[*BCM*] MassBike Victory: MBTA Buses to Get Bike Racks

[Ari Pollak]

Let's not also forget that some bus routes that go outside of Boston &
Cambridge travel routes that wouldn't normally be very safe to ride on -
narrow roads, highways, etc. So this would be a safer way of bypassing
those areas.
Granted, it seems like a lot of money to be spending on something that
may not get such high usage, especially if they could spend that money
to actually improve service.

Rachel Elizabeth Dillon wrote:
> There are a bunch of reasons this is a good thing, in my opinion:
> 
>  * It demonstrates a commitment to cyclists in that it's money going
>    towards making the city more bike-friendly. While it may not be 
>    what we would like to see most, it's something, and I think it's 
>    a good thing.
> 
>  * It's great for casual cyclists who may be trying to choose between
>    driving somewhere and not doing so --- say you're trying to go from
>    Somerville to Waltham. You might say "I don't really want to walk
>    15 minutes to the T, ride the T for 15 minutes, walk to a bus stop,
>    wait for the bus, ride the bus for a half hour, and then walk to
>    my destination.  I will drive." (This is even almost reasonable.)
>    However, "I can bike to the bus stop, and then bike the bus route
>    until it catches up with me, and then hop on" is much more 
>    appealing, and also encourages people to use mass transit.
> 
>  * It's useful for people like me (and, presumably, many on this list)
>    who would be happy to just bike to Waltham as well. If you start
>    feeling ill, get tired, find that the weather is more than you
>    bargained for, pop a flat and don't have your tools or, God forbid,
>    get in an accident, you probably want to get to either your destination,
>    a bike shop, or home, and trying to do that with a non-functioning
>    bike or rider is very difficult. Being able to bring your bike with
>    you on public transit it always a good thing --- even if you only use
>    it once a year, if every cyclist in the city uses it once per year,
>    that adds up. 
> 
>    (I got hit by a bus in Harvard Square a couple of months ago, and
>    was fine but my bike wasn't ridable; I was very happy I could hop
>    it on the T rather than just leave it locked up in a high-traffic
>    area. Had I not been fifty feet from a Red Line stop, I would have
>    been in a lot more trouble.)
> 
>  * It makes bikes more visible to drivers and people who use mass transit.
> 
> So, while I might like to see more money going into enforcing "No parking 
> in bike lane" or something like that, I think this is valuable.
> 
> But it's possible you were just trolling. :)
>