I Thought This Would Be Scary! Boston Traffic
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- I drove to Boston for a work trip so I was able to bring my gravel bicycle - a Raleigh Tamland 2. I've been to Boston to visit a friend a number of times but I've only ridden the city bikes a bit. The infrastructure for cycling in Boston is pretty incredible and you can actively watch it getting better. I rode from Roxbury downtown, out to the harbor, over to Cambridge, up on Bunker Hill, through Franklin Park and more. If I knew I was going to have this kind of time I would have planned a better route - but just bombing around in traffic as well as in the protected bike lanes and on the bikes paths was a lot of fun - the weather was great!
#cycling #gravelbike
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I work construction and live 17ish miles Boston -- started biking to work last year. It's done a lot for me mentally. My commute home is usually biking to Long Wharf to catch the ferry to Hingham and then it's a short ride home.
For instance, today I stopped at Monica's in the North End and got an Italian sandwich then I hit up Boston Bottle and got a six pack of beer. Caught the ferry, threw my headphones on and had lunch and a few beers out on the deck. Home in an hour. If I drive in, it takes an hour to get home + parking tickets/meters/garages and a ton of frustration.
Nice!
Bathroom tip: I always go into hotels, they usually don’t say anything if you walk in confidently and go use their lobby bathrooms
Oh! This is so good! I will definitely be using that from now on.
I’ve done this too, with great success! The bigger hotel chains seem easygoing about their restrooms.
Have to assume most the people working behind the counter don’t care if you aren’t causing trouble.
and …Marriott hotel right next to Kendall Sq T stop
Marriott long wharf
Target at porter square
maps.app.goo.gl/xTXgAkYmsqGW1MC69?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy
Boston Public libraries
Directions: This restroom is located in the Newsfeed Café, and is available for use by all visitors, not just those using the Café. It is located on the far side of the service counter near Exeter Street.
Comments: The BPL offers a single stall/gender neutral bathroom in the Central Library in Copley Square. This restroom is located in the Newsfeed Café, and is available for use by all visitors, not just those using the Café.
Fairmount Copley
also right by the beer garden and park in cambridge there is this public LOO … maps.app.goo.gl/iimru81sd2y8qFZd9?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy
The growth in bike infrastructure in metro Boston in the last decade has been amazing. A small correction: the Bunker Hill Monument is in Charlestown (which is part of Boston), not Cambridge (which isn't). The Cambridge Crossing development, where that new Lamplighter taproom is, was formerly railroad yards. From there you can pick up the Somerville Community Path, which parallels the new Green Line Extension through Somerville and then connects to the Minuteman Bikeway into the northwestern suburbs. It also connects to the incomplete Mass. Central Rail Trail, which (hopefully) will extend all the way to Northampton, ~100 miles west.
Summer in Boston is completely different. A good majority of the college kids are home and it’s a much more relaxed atmosphere. It’s also beautiful and green and sunny.
I know it was just one weekend but it really did feel different.
I don't know, I've been commuting in the area for 18 years and naked belligerent aggression is drastically less common now at any time of year. I witnessed some a year ago and it highlit to me I hadn't seen anything quite like it in years. Used to be people would honk and punishment pass you just for existing. Now there are a lot of cyclists on the road and progressively more people have come to just accept it. The worst of the winter is patchy snow clearance that doesn't prioritize cyclists or pedestrians.
Now most of the problems are general carelessness, incompetence, and Boston's baseline lawlessness, just like in every other mode. Not good, and Masshole behavior is still too common, but so is courteousness and neutral behavior (and often infuriating unhelpful passivity too - the number of people who sit and wait for you to arrive at a 4 way stop so they can wave you through ahead of them is amazing).
I've literally been waiting with 30 bikes at some lights in summer. If he'd carried on west at Lamplighter he'd have been on the brand new path section that connects directly 14 miles or so out west. A lot of it is still very sub-optimal, but it's continuously improving.
Massachusetts awarded a huge amount of grants a few years back for building bike lanes. you can ride from Boston up to Salem via rail trails and street lanes and the trails are really great. The Mass DCR has also started to install water stations all over their parks and rail trails.
Awesome.
There is evidence of it anywhere.
If I do get back I definitely need to plan a longer ride.
Nice edit! So many familiar places :-) Like you observed, I find that although we have good infrastructure in Boston, it depends how much drivers respect it. Many a time I’ll come across an Uber driver or food delivery car parked in the Bike lane.
We get that here too. THey have put some lanes in that no one respects.
