Bike friendly Boston

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.