[*BCM*] Globe: Hub cyclists feeling like fifth wheels

[Dan Barrett]

Hub cyclists feeling like fifth wheels
New Back Bay meters cut bike-parking spots

By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff  |  November 25, 2006

Bicycle enthusiasts have long thought of themselves as second-class
citizens in Boston, a city whose pothole- plagued streets and limited
number of bike lanes have earned it a perennial spot on Bicycling
Magazine's list of worst places in the nation for cyclists. But few
expected the latest perceived snub of two-wheeled commuters.

When the city removed some 160 parking meters on Newbury Street and
replaced them with 23 boxy, multiple-space, computerized meters, cyclists
found themselves without their habitual, if illegal, locking posts.
Cyclists are complaining that officials haven't provided alternative
places to park bikes, and now bicycles can be seen chained to trees, sign
posts, wrought-iron fences and just about anything else skinny enough to
get a bike lock around.

"It's horrible," said Martha S. Folsom, sales director at Martin Lawrence
Gallery, where three bikes were chained out front: one to a tree, one to a
fence, and another to a sign post.

For their part, cyclists say they'd rather park in racks. MassBike, a
cycling advocacy group, says the meter removal exacerbated an already
difficult bike-parking problem in the area and shows that the city still
isn't taking cyclists into consideration when it comes to many
transportation projects.

"They don't involve transportation planners that think beyond the car,"
said Andrew Fischer, a member of the MassBike advisory board.

City officials say cyclists aren't looking hard enough. The city has
installed 350 bike racks across Boston, including in every neighborhood
business district, the officials said. On one side of Boylston Street
between Arlington and Berkeley streets, there are four metal loops
provided for bike parking.

"Bikes are not supposed to be chained to parking meters," said Tracy
Ganiatsos, a transportation spokeswoman, who said it is against city law.

The city's Transportation Department has dealt with a host of complaints
since the installation of the computerized multispace meters, including
malfunctions. The city was forced to stop taking credit card payments at
the meters Tuesday after officials learned they may be violating credit
card company regulations by requiring a two-hour-minimum payment from card
users. People using cash were allowed to pay for less time. Ganiatsos said
she has not received any complaints about the lack of bicycle parking.

Transportation planning officials say they are working to make the city
more bike-friendly and that for the past few years they have included
bicycling advocates in the planning process for all street reconstruction
projects. They said they would like to install more bike racks in the
Newbury Street area, but officials at the city's historic preservation
agency asked them not to put any new bike racks in the Back Bay.

"We were all set to install them, but we were asked by the Landmarks
Commission to hold off," said Vineet Gupta, director of planning for the
Transportation Department.

Officials at the Boston Landmarks Commission did not return calls for
comment.

For now, it appears business owners and residents on Newbury Street may
have something of an obstacle course to deal with on the sidewalks. When
bicycles were locked to the old meters, some said, the bikes were closer
to the street. And cyclists will continue to look for alternative places
to park.

"It's a problem," said Back Bay resident Andreas Goutopoulos as he
unlocked his bike from an old-style meter on Boylston Street. "They need
to put in bike racks."

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack at globe.com