Comments on: Boston Gets Serious About Bike-Share

By: jass

jass — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:04:12 +0000

Ian W, the project is dot the entire region inside 1-95. The article is incorrect, the city did not put out the RFP, the region did.

By: Ian W.

Ian W. — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 23:25:46 +0000

I think this will be great for the Boston metro area, but only if they bring the surrounding towns of Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline on board and implement a single system that spans all four municipalities. Sure, Boston may only have 600,000 residents, but if you add in those other 3 cities and towns, the number jumps to almost 850,000, and considering how they interconnect geographically, the system would be far more appealing to riders if it was usable everywhere.

By: jass

jass — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:01:54 +0000

shishi, if there isnt anybody riding, theirs no support for safe bike networks. Why pay for something no one will use?

Also, Ben, save the enthusiasm for when the winner is announced. Its entirely possible they will chose a plan with 100 bikes.

By: brent

brent — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:58:28 +0000

I actually think adding a couple thousand bikes to our local fleet would result in a safer network. When cyclists are numerous, the streets seem to have a way of self organizing into safer routes. Then its just a matter of restriping a few lanes.

By: shishi

shishi — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:35:51 +0000

I love the idea, but I find it is putting the cart before the horse. We really need to concetrate on building safe bike networks in our cities first. Then create the bike share program. If it is not safe to ride, most potential users won't bother. But if you have a critical mass of cyclists in a safe and well thought out network, I would assume you would see a large increase.

I applaud the effort.

By: Mike Lydon

Mike Lydon — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:24:32 +0000

When I lived in Boston and worked for the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition, that organization and the city were particular hung up on the idea that bicyclists were just fine and didn't need any physical infrastructure accommodation beside a few bicycle racks. It's great that they hired a serious coordinator and are moving now to install a built bicycle network, of which this bicycle sharing system will play a key role.

Bravo Boston.