So what do Cambridge residents really think about separated bike lanes?
So when
"Say bye bye to parking in the city," wrote
"Because this worked out so well on
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
"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
Some thanked the city for taking these measures to improve bike safety.
"As both a driver and a biker in
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
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
"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.
"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
"I've lived in the area for about 10 years and the ridership around
"I don't ride my bike in
"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,
"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
"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
"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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