Hi from the peoples republic of Somervillle. Thanks for so much great footage. I never manage to get any meaningful ride footage. #lessgearsmorebeers #fixielife
With the Greenline Extension (GLX) you can ride all the way from Concord, MA on the Minute Man BIke Path all the way into Lechmere/Science Park cross the street and loop around the Esplanade and Charles. Pretty awesome... like urban planning or something.
SO COOL seeing all the familiar sites on your ride, so many spots i go daily
Nice ride through my hometown! FYI- at 8:34-ish- Bunker Hill is in Charlestown, not Cambridge.
Oh yeah - I definitely missed a couple things I later noticed....
I hate when I mess up my facts in these.
@@TimFitzwater no worries- you do a great job with your videos!!! Thanks for taking us along!
That's some amazing bike infrastructure in Boston!
Yeah - I think it was only second to DC out of the cities I’ve ridden in.
i used to ride my bicycle alot in Boston but then moved onto motorcycles. I don't commute though with my motocycle. I have a juiced hyperscorpion to get to central square from Grove Hall.
I live just a few minutes north of Boston, and I have to say, I was genuinely surprised by all the bike lanes you highlighted in this video. I don’t usually ride in the downtown area-most of my cycling is around the North Shore and across the Mass Ave bridge-so it was a bit of a shock to see how much Boston has evolved into a bike-friendly city in just a couple of years. The transformation is impressive, and it’s amazing to see the city embracing cycling in such a big way. It definitely makes me consider venturing into downtown more often to explore these new lanes.
The best bike infrastructure is actually over the river in cambridge. Inman square for eg is incredible now.
Very impressive that you hit Al’s Cafe. They serve some of the best subs in the city. Their Chicken Salad is to die for. Only the locals really know about the joint. Well played 💯
Oh nice! I didn't know about it - it just looked like a cool spot.
The dog @4:34 didn't have any problem finding a bathroom. LOL
100% on just planning or needing a snack/drink break around a bathroom stop. Honestly it's a nice reward and only improves the experience of exploring to check out a new place.
Absolutely lovely city, I feel a fool for never going yet. Those older compact areas not built for cars are so full of life.... I wonder if there is some sort of connection, we may never know.
Thanks for sharing the trip!
Less cars is definitely better life. Just think of everywhere people really enjoy vacations. Europe and all that.
Someone did recommend hotel lobbies for restroom breaks and now I can’t believe I never thought of that. Though I usually am down for a beer. 😎
As someone who has had to bike and drive all over Boston, I have to say that biking is considerably less scary.
That is how I felt for sure!
I went back to visit in July, first time I've been back since we moved in 2021. The bike infrastructure has improved a lot even in those 3 years.
It feels like you can see it changing before your eyes.
We call 'traffic circles' rotaries here in Boston. Great video!
We would actually call the small European style ones roundabouts but we didn’t have many until recently. The term “traffic circle “ is more for very large multi lane ones - but we are just used to saying it so even say it for rotaries.
Growing up in Somerville I used to bike everywhere in the 70s. I even biked across the frozen Charles one winter. In the 80s I shied away from biking there, too dangerous. But then again that was before bike lanes etc. But years later I used to in line skate (many of the roads you showed in this video) on Sunday mornings. The magic route was from the Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge through the center of the Boston and over to Southy. Alternately, from Com Ave. to Harvard Street Brookline then down to circle Fenway Park to the Garden and back to the Sonesta by way of the Harvard Bridge. BTW the Cape Cod Rail Trail has a rotary.
Lamplighter is the best! So cool to see you riding around places I know
My girlfriend’s best friend was a brewer there for a while!
In the summer most regulars are gone so the vibe is typically a lot friendlier than the fall when EVERYONE is back and tensions rise fast in traffic.
Makes sense - I felt it!
Tim!! Driving over the Newburgh Beacon Bridge right at the beginning! HOLLA!!!
I crossed two different bridges over the Hudson on this trip - both very cool.
What a cool area for riding!
Fun video. I liked the tunes you picked. I'm a sucker for surf music/spooky guitar. If Boston didn't seem as angry and aggressive this time it may be because those people moved to Chicago.😂
lol! 😂
If it seemed like the aggressive drivers were absent, that just means they are all up here in Maine at their summer vacation homes.
lol
I see surprisingly few Maine plates in Boston, but it's amazing how often you see aggressive dangerous driving in Boston and it's New Hampshire plates, often a big shiny pickup.
