013_FINAL_tcm3-40525.pdf
http://issuu.com/ees_boston/docs/a_climate_of_progress_-
_cap_update_
American national wide (the western world) transition vs. the
irony for China
Even with the big improvement after implementing the bike
program, Boston is 16th on the 2012 best American bike cities
list of Bicycling Magazine.
http://www.bicycling.com/news/advocacy/america-s-top-50-bike-
friendly-cities So it’s not hard to imagine that the bike
movement also happens in many other American cities even just by
the list. But I didn’t really see the larger picture until I saw
a book.
Vineet Gupta is the Director of Planning at Boston Transportation
Department. He is normally the contact person for bike-related
meetings or events.
A book called “Urban Street Design Guide” was published in 2013.
It’s written by National Association of City Transportation
Officials, a non-profit organization. But Vineet Gupta’s name
appears in the credit along with the government officials from 15
major American cities. It’s very shocking to see all these
government officials appear on the same page. This is the first
time I realize that building the bike-friendly city is not a
grass-root movement or a development plan for several cities.
This could be a national wide transition for America.
(The names of Vineet Gupta and other government officials also
appear on another book published in 2013 called “Completing Our
Streets: The Transition to Safe and Inclusive Transportation
Networks”. It’s written by Barbara McCann, a public policy and
communications expert. She developed the Complete Streets concept
and served as the Executive Director of the National Complete
Streets Coalition, working with many government departments. )
More books and articles prove the transition. “City Cycling” even
calls this cycling renaissance. It says many countries in Western
Europe, North America and Australia have officially recognized
the importance of cycling as a practical mode of urban
transportation and endorse the goal of raising cycling levels.
Between the 1920s and 1960s, policies adapting cities to car
travel in the United States served as a role model for much of
Western Europe. But by the late 1960s, many European cities
started refocusing their policies to curb car use by promoting
walking, cycling, and public transportation. For the last two
decades, in the face of car-dependence, suburban sprawl, U.S.
planners have been looking to Western Europe. They are trying to
alleviate congestion through denser urban living in mixed-use
neighborhoods that allow people to meet more needs by walking,
biking, and using public transportation.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2014/02/9-reasons-us-
ended-so-much-more-car-dependent-europe/8226/
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2014/02/very-brief-
history-why-americans-hate-their-daily-commutes/8224/
Boston Society of Architects holds a speaker series about
transportation. On January 23rd, I went to the lecture called
Cities for people: Pedestrian and bike systems. In the beginning
of the lecture, the speaker from Copenhagen showed us a clip from
a documentary “The Human Scale”. In the clip, city planners in
America and other places say the love affair with the automobile
has to end. And with the changes of buildings and environment,
people’s behaviors do change. The speakers later show some their
daily biking practices, for example riding in winters, riding
with children on their back seats, and riding with high-heel
shoes. The speaker also said she doesn’t like to be called a
cyclist, because it feels like doing some kind of sport. Biking
for them is just a way of life. I noticed many audience members
listened carefully and felt surprised by some of what she said. I
felt huge irony at that point, because what the speaker said is
what has been done naturally for so many years in China. But on
our way to pursuing modernization, we gradually abandon these.
The bikers in Beijing and other big cities in China keep
decreasing. A 2010 report said only 17.9 percent people in
Beijing chose biking as their transportation way. On the other
side, many car drivers could be stuck in the traffic for hours.
We have learned from western world and despised ourselves since
1840. We won’t think one day western world starts to learn from
us. Pathetically, in some cases, we don’t see its values until
western world recognizes its values. In that clip, a Chinese city
planner said we are repeating many western mistakes. I don’t say
our developing way is wrong, but I think at least we could get
some inspiration and alert from the American transition.
PS: I have attended the BSA lectures before, and this is the
most-listened one. It’s a full house with people standing in the
back. This proves again it’s not just a government master plan,
but it’s a city future citizens do care.
(Maybe this chapter is too personal for a research paper, but
forgive me I have to express the complicated and special feeling
as a Chinese.)
