Mayor Warren cuts an inner tube ribbon. To the left are David Montague and Nicole Freedman.
It’s nice to bike out of your driveway, pedal a few hundred yards and get a free breakfast. That’s what happens when the city opens up a new Park & Pedal spot around the corner from your house.
This one brought in Mayor Warren, David Montague (who gave away one of his cool folding bike), the city’s new Director of Transportation nicole Freedman and just about every bike and pedestrian advocate you can imagine.
Also there were Landry Bicycles, Wheelworks, Hubway, Rejjee, and a bunch of others. Not to mention the free food from Russo’s, Anna’s and Rosenfeld’s. This being the Boston area, there were also boxes of Dunkin coffee. 
If you’ve never used a Park & Pedal I highly recommend it. Just take your bike, put it in your car, drive close to where you want to go and finish the trip on the bike. Getting downtown from Albemarle is relatively quick. Having both driven and biked similar routes, I can attest that during rush hour it is almost always faster to bike. I’ve also taken my bike to Newton Corner and jumped on the bus downtown. It’s an easy way to commute that saves on parking and gets you outside a bit. Also, the ride from a place like Albemarle to Newton Corner is short enough that you don’t work up a big sweat.
Standing out there on a chilly fall morning it’s fun to watch all the bike commuters move down Crafts Street as they head into the city. There we also a number of young families with kids on bikes headed to Horace Mann. Had I been out there a bit earlier (I didn’t get there until the 8am start time) I would have also seen the kids biking to North and Day. If you have a chance, go to North at some point during the day and look at the huge number of bikes there just to get a sense of how many kids use this as a key method of transportation. There aren’t nearly enough bike locks for everyone, with bikes attached to fences, trees and anything that will hold them. We need to make sure our streets are safe not just for adults, but for our teens who use two-wheels as their primary vehicles.
Count my three among that group, so this is a personal issue.
In addition to this launch, the mayor teased a major transit announcement he’ll be making on Monday evening at the City Council meeting.
Good to see some explanation as to what this about. In recent weeks, some “park and pedal” signs mysteriously appeared at the metered spaces at the end of Charlesbank Road. I have seen the usual parking continue (including a moving truck that has spent many an unwelcome overnight, but that’s another issue), but I have witnessed no pedaling from said spaces.
I like the idea behind it, but my questions are:
– What is the enticement and education (like more of these events, I suppose, now that I know they exist) to get people to do this and convince them it’s a good idea (including “what’s in it for me if I do it?”); and
– Why designate certain spaces as “park and pedal,” as I assume to be the case on Charlesbank? It’s unclear if that’s a rule that these spaces are reserved for pedalers, or if if so is it enforceable, or if spaces need to be set aside in the first place.
I think to a degree the spots themselves are part of the education process. There has also been a long-standing PR program around this.
I used to park and bike from a parking lot in Allston along the river, but the lot technically closed at dusk, so I was reluctant to leave my car there for days that I would be leaving work in the dark.
With the Park and Pedal I’m confident that I’m in the right and can leave my car without worrying about ticketing.
As for metered spots, I’m not sure how those work or the process. A lot of these are in lots that aren’t as readily parked up during the day (like Albemarle) so they’re trying to make use of underutilized parking.
This is a really fantastic innovation.
I drive a specially-modified pickup truck which allows me to
“roll coal.”
However, because of my massive, Bigfoot tires I sometimes get Storrowed (depending on how bumpy the road is).
The Park & Pedal program sounds like it was invented for people like me!
I did a “Park and Pedal” to conference in Somerville 2 days last week and it was a great experience. I rode much of the way along the scenic Charles River path. Cambridge and Somerville have done a lot of work to prioritize bike safety. The cycle track on Western Ave is amazing. Connectivity is still an issue (Inman Square a little dicey) but it sure beats driving or taking the bus (in good weather anyway). I was there is less than an hour, got my exercise and avoided the stress and aggravation of driving in bumper to bumper traffic.