We took a family trip to Boston last summer at the same time with the same Italian festival. Stayed downtown. did not rent a car. Walked everywhere. Saw a lot of your sites. We are from MN and we thought everyone was just as 'nice' as MN. Everyone we told that to tried to tell us we did not really meet anyone really from Boston. We even had a server get off her shift and she sat with us for 45 minutes talking to us. So...I agree people were nice. I agree the driving is aggressive.
A few people did comment saying that I was right that the vibe is just different in the summer....
Enjoyed seeing the scenery. Thank you.
Just a heads up bunker hill is in Boston, It’s in the Charlestown neighborhood which is on the Cambridge side of the Charles.
I hear ya about having your own wheels. Bike share bikes are OK and everything, but it's not like I'd want to ride around town all day on one.
They are definitely the better than nothing option
Great video bud! I enjoy following along on your adventures. 🍻
Thanks!
Looks like you covered a lot of ground, I saw you circle around somewhat near Forest hills JP then all the way to Cambridge back through parts of Roxbury Franklin Park, Boston's definitely challenging, not sure if you mentioned in your video if you seen the painted white bikes around the city as memorials to cyclists that have lost their lives I contribute better bike lanes to them
Ghost bikes.
My friends I was staying with got married a few years ago at the bear cages in Franklin Park - they live right down from there. That is why I did so much riding in JP/Roxbury.
Just dropped to congratulate you on the baller thumbnail! Now I’m off to watch the video.
The last time I was in Boston i took a ride up the coast. So beautiful 🤩
I bet!
So cool Tim
Never like to see a car on the bike path! Happens here in Florida & its usually a confused older person.
I was doing a photoshoot on the University campus last week and a car came right down one of the walk ways! I stopped him and he said he was following Google Maps!
@@TimFitzwater OMG 😲
Living in a suburb of Chicago that's kind of a blend of city feel and the start of quieter suburban neighborhoods the "code switching" I do on a bike based if I'm downtown, in Chicago proper, in a suburban commercial strip, with or without infrastructure is insane. Cars never expect me to stop at stop signs or they run them as I approach I never know which it will be...it's just a constant improvisation to stay safe.
I get that entirely.
My first experience with city riding was in Chicago a long time ago and I was so surprised that cars didn’t just kill us (they would have here). I couldn’t even believe the bike lanes were marked through the intersections!
Great video!!!
there used to be an app called Sit or Squat or something like that, for finding rest rooms. Not sure it's still a thing.
My favorite recommendation so far was hotel lobbies - not sure why I hadn’t thought of that!
Yay Boston
Love Bean Town. ❤
Tip from someone who moved here a decade ago if you’re visiting: no one here ever calls it “Beantown.” It’s like calling San Francisco “Frisco”: nothing more clearly announces you’re a tourist.
You and Erin should do bike tours
Ha! It would be cool. Not sure I really have the patience for people though. 🥸
Even with the added infrastructure, Boston biking is dangerous AF! Boston is relatively small so you get maybe 20-30 miles of "safe" biking lanes. The rest of it is a crapshoot. Most Boston bikers are not as aware as you are and most Boston drivers are pissed off and absolutely crazy! #loveyourcontent #bostonbiker #saintanthonysfeast #northend
I hear you as all my other experiences there with drivers were crazy(even the people I’d be in the car with).
Did you get some wicked clam chowda?
Nah - not this trip. I have done more Boston classics though when I was visiting for fun though.
6:56 What the heck? How does that guy stop at a light in the city?
I think they have to climb off those. I've never attempted to ride one.
Boston spring and summer is a fun place, it’s a big town and attached towns, great way to see it is by bike or foot. When thousands of students come in for the fall, city is much more crowded, drivers less patient, a bit crazy on bike (As a former college student resident who rode his bike all over the city in fall and spring). And winter slush and snow piles made it unrideable for me winter season
It's very rideable with the right equipment and prep though. I've commuted year round for years and in winter the relative benefits of cycling over other modes only increases. Riding the packed trains in winter clothes and then negotiating slush moats at crossings is a PITA, and the roads are often gridlocked, meanwhile riding with studded tires is usually easy.
Makes sense.
It does look like they do maintain some of the bike infrastructure in the winter now though(from videos others have shared with me)
Did you go to Bull & Finch Tavern
I didn't. I've been to a bunch of places on my other trips when I was here to have fun - but that is not a spot I've hit.
Google maps has gotten sooo bad 😢 lately
I had some problems on my last tour with it too. It has been missing construction....
