Please see: http://www.cambridgema.gov/~CDD/et/bike/bike_safety.html

Also, I’m not sure if Ms. Liard would appreciate you blaming a bike lane on her death. There were a number of factors involved, and for all we know, the same thing could have happened were there no bike lane at all.

Bike lanes are not great. They’re by the parked cars and gutters. But they DO stop drivers from swerving into your path (my experience before and after the lanes got painted on those streets indicates this.)

As for the bike lane at MIT: it’s not something you see in the US, so people are not used to it. That will change.

When riding near the curb motorists are less likely to notice and pay attention to the bicyclists, especially when separated by a stripe – making them more vulnerable to get hit, especially at intersections where most crashes occur. And Dana Laird was killed in a Cambridge bike lane when she swerved to avoid an opening car door, and fell in front of an overtaking bus. Yeah, real bike friendly. Let’s bring that friendliness to Boston.

Boston is a great place for bicycling. Bike lanes can only make it worse. Much worse.

Yes, the drivers here have bad reputations, but the idea that they are any worse or ruder than drivers in New York seems like a myth. In a week of riding in Boston I’ll probably get honked at once. In an hour of riding in Boston I’ll get honked at dozens of times. Drivers here tend to give a lot of space when passing riders. If there isn’t space to pass, most of my experience has been that the drivers are a tad more patient while waiting for an opportunity than they are in NYC.

Also, the sheer volume of bikes on the road is amazing. I couldn’t quote any specific numbers, but I definitely see more people commuting to work through Boston than in New York. I think that’s partly due to the number of students here (something like 25% of the population during the school year and the fact that it’s possible, although less so than in Manhattan, to not own a car. Either way, the number of bikes on the road is probably why drivers are a little more patient. They expect riders on the road these days.

My ride to work covers about 8 miles through Jamaica Plain, Back Bay, Cambridge and Somerville. (About the same distance as from some neighborhoods in Brooklyn to Manhattan.) Of that eight miles, my first mile and my last half mile are on separated bike paths. During the bulk of my commute, I’m in a painted bike lane on the street for over half of the time, although that number is growing every day. In just three weeks of riding, I’ve seen new bike lanes added to the streets I ride every day. No joke, one day I’ll ride down a street without a bike lane and the next day there will be one.

Parking is much easier around town. Either there are multi-bike racks in most locations or single bike racks spaced down a sidewalk. I rarely have to lock my bike to a lampost or a streetsign. It probably helps that bike theft seems like less of a problem here. I can’t cite any statistics, but given the fact that you see more basic Kryptonite locks (even the kind that can be opened with a ball point pen) than heavy chains, I’d say people have just a slightly bigger amount of faith that their bikes won’t get stolen.

I don’t want to give the impression that Boston is Mayberry compared to New York’s Gotham City. Far from it. I still recognize how dangerous it can be to ride on city streets even in a more bike-friendly city. It gets darker here a little earlier and without the denser population there are more neighborhoods without a lot of streetlights or ambient light from buildings.

If they had real street planning sense they would have placed the bike lane one traffic lane to the left. If they had done that cyclists would not have to deal with traffic changing lanes through the bike lane to make a right hand turn.

Cheers and see all you Boston bikers around town.

The bigger problem with those particular bike lanes is the horrendous intersection, connecting three major thoroughfares and an onramp of a bridge, that this bike lane goes through. IMHO it needs a lot more signage/ physical barriers/ green paint to get the attention of already distracted drivers.

That said, it’s a start, and hopefully will be followed by more bike lanes and infrastructure. Nichole, the bike czar, is very enthusiastic and has lots of plans, but I’m not sure if she’s in a position yet to make significant changes in a slow to adapt city.

That said, I bike commute from Cambridge to Boston, and the Cambridge side is normally quite pleasant- lots of other bikers, fairly respectful drivers, bike lanes, etc.