Complete street/system:
I mentioned the concept of complete street above. Boston starts
the complete street approach to give pedestrians, bikers and
transit users on equal footing with motor-vehicle drivers. This
does not only mean give each of them enough space and right-of-
way, but also means using technology and design to connect
different parts into a complete network. This also includes using
green design elements to make street more environmentally
sustainable, and incorporating intelligent signals and social
networks to improve system efficiencies. I think such development
approach is a little bit further than the original one.
http://bostoncompletestreets.org/
The complete street concept could extend to complete system,
which is kindly reflected by the seamless network mentioned in
Boston Bike plan. There are two examples I think designed
according to this concept.
(1) Bike and MBTA
Many buses are equipped with external bike racks. Bikes are
allowed to bring on subways and commuter rails in much time of
the day. Bike park facilities, like bike ports and bike racks are
located at many subway stations. All these make bikers more
easily transfer to subway or bus.
(2) Connect Historic Boston
This initiative will upgrade the built environment along the
streets, sidewalks, and bridges that link transit stations to
historic sites and parks. This could encourage people to use
public transportation and re-appreciate city art, culture and
history.
Safety:
A recent research shows that the perception that biking is unsafe
remains a major reason stopping people riding bikes.
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/11/selling-public-
biking-political-campaign-style/7544/
There is serious tension on this issue. I leave the tension part
in the end. Now this part mainly talks about the measures that
the transportation departments and police department take to give
bikers more safety guarantees.
With the effort of bike advocacy groups, in 2010, Boston
Emergency Medical Services and the Boston Police Department
separated bikes from pedestrians when collecting crash data. And
MBTA bus drivers were required to receive bike related trainings.
However, in 2012, there is a news report on Fast Company that a
Boston lawyer John Zisson unexpectedly attracted many clients
because he created an accident report card to help riders. The
strong need still showed Boston Police were not very familiar
with bike laws or didn’t develop a good procedure to handle bike
accidents.
The 2013 news showed Boston Police Department more positively
participated in bike related issues. BPD helps on crash data
analysis and research. BPD also educates its officers, cyclists
and car drivers about related rules, and distributes hundreds of
helmets per year.
Health:
The National Complete Streets Coalition said the latest data show
that 32 percent of adults in America are obese, and health
experts agree that a big factor is inactivity. Boston Complete
Street said the number in Boston is 23 percent. Inactivity is
also a factor in many other diseases, including diabetes, heart
disease, and stroke.
(Next paragraphs can be put either in this part or the next
business part.) Boston Bike Plan provides a more direct data
about the positive effect of biking on public health. It said
that international studies have shown that every $1.50 spent on
bicycling that increased physical activity can result in over
$6.00 in savings in health care expenditures. In a report from
PeopleForBikes and Alliance for Biking & Walking studying the
bike generating business in five American cities (unfortunately
no Boston, but we can see the whole American situation), some
companies choose to locate at a place with easy bike
accessibility even with higher rent, because they think this can
attract workers and reduce their health care cost.
Boston Climate Action Plan also mentioned the health care costs
will be also reduced from the reductions in air pollution and
less traffic congestion. And after accounting for initial costs,
residents, businesses, and institutions will have total net
savings of $2 billion in energy costs by 2020.
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/complete-streets/complete-
streets-fundamentals/factsheets/health
http://bostoncompletestreets.org/participate/
Business:
The bike business report said people who arrive to a business on
a bike spend less per visit but visit more often, resulting in
more money spent overall per month. In New York, sales receipts
increased by 50 percent along 8th and 9th Avenues following the
installation of cycle tracks on these streets.
In the documentary, “The Human Scale”, the mayor of Melbourne in
Australia said Melbourne was dying several years ago, and
investing in suburbs didn’t bring business and people to the city
any more. So they started to design more space for pedestrians
and bikers, and open the ground floor of the buildings. Gradually
the city comes revitalized. The mayor and other city planners
also mentioned this way is very cheap compared with the city
planning based on automobile culture.
Developing bike network could also increase property values. A
2008 study estimated a $5,500 greater sales price for homes
located along bicycle boulevards.
The city of Boston presents annual Bike Friendly Business Awards
to recognize companies that encourage their employees or
customers to ride their bikes. Basic practices include
installation of outdoor bike racks, financial incentives for bike
commuters, providing secure bike parking, and offering Hubway
corporate memberships. But many awarded companies do bike related
or green technology/design business. A good sign is that two
international bike leaders Vittoria and BMC opened offices in
Boston in 2012.
