As a bike lover and advocate things have improved here so much I kind might be inclined to agree, but I’m very dismayed about the state of non-bike options. They need to improve as rapidly as biking has.
The T is a mess, even without the current temporary slowdowns, and so many trips are still difficult and/or slow without a car for so many people. If you choose your neighborhood and work location carefully you can do great around here without a car, but a lot of things are still a struggle.
My teenager wanted to visit her grandparents on her own and Google said the public transport option would take 1:15, or walking would take 1:55. Google’s walking estimates in my experience are very slow and I take 15-20% off, meaning 1:40. That’s abysmal. I know people commuting from Reading to Cambridge who take the car because everything else is intolerably slow. They park on the street and pay $40 in tickets per day as a parking fee. This is a damning indictment of the state of transportation still. I could bike his commute in 2/3 of the time the trains take. I’d be all for congestion charges and steeper tickets to discourage that, but it has to come with improvements in other options.
Boston area may be among the best in the US, but it’s a very low bar. It’s kind of sad that this is as good as it gets.
Yes, I think the bar is very low in the United States. Have you watched this YouTube channel Not Just Bikes? They cover a lot of the issues with our zoning and infrastructure and how it is handled in Amsterdam and other bike friendly countries.
As a bike lover and advocate things have improved here so much I kind might be inclined to agree, but I’m very dismayed about the state of non-bike options. They need to improve as rapidly as biking has.
The T is a mess, even without the current temporary slowdowns, and so many trips are still difficult and/or slow without a car for so many people. If you choose your neighborhood and work location carefully you can do great around here without a car, but a lot of things are still a struggle.
My teenager wanted to visit her grandparents on her own and Google said the public transport option would take 1:15, or walking would take 1:55. Google’s walking estimates in my experience are very slow and I take 15-20% off, meaning 1:40. That’s abysmal. I know people commuting from Reading to Cambridge who take the car because everything else is intolerably slow. They park on the street and pay $40 in tickets per day as a parking fee. This is a damning indictment of the state of transportation still. I could bike his commute in 2/3 of the time the trains take. I’d be all for congestion charges and steeper tickets to discourage that, but it has to come with improvements in other options.
Boston area may be among the best in the US, but it’s a very low bar. It’s kind of sad that this is as good as it gets.
Yes, I think the bar is very low in the United States. Have you watched this YouTube channel Not Just Bikes? They cover a lot of the issues with our zoning and infrastructure and how it is handled in Amsterdam and other bike friendly countries.
Honestly. As bad as the T is, it’s still one of the top five in the US. That’s not because the T is good, it’s because US public transit is that bad.
Agreed completely, I love the T (when it works) but otherwise I bike everywhere since it’s just faster