[*BCM*] bike lanes

[Hiroyuki Yamada]

+1, with an addendum

Riding into boston, I rarely feel like I am actually in danger, except 
for certain areas -- parts of commonwealth can be dark, fast, and 
narrow, and some side streets can often be too narrow for their own good 
(for even 1 single lane of cars, let alone a car and a bike). Mostly, 
the city is ok. The problem with only having bike lanes in the outlying 
suburbs is that it creates inconsistency and makes inexperienced 
cyclists confused or those uncomfortable riding in the street nervous to 
do so -- they then take to the sidewalk (thinking perhaps that they are 
*supposed* to, or that  it's safer there), or don't ride at all. A 
classic example of this is southbound on the Mass Ave bridge //-- the 
bike lane ends all of a sudden, with no warning (actually, come to think 
of it there *may* be a sign there, I don't remember seeing it though), 
and quite frequently I am tailing someone just as we cross the bridge, 
and watch as they pull up onto the sidewalk as the bike lane ends -- 
right into a bus stop! It might also be partly that right there the road 
becomes kinda shitey (the entrance to the parking lot behind beacon), 
but I think it has at least partly to do with the lane disappearing.

As for bikes being legal vehicles on the road, yes that's true, but 
there's a difference between law, and common perception/action. If an 
area is way unsafe for bikes, people will simply not bike there. You'll 
get a few fixsters and messengers using it, and people who /have/ to, 
but people will largely ride around, or just NOT ride at all, and take 
the T or drive. Given that this IS the first renovation in several 
decades (of that area), and it's unlikely there will be another one in 
quite a few years, it'd probably make sense to put in a bike lane this 
time around.

--Yuki

Antony Rudie wrote:
> someone said:
>  
> It looks to me like whomever is suing the city doesn't get the concept
> of bikes being legal vehicles which have the right to the road like
> all other vehicles.  That's unfortunate.
>  
> which reminds me:  it seems to me of late that bike lanes are actually 
> more important in the near-suburbs, like Brookline, Brighton and 
> Newton, where drivers have no clue, and traffic moves at varying 
> rates.  In the center-city, I never feel in danger riding in with the 
> traffic.
>  
> -Tony
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