So what do Cambridge residents really think about separated bike lanes?

Jun. 19--Bike lanes in Cambridge have been one of the most controversial subjects in the city over the last couple of years. A clear divide exists between residents who feel the city should do all it can for a more environmentally-friendly mode of transportation versus those who feel the separated bike lanes have gone too far by removing parking and creating narrower roads.

So when City Council passed the Cycling Safety Ordinance in April -- to build permanent separated bike lanes whenever improvements are made to streets included in the city's five-year sidewalk and street reconstruction plan-- the flood of reactions was to be expected. And many took to Facebook to express them.

"Say bye bye to parking in the city," wrote Dennis Murphy under the article link on the Chronicle's Facebook page. (Editor's note: Scroll to the bottom of this article to read all the Facebook comments).

"Because this worked out so well on Cambridge Street? Not a traffic nightmare at all!!" wrote Jill Oliver Meyers.

Several said police need to do a better job of citing cyclists who break the rules.

Others called for taxes on cycling.

"You want to give them a piece of the road ??? -make them pay excise taxes like the rest of us," wrote Paul Del Vecchio.

"So you [sic] making more room for them and less room for drivers are they going to start paying insurance, registration and get license too???" wrote Lomalee Winnie Reynolds Houston.

Some thanked the city for taking these measures to improve bike safety.

"As both a driver and a biker in Boston for the last six years, I've gotten hit once, and almost gotten hit 23043843 times. I've been lucky, but some others have not been. I hope that lives will be saved from these measures," wrote Melissa Lee Nilles.

Despite the mostly negative feedback on Facebook, a 2018 telephone survey showed that 60 percent of city residents wanted the city to build more protected lanes, according to Cambridge Bicycle Safety. And nearly 40 percent of all bike-related crashes in Cambridge do not happen in intersections, according to the group, citing Cambridge Community Development data analysis. Incidents include doorings, sideswipe crashes, rear-end crashes, and head-on collisions.

Man-on-street reactions

Beyond social media, the man-on-the-street reactions to the ordinance were a little tamer.

Out on a recent Saturday, resident Eric Henderson said he and his family will likely bike around Cambridge more after the protected bike lanes are installed.

"We have one car for our family of four so we usually drive, but we currently bike a little. The new ordinance sounds good and like it has potential to make the city a safer place," he said.

Daisy Chiu, a resident and the owner of Cambridge bike shop CrimsonBikes located on Massachusetts Avenue near Ellery Street, said she believes biking is an essential and unique part about the city.

"These protected bike lanes would make it feasible for a lot of different populations to bike and move around safely and comfortably," Chiu said. "I think that with the narrowness with a lot of the streets in this city, it will be safer to bike than drive after construction."

While Chiu felt the narrowing of streets was advantageous for cycling, others felt the narrowed roadway is one of the worst elements to the separated bike lane designs.

"These bike lanes suck," said Kelly Santos, resident of Cambridge, as she sat in the passenger's seat of a parked car on Cambridge Street last week. "We're parked here now on Cambridge Street, and [it feels like] we're on top of the lane. So if there's a bike coming, we don't know if we're going to hit them or not. The traffic on Cambridge Street because of this bike lane now is becoming horrible. Before it was straight, now it's a roller-coaster. You're going in and out."

Matt Fahey, a Cambridge worker and biker, said biking is the only way he would consider getting to and from his job in Cambridge.

"I've lived in the area for about 10 years and the ridership around Boston seems to go up every year, so infrastructure for bicycles is super important," Fahey said. "I commute through Cambridge every day. It is 100 percent the fastest mode of transportation especially during rush hour."

Peter Tam, a café worker in Harvard Square, said the dangers of cycling keep him from riding his bike.

"I don't ride my bike in Cambridge because I don't feel safe," Tam said. "The streets here are small, and drivers are not courteous of bikers at all."

"I would consider biking if the laws around the current bike lanes were enforced, but I see cars drive right through the bike lanes all the time, it's just scary," he added.

Another resident, Michael Roberts, said he thinks bike lanes are important but that he does not agree with removing car lanes on streets that already have issues with daily traffic.

"I sometimes feel trapped in my house because of the high volume of rush hour traffic around my neighborhood," Roberts said. "One of the car lanes near my home was removed and turned into a bike path going from Cambridge into Boston, and now there is significantly more traffic. Bike lanes are very important but the lack of general common sense in traffic analysis has contributed to closing down the car lanes we need to move traffic out of the city especially during the five to seven rush hour."

Cambridge resident Scheri Fultineer, while out on a stroll two weeks ago with her dog on Cambridge Street, said the lanes are never going to be perfect.

"I think we're like any historic city, they're hard to retrofit. So they can't make everybody happy," she said.

Fultineer's husband has been hit twice, and injured, while on his bike in Cambridge, she said.

"I'm a landscape architect by training and I think I'm very aware that there are limited options. I'm also an avid pedestrian. I like that the bikes have a lane and the pedestrians can use the sidewalks," Fultineer said. "Do I think it's perfect? No. Do I think it's an accommodation to a type of transportation that more and more people are using and is environmentally better? Yes."

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