Bike lanes do not work in Cambridge or Baltimore — at least not for all
I live in Cambridge; the bike lanes don’t work
I am a Cambridge, Massachusetts, resident who would like to problematize the word “work” in your March 12 editorial headline “Bike lanes work in Cambridge, why not Baltimore?“
First, Cambridge’s bike infrastructure is not complete; it is a multi-year process that has faced many problems, cost overruns and a large number of opponents. Thus far it has been poorly implemented. There has been inadequate advance planning, neighborhoods and small businesses were not consulted, hundreds of parking spots have been removed, and a very high number of small businesses in those areas have closed.
Here are a few problems I see with your editorial and with the project we are experiencing in Cambridge:
The 26-page report you cite is a public relations piece issued by the builders of the bike lanes and based on anecdotal evidence; they are stylized facts at best. There are no accurate statistics on ridership in Cambridge. However, whatever increase there may be it is far from 500%, as has been claimed.
The city has only one digital Eco-Totem that reports ridership for only one small section of the city. On its website their first bit of advice is for people to ride that stretch so they can get counted — does that sound a bit contrived? We need at least a half dozen such digital counters to provide real cycling data. Other city-organized counts have been held with advance notice to bikers to ensure a good turnout; there have been no independent surveys of ridership to my knowledge.
Based on Cambridge Police Department crash data, accidents have increased, especially where the bike lanes have been installed. Intersections are the location of the greatest increase in accidents, where there are no protected bike lanes. Bikers are supposed to observe all rules of the road, but they clearly do not. They run red lights, often do not stop for pedestrians, are rude to slower cyclists, and seldom get traffic citations. With no verifiable increase in ridership, it is hard to explain why CPD found such an increase in injuries.
Safety is named in the ordinance (Cycling Safety Ordinance, CSO) but it has not proved to be safer. Bike-car accidents have increased. Reports of bike-pedestrian accidents and near misses are high, but it is hard to quantify because the cyclists ride away and the victims get up, if they can walk. Scooters and other micro-mobility devices are on the increase and ride everywhere (roads, bike lanes, sidewalks).
The bike infrastructure is costing a fortune with little oversight. No comprehensive reports have been made of the costs to date. Too many projects are being implemented using insider “house doctor” contractors with no bidding, leaving out minority and women firms.
Small businesses are suffering, and traffic in Cambridge is at a standstill:
63% of businesses reported a decline in revenue where the bike lanes went in. Stores are closing in areas where parking has been removed for bike lanes. Tech firms in Cambridge are shrinking, some are moving to the suburbs because their employees hate to drive on Cambridge’s traffic-choked streets. Commute times are doubling for some commuters. Boston’s mass transit system which serves Cambridge is slow, antiquated, inefficient, and underfunded. Electric bus lines were removed to put in bike lanes currently replaced by belching diesel buses.
Baltimore, if you put in bike infrastructure, please do it slowly, do it right, and learn from the problems we in
Cambridge continue to face. We all want bike safety done right.
— Vickey Bestor, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The writer is a member of Cambridge Streets for All, which sued the city of Cambridge, seeking to “slow down the installation of bike lanes, to preserve small businesses, and bring more voices to the table.” The group gave up the suit after two years.