Program:
Hubway bike share system:
The Hubway system was launched in July 2011 with 60 stations
throughout Boston. In 2012 summer, the bike share system started
to form a network when Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline joined
it. But now only the bike stations in Cambridge keep open in
winter. The annual membership is $85, much cheaper than MBTA.
Community program:
The city of Boston also launches community programs to encourage
bike riding among kids, women, and provide free or low-cost bike
repairs in low-income neighborhoods where there are no local bike
shops.
Tension/conflict
Battle between bikers and car drivers/hostility on both sides
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2013/12/26/some-liberals-also-
think-cyclists-are-annoying/EV1R0ZctMWqVdA8aHxInnJ/story.html
An opinion on Boston Globe raised heated discussion. Globe posted
several followed letters from readers. They revealed many people
dislike bikes because of the dangerous behaviors of bikers,
including riding in high speed, paying no attention to traffic
signals, weaving their way through heavy traffic. While some
bikers criticize cars sometimes straddle bike lanes or bike lanes
are not clearly marked.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/letters/2013/12/28/many-
cyclists-heedless-motorists-pedestrians/gzhlrmdUTiJqk4oLSOjWFM/
story.html
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/letters/2013/12/28/anti-
cycling-bias-old-sad-story/Ke6A1s21nnu6qAYM2oWKFM/story.html
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/letters/2013/12/28/license-
plates-written-tests-needed-for-cyclists/UFljgIB6t3OjhCX7EnK7EM/
story.html
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2013/12/22/the-car-
centric-try-muscle-bikes-off-road/naw9WpXvBeahUwzDsLrAUK/
story.html
Because of the mutual desire to avoid a collision, the tension on
a shared road always exists. A research done by Peter G. Furth
from Northeastern University said the stress involved in lane
sharing is one of the main factors that influences bicycle use.
When bike riding involves the stresses, many people would just as
soon leave the bike in the garage. Though shared roads have this
problem, transportation officials still keep shared roads when
there’s no space, money, or political will to build separated
bike lanes. For that reason, the shared roads are often viewed in
bike circles as the least ambitious method of asserting space for
people who ride bikes.
In 2013 November, Brighton Avenue, the shared road in Allston
features with extra lane markings. In his research, Furth also
said the street markings can help provide the “feel” of a bike
lane even if there’s no room for one. This is an experiment. If
it’s successful, Boston considers to use the markings on more
roads.
http://www.coe.neu.edu/transportation/pdfs/facilities/BicyclePrio
rityLanes.pdf
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/11/24/new-sharrows-
steroids-debut-allston-brighton-avenue/ZfqrBJVsbhPVF0Ux4j5PFI/
story.html
Government officials, and urban planners in Boston are
increasingly looking to at Western Europe. In the Netherlands,
almost every major street features separated bike lanes, and
almost no one rides with a helmet. But when Netherlands started
the bike revolution half a century ago, their street situation
was similar to what’s in Boston now.
In 2013, a book called “In the City of Bikes: The Story of the
Amsterdam Cyclist” was published, written by Pete Jordan, an
American who came to Netherlands in 2002. This book reveals that
neither Amsterdam government embraced the way cycling, nor car
drivers had a respect for bikers. The bike advocates in Amsterdam
also have been through long time struggle, and put much effort to
make Amsterdam a bike friendly city.
At the BSA lecture, some audience members are concerned that
bikers and car drivers in Boston can never exist on the street
peacefully like Europeans because Boston doesn’t have such
culture. The speaker thought it’s a matter of time. They in
Copenhagen also started with a street, a square, or a pilot
project, and then changed it little by little. She thought this
is why they succeed.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/09/21/bicycling-dutch-way/
kFRT0ABSPtUnXMIUj5zONM/story.html
Massachusetts Avenue Project in Arlington is a project in battle.
This proposal suggest that cancel a car lane, and replace it with
a bike lane. Because of the work of opposing groups, the first
vote rejected the vote last year. Some people say they are not
against bike lanes, but they think adding bike lane here wouldn’t
solve the problem.
My approach:
My main approach is text, because I am most familiar with this
format. And many of my story ideas don’t have the vision appeal
or particularly need the assistance of video to explain
something.
Narrative description (story ideas):
I want put Boston bike plan as the introduction part, because
this is the start or reason of the following stories. This is not
a story, but I think in a project, there could be a space for
that.
