Jul
31
Bikes vs parking
Posted by nathanael on July 31st, 2009. Filed Under bikes, parking, transit
If you’re interested in local transit issues you might want to take a minute to read a thoughtful post from Aaron on the bike lane/parking situation on North Harvard Ave.
I’m not entirely supportive of his main premise that removing N. Harvard spots for a bike lane will by necessity force all those cars into the neighborhood. This may happen to some extent, but it’s as easy to imagine a scenario where some of that parking burden disappear with reduced demand by commuters making use of the new more liveable street. When people see parking along main streets, they tend to associate that place in their mind as a future option when they choose to drive. No visible parking means no mental association, they well may choose to take the bus or train or bike next time. And given there are currently 50-60 cyclists per hour a 10-20% increase in that number during daylight hours would offset the loss of those spots. As for the parking/bike lane/traffic/no turn lane option, that’s not without it’s own added risk. Per John Allen -
“When the city constructs a bike lane that instructs people to ride in the door zone, it is responsible for the dooring problem to some degree.”
Aaron’s other point about enforcement of parking in the new bike lane itself is of course spot on. Failure to enforce leaves both violation money on the table and puts the people using those lanes at risk. It may be the community just has to ask for enforcement at first given then change in acceptable behavior. District 14 of the BPD can be reached at 617-343-4260. The Office of Parking Control is at 617-635-4410.
<bike lanes | Lower Allston | North Harvard | parking>
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2 Responses to “Bikes vs parking”
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There are no trains that serve North Allston. And after waiting for a 66 bus that was 45 minutes late, and then got stuck in traffic at the Brighton Avenue intersection, I associate places along its route as future places to avoid entirely.
Bikes are great for short trips — I often use one myself. But someone from Connecticut who’s visiting a Harvard Business School dorm resident isn’t going to bike the 130 miles, so it’s dishonest to claim that removing the parking spaces will have no ill effects.
I don’t think I said there would be “no ill effects”. I also don’t think it’s dishonest to think changing parking availability will eventually change driving behavior (particularly by commuters). This may not be true in the particular situation you mention, but it’s a matter of changing the probability of a given behavior rather than an absolute change.
I drive occasionally as well, but wouldn’t think to drive to visit my sister in the North End since parking there is so ridiculous. I’ve been trained to think that driving and parking isn’t an option there and in other certain areas (like Harvard Square and Longwood). This is in contrast to how I think about other areas where I usually am able to park (say, Davis Square, JP or South Boston). These internal maps in my head influence my transit decisions and it seems logical to me that removing parking spots along North Harvard will, in time, alter some people’s behavior about whether they choose to take transit or drive.
But I do think the burden on residents & their guests could be lessened on residents if we had some sort of guest pass system like Cambridge and Somerville.