Bluebikes for Getting Downtown. What a Concept!

 I live in a "trolleycar" suburb of Boston and commute to a leafy suburb further west.  It's been years since I've had to regularly ride downtown.

My company had a big in person meeting at the Hynes Convention Center.  I didn't want to wear bike shoes the whole day and spend time worrying about my bike being locked up on the street, so I took one of Boston's bike share "BlueBikes".  It was a great experience.

I used to work downtown just past the financial district.  TWENTY FOUR YEARS AGO.  What the heck?  Biking in town back then was a bit like engaging in combat.  There were no bike lanes at all.  And a lot fewer cyclists.  Since then Boston has built out the start of a pretty good cycling network.  It went from being one of the worst cities in America for cycling to one of the better ones.

While I have ridden into town from time to time I think today was my first workday morning rush hour ride into town in a long long time.  I was really impressed by the mellow nature of the ride.  

The nearest BlueBike station is just a few minutes' walk away.  I rode almost entirely on dedicated bike lanes.  Kenmore Square is still a bit of a puzzle.  Having said, that the heavy slow BlueBike pretty much keeps you out of trouble.  It's also worth noting that this experience is not yet duplicated for people who live in "the neighborhoods" (lower income parts of Boston).  They have yet to get the kind of bike infrastructure Back Bay and Brookline have.  And that's really wrong.

On both sides of my commute there were conveniently located docking stations for the BlueBike.  The whole experience was low stress.  So unlike my downtown riding in the late 90's - early 2000's.  Maybe even lower stress than my current commute through the suburbs!

After the meeting, I took advantage of the excellent weather to swing by the new statue honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  He received his doctorate here in Boston at Boston University -- and met his wife here too.  Hence, the statue honoring them meeting -- The Embrace -- located on Boston Common.

Street clothing for cycling? Weird.

The Embrace

It's long past time for Boston to honor MLK -- his treatment here was sadly typical for the era.  He had difficulty finding a landlord who would rent to a Black person.  Even as I write this, I know it's too typical now as well.  And of course the lack of bike lanes for people who live in Roxbury & Dorchester is part of the similar intentional historical under-investment those communities have suffered.

Well, back to the cycling.  For downtown Boston, the cycling network is really getting there.  I think a day pass for BlueBikes would be an excellent investment for a tourist looking to experience the town.  

If I still had to work downtown, the BlueBike offers a pretty good solution to the secure bike parking issue.  My short rides yielded me 93 activity minutes -- and doctors say you need 150 minutes per week to get most of the benefits from regular exercise.  More intense effort counts double and even going slowly on the BlueBike got me quite a bit of those.  A complete bike lane network could really help get a lot of people moving.

As always, thanks for reading and keep the rubber side down.