Bicycle lanes have been growing around the city and outlying neighborhoods in greater numbers every year, and it seems like every few months there’s some kind of issue that has everyone weighing in. The latest incident, fueled by a post on the Boston subreddit that garnered over 100 comments, illustrates how strongly people feel for – and against – the lanes designed to keep cyclists safe from cars.
The viral post shows a photo of a parked car in the bike lane in Roxbury, adorned with a note reading, “I don’t care that I’m in the bike lane. Just go around me!!” The photo appears to be a screengrab of a submission to the BOS311app, which is used to report non-emergency municipal issues, such as illegal parking. It would seem to be an appropriate use of the app.
The Boston reddit, being full of people living in Boston, who always have an opinion, had a lot to say about it.
Most were against illegal parking, with one writing, “Steal the windshield wipers so he can’t leave notes anymore.”
Another noted, “Bet they’d care if a bike just so happened to break off their mirror while trying to go around them.”
And others just called the parking job “selfish.”
However, there was one lone voice who sided with the person who left the note, writing, “Streets are for cars not bikes. I remember in the 1970's we used to make fun of China because they were all riding bikes. Who's laughing now.”
Bad news for that person, bikes and bike lanes are here to stay in The Hub.
Bike use in the city has seen a post-Covid bump, according to data site Axios, who report the number of average daily bike trips per 1,000 people in the Boston metro area rose by 9 — from 26 to 35 — between 2019-2022.
A little over two years ago, in a press conference in Roxbury no less, Mayor Michelle Wu announced that the city would undertake a major expansion in the city's network of separated bike lanes, with a goal to put 50 percent of the city's population within a 3-minute walk of a protected bike lane within the next three years.
"We are adding 9.4 miles of new bike lanes by the end of next year, to mend key gaps and expand our network," said Mayor Wu, reported Streetsblog at the time. The plan also promised to add 100 new stations to the Bluebikes network and new speed humps and raised crosswalks to calm traffic around the city.