1. Hospital support biking: Boston government gives Bike Friendly
Business Award to local companies and organizations annually. I
find many hospitals and medical research institutes win this
award. I think there is health motivation behind that. I haven’t
contacted them yet. If they have done some research about how
riding bike is good to health, then it could be a health-approach
story with theory support. So the story will be two part. The
first is what these hospitals and medical research institutes
have done to make them bike friendly. The second part is their
research and data.
2. Does lane marking work: in the tension/conflict part, I
mentioned Boston is experimenting extra lane markings on shared
roads as a way to solve the tension. The news I quoted in that
part said “in coming months, Boston Bikes staff will take a
census of how many cyclists use that stretch of road to determine
whether the new features increase ridership. If it’s successful,
Boston considers to use the markings on more roads.” Since this
is an important way to solve the tension, no matter it’s
successful or not, this experiment, the reason behind that and
the future measures need to be written. Ridership data and the
opinions from professors and bike advocacy organizations opinions
would be included in this story.
3. More safety guarantees for bikers: Boston government has
annual bike crash data report and crash data analysis. I could
summarize and present them to the readers. Besides the facts,
bikers are also concerned what transportation departments and
police department have done to increase bikers’ safety.
Basically I summarize these measures in the safety part, but the
story will be with more detailed interviews. I also want to show
what has been improved year after year. Maybe I could make a
timeline.
4. How biking connects with other transportation: now Zipcar (car
sharing system) has worked with Hubway (bike sharing system).In
bike and MBTA part, I also introduce that bikers could more
easily transfer to MBTA or ride with MBTA. I don’t think many
bikers know the convenience provide by the more complete system.
Though this may be not new, I still want to show this. The main
format of the first three stories would be text, but this one
needs to be a video. It would be too boring just write down them
and not clearly enough for people to feel the changes.
5. I also want to write something “American transition vs. the
irony for China” as the background information. But maybe this
idea is too ambitious, because the topic could be an individual
research paper. As background information, it seems not worthy of
interviewing many people. But if I just collect and summarize
information from news and books, it will look like a research
paper too much. So I am still not sure if I should write this
part.
Annotated bibliography:
Finison, L. J. (2014). Boston's Cycling Craze, 1880-1900--A Story of Race,
Sport, and Society. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.
Bike was very popular in Boston in late 19th century. The bike also became a tool to promote women’s liberation and racial equality. This book examines that time. Author Lorenz J. Finison is a founding member of Cycling through History. I use this book to introduce an unknown history to make the background information richer.
National Association of City Transportation Officials. (2013).
Urban Street Design Guide. Washington D.C.: Island Press.
This book charts the principles and practices to design and buildcomplete streets. The names of many government officials appear in the credits. I use this to show building the bike-friendly city or complete streets is not a grass-root movement or a development plan for several cities. This could be a national wide transition for America.
McCann, B. (2013). Completing Our Streets: The Transition to Safe and Inclusive
Transportation Networks. Washington D.C.: Island Press.
This book tells us the reason America doesn’t build complete streets, how to push government changes the policy, the achievement and difficulties. I don’t directly quote this book, because the general research paper doesn’t need too rich and detailed information in a specific area. But if in the future I need to write something about this particular area, I know where I should look at. Like I introduce earlier, the author is a public policy and communications expert, and she developed the Complete Streets concept.
Pucher, J., & Buehler, R. (2012). City Cycling. Cambridge: The MIT
Press.
This book observes the boom of biking in cities in recent years, and examines many aspect related to biking: environment, health,
and the quality of life. I use this book still to show the western world transition. .John Pucher is Professor in the Department of Urban Planning at the Bloustein School of Planning and Policy at Rutgers University. Ralph Buehler is Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Affairs and Planning in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech.
Jordan, P. (2013). In the City of Bikes: The Story of the Amsterdam Cyclist. New
York: Harper Perennial.
In 2002, the author from San Francisco traveled to Amsterdam and then stayed there to now. He researched the cycling culture there. The book reveals the bike advocates in Amsterdam also havebeen through long time struggle, and put much effort to make Amsterdam a bike friendly city. Some people are concerned that bikers and car drivers in Boston can never exist on the street peacefully like Europeans because Boston doesn’t have such culture. . I use this book to show maybe it’s a matter of time.
The Human Scale (2012 film).
The documentary shows how architects and city planner try to
change the car center culture and their successful cases around
the world. I use this to show the transition.
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