The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation hosted a Speaker Series on March 29, 2012, featuring Nicole Freedman, Director of Boston Bikes, also known as the Bike Czar. Nicole shared her story of how in 2007, Boston was ranked the worst city for biking, and now it stands among the top 12 BEST cities in the country for biking.
Her first step as Director of Boston Bikes was to understand her audience. As a professional cyclist, she knew her audience were not the racers. Her audience was her mom, who lived out in the suburbs and occasionally ventured out on bike, but never in the city because it was “too dangerous” to ride in the city. Nicole’s mission became to change the culture, and to make the city a safer place for people to bike.
She offered five tips: Just start already, Focus, Plagerize (copy other city best practices), Engage community and build a team, and go after high quality projects that become bright spots for long-term sustainability. Her goal was to hit Bronze level Bicycle Friendly City and she surpassed it by helping Boston become Silver status in just three years. Boston is one of only a handful of East Coast cities with Silver and higher status.
Overall, they noticed over those three years a 50% increase in ridership, equivalent to 15-20,000 new bike trips each year. They introduced NewBalance Hubway, a bike share program that cost only $5.7 million, half of which was raised through public grants, and the other half through private sponsorships, and advertising. The total rides on Hubway equal 140,000 trips, with 3750 members. And it has transformed the culture within Boston.
Biking is now considered the 4th largest public transit system in Boston. The number one reason why people ride is because it’s the fastest way to get around the city. Yet the next three reasons are right up there with the first, including fun/enjoyment, environment and health & fitness. Over 11% of bike rides replaced motor vehicle trips, and 39% of trips were used in conjunction with other public transportation.
Biking can also provide economic benefits to local businesses. On average 29% of bike trips in Boston, people spent money, an average of $83 a trip! This shows again how biking supports local businesses. The number of bike industry businesses grew by 12 companies offering services from bike shops, repair shops to engineering firms.
Bringing on a bike share program instigated several other public programs such as better wayfinding for bikers, better roads, more bike lanes and even helmet vending machines to increase the number of riders wearing a helmet by making it low cost and convenient to find.
And while in the beginning these bike lanes may have not connected, they eventually did and the network plan is already in action. It focuses more on low-stress environments, where more residents will feel safer riding. If you poll any cyclist, from the beginner to the advanced and professional, ALL prefer riding on a protected path. It feels safer to ride further away from car traffic and more cyclists enjoy their ride. Boston’s plan is to grow from its current 50 miles of bike lane to 417 miles.
Boston also has a community bike program, where 1,088 bikes were donated and given in groups (to increase the social aspect of riding) and over 7,773 youth were instructed on how to ride safely. This reached the critical mass of 10% of the kids in Boston. A poll taken a few months after the kids received the bikes and of them 81% of the kids still bike everyday or whenever possible. And 30% said they felt and looked healthier.
The future is looking bright as Boston continues working on its plans to become platinum bicycle friendly city. They plan to expand the bike share program, finish the network plan, add cycletracks, increase helmet use, innovate with parking and maintain everything they have built thus far.
Key learnings from the panel discussion included the economic benefit of bicycle infrastructure. Nicole mentioned a 9 to 1 return on investment for building paths. Housing prices jump an average of 25% when located closer to bike paths. And we learned that the best practices from the most successful cities say that having the mayor be the champion behind making the city more bike friendly is an absolute must. Also, use media as often as possible in a fun, popular and positive way to encourage more people to ride.
What a superb event and thank you to the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition, the Arthur Blank Family Foundation, City of Atlanta, City of Decatur, viaCycle, National Association of City Transportation Officials.