A Treatise on Bike Lanes

Bike lanes in Boston’s Back Bay have been a complete failure.  And for some reason, they keep adding more.  I have a hunch that the plan is to make vehicle traffic so terrible, that new regulations will have to be enacted, like taxes and things to discourage driving in the city. But if people really cared about the environment, there are much better ways to preserve it. In fact I would argue that idling in traffic and driving around searching for parking do not improve the air quality in the city.

My biggest issue, is that the bike lanes are for the most part, unused.  And they’re also quite redundant.  And as of the last few years, there’s an influx of out of town bikers; vacationers who aren’t accustomed to riding in the city, and others.

The worst example of a bike lane is on Beacon Street from Berkeley to Mass Ave, and beyond (I’m looking at you, Coolidge Corner).  Previously, Beacon street was three lanes of traffic with parking on either side.  Today, a bike lane has been added along the northern side against the sidewalk.  Next to that, is an excessively large buffer zone, followed by parking.  All of this takes out an entire lane of traffic.

Beacon Street in Back Bay is an entirely residential street.  Between packages and take out deliveries, Ubers picking up and dropping off, there is a lot of double parking that goes on.  Double parking is not the best, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.  And it wasn’t so much of a problem when there were two other lanes open.  But there aren’t anymore.  Driving down Beacon Street mid-afternoon is like crossing a minefield.  It’s a constant zig zag around cars stopped in the street.  You used to be able to drive down the middle lane, confident you could sail down Back Bay.

And there’s no reason for it.  Commonwealth Avenue is another residential street.  Maybe you’ve heard of it.  In Back Bay, Comm and Beacon are parallel.  They run the same stretch.  And Comm has a bike lane in each direction.  I just don’t see the point in taking out a very used lane for car traffic to add a redundant lane for bikes.  And like I mentioned earlier, plenty of bikers still don’t use the bike lanes.  My friend used to live on Comm Ave and he’d sit on his stoop yelling “Hey there’s a bike lane” to bikers riding down the road.

Now we’ve got even more lanes, circling the Public Garden, and I even heard that a contradirectional bike lane will be added on Charles St.  Oh the horror!  I encourage everyone to share their grievances with bostonbikes@boston.gov.  And don’t get me started on the bus lane going down Monsignor Obrien Highway.

Also, I’m a Realtor, so if you or anyone you know is looking to transact in real estate, shoot me an email at willy.charleton@nemoves.com.