Cycles of change

In Boston and throughout the state of Massachusetts, bicyclists have been getting a raw deal for decades. Next week, a new tour hopes to give biking a badly needed boost.

by Jason Gay

There is no such thing as a typical bicyclist, but there are certainly bicycle types. You have your die-hard cyclists, who pour their sinewy bodies into neoprene suits, ride their bikes every day, and regard automobiles with derision. You also have your weekend riders, who aren't necessarily competitive like the die-hards, but might spend big bucks for a brightly colored off-road bike. And then you have the rest of us -- the newbies, the amateurs, and the lazies -- who may ride occasionally, rarely, or not at all since our parents sold our banana-seat Huffys at neighborhood yard sales 15 years ago.

But if there's one issue that bicyclists around Boston can agree on, it's that this can be a horrid city to ride in. Much of the area is a hazardous maze of cramped streets, crumbling pavement, spaced-out pedestrians, and, of course, irrational automobile drivers. This is bad not only for cyclists, but for the entire city. Boston touts its Old World style, but its unfriendliness toward cycling is shameful; the city has fallen far behind not just Europe but such national pacesetters as Portland, Oregon, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

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The cop
The commuter
The couriers
The competitor

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"I don't think that bicycles are seen as an accepted form of transportation on these roads," says Allison Simmons, executive director of the Artery Business Committee Transportation Management Association, which advises Boston businesses on alternatives to the car.

John Crisley, president of the Massachusetts Bicycling Coalition (MassBike), the state's largest cycling advocacy group, says, "Compared to the rest of the country, [Boston] may be average, but the average is pretty poor." And the rest of Massachusetts isn't much better.

So this Sunday, July 19, a group of 200 men and women will leave Arlington and head west to the Berkshires as part of the MassBike Tour, a six-day, 365-mile event sponsored by the MassBike Coalition. The purpose of the first-ever tour isn't competition: it's encouraging cycling and safety throughout the state. At each of their stops, the tour riders will try to raise awareness about cycling as a form of transportation, promote better riding skills, and push local officials to build better accommodations for bikers.

The MassBike tour couldn't have come at a more critical time: this has been a particularly difficult year for the local cycling community. Boston's simmering war with its bike messengers exploded again last week when a band of couriers allegedly attacked a motorist after a traffic dispute. The driver allegedly was struck in the head with a U-lock, and one messenger was arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

This latest clash follows several months of anti-messenger controversy after an unlicensed courier accidentally struck William Spring, a local civic leader, at a downtown intersection -- leaving him in a coma that lasted more than a week. After the crash, city officials decided to revisit the rules for messengers; they imposed new regulations for licenses and insurance, as well as harsher fines. But lost in the ensuing debate was a central point: bike messengers are an essential part of the downtown economy, and it's businesspeople, with their time demands, who are often pushing couriers to cut corners.

Indeed, in Boston and around the state, it's easy for cyclists to start to feel that the deck is stacked against them. Here, the automobile is king, and perpetual conflict between the bicycling community and the car-driving establishment seems not only natural but unavoidable. Regular cyclists report that their treatment at the hands of drivers includes everything from verbal abuse to nearly getting run off the road. Aldo Ghirin, a senior planner with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department who helps design paths on city-owned property, puts it simply: "I can understand why a lot of folks are timid about riding a bike on the city streets."

The news isn't all bad, though: the poor overall accommodations for cyclists obscure some notable improvements. In Boston, there will soon be a new bike path created along an abandoned bike trail, and 350 new bike racks have recently been added downtown. The federal Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, or ISTEA, continues to supply a steady stream of money to support new projects. And transportation planners throughout the area are increasingly taking cyclists' needs into consideration when new roadways are designed. "It's definitely getting better," says Ghirin.

Cambridge has been particularly aggressive about incorporating bikes into its road system. Every time a street is repaved or reconstructed for sewering or other projects, the city looks to see if there is a way to fit in a bike lane. "The whole idea is for the street to become more usable by a broader spectrum of people," says Cambridge transportation manager Cara Seiderman.

Cambridge's attitude shift toward the bicycle was prompted by the city's mounting air-pollution problem, which was brought on by vehicle emissions. In 1992, the city council passed a "vehicle trip reduction" ordinance, which encouraged the promotion of environmentally friendly modes of transport. Seiderman's position was created, and education programs were initiated to teach bike safety to residents. Another program funds bike racks throughout the city -- if a local business wants a rack placed outside its storefront, it pays half the cost, and the city picks up the rest of the tab.

"The city essentially wants to make the entire city bike-friendly, so that a cyclist can comfortably ride on every road and street," says Seiderman. "It's going to take a long time to do that, but every year, we'll do a little bit, piece by piece."

The riders on the upcoming MassBike tour will take a similar approach. They will attempt to dissolve the state's cycling conflict by pedaling from city to town, promoting bikes and their community benefits. It's almost a sure thing that wherever they ride, they will encounter both skepticism and encouragement. And it is certain that in this region, equality for cyclists is still a long journey away. Says Seiderman: "We're catching up, but we have a lot of work left to do."

Jason Gay can be reached at jgay[a]phx.com.