My winter commute to work in Boston: ua-cam.com/video/I_tly3VuLO4/v-deo.html
Nice!
place sucks ass, nice edit to music tho
I dig the history and the water - no way I’d live there though.
(Or ride the frozen Charles 🤣)
@@TimFitzwater History is amazing and education's tops, ur lucky u didn't run into some mad suburbanite driver, keep vids coming bro
I'm beginning to feel driving is a necessary evil the more I cycle.
Yeah - around here if you wanna explore new places we don't have another option. Though if I lived in Boston I would be taking the trains and ferries.
I live in the Boston area and I link 10 bike trails together. I did a bunch of century rides last year with this route……Ice Rider..🧊..or with studded tires you can ride the Charles River when and if it freezes 🥶
Awesome!
I'll pass on riding on the Charles but I did watch Lucas's vids.
I’ve found that navigating city congestion on a bike is easier compared to driving a car. Much more efficient!
For sure - coming into Boston through the tunnels in my car was nerve racking!
My wife and I were in Boston this time last year and we were amazed how safe we felt riding on rental bikes.
It is wild. As I said - just a few short years ago I didn't think I would want to ride beyond the trails...
I was in Boston for work and was really surprised by how polite the drivers were to pedestrians. Drivers stopped when people were in the crosswalks, which is not something I'm used to seeing.
Nice to see some of the roads and paths I ride regularly. Riding under the Zakim bridge is always impressive. Curious about the farm to table place you ate at near Concord. Do you recall the name?
I can't. I texted Eric to find out though.
Urban riding gets a bad rap. It can be a lot of fun.
I love riding in the city. Even just when I get up to Cleveland.
Looks like a fun city to rip around always wanted to check it out
I love cycling in Boston! Tons of mixed-use paths and in-street bike infrastructure. The in-street stuff is a bit patchy in places, but since the road network is so tangled, archaic, and inherently hostile to cars, you're often going as fast as them when forced to share the road. I've had more issues with pedestrians jumping in front of me without looking than with careless drivers. The local drivers seem used to coexisting with bikes. Almost every car I've had an incursion with has had an out-of-state plate...probably panicked college parents wondering what they just got themselves into.
Ha!
Interesting to hear your perspective. Being in cars even with the locals seemed angry and terrifying - but as I mentioned - way less issues out on my bike.
Hey, come to Boston again and i'd be happy to show you even more bike infra & many miles of urban dirt we have here (i live a couple miles south of that bike rotary) - also a pro photographer here and bikepacker.
Probably won’t happen anytime soon as I was always visiting friends and working - but I appreciate the offer.
I lived in Boston for 20 years and except for the biking along the Charles and the Jamaica way, was designed by Olmstead, the great Urban landscape architect, biking was a game of chicken. I’ve been away too long. I really need to get my bike back there.
I’m guessing it would feel different to you now. It’s still an angry driving culture but they’ve just made so much space for the bikes.
I’m a big Olmstead fan - my girlfriend and I always look to see if there are parks designed by him when we travel.
Great ride-through, and greetings from a fellow Buckeye! You nailed it: the level Mass has invested in its bike infrastructure is fabulous. It was an absolutely scary (and too often deadly) place to bike when I moved here 10 years ago. It’s a joy to ride around nowadays. You can cover so much ground on dedicated bike paths and lanes now! 🚴❤
Hi Tim,
Nice made video! Really liked the footage from Boston!
Thanks for showing us.
Best regards from Germany (Black Forest)
Alex
recently found your channel and love the videos. thx for all the entertainment
😎
Heyyy welcome!!
I love biking in new places. It's very exciting but I also feel quite vulnerable because I don't know the route or traffic flow. I had bladder anxiety while biking in Chicago last month. I stuck to the Lakeside trail because it has parks and bathrooms lol.
You definitely need to take your time to get the feel for it(if you have the time) - nothing wrong with sticking to the paths to play it safe though.
Boston has TOO MANY FUCKING CARS, TRUCKS, and POTHOLES, but at least it is improving.
Wild place to ride - better on a bike than in a car from my limited experience though!
Masshole here, I love Boston, especially after the reconstruction! I think the best way I have heard Bostonians described is "a delicate balance between polite and kind". We are not likely to go out of our way to do something nice for a stranger, but we might ask if they need help, or are lost, etc. We can be very reserved so if you need something you gotta speak up. Boston does have publicly available bathrooms all over the city, you just have to know where to look for them. Look for major transportation hubs, and touristy areas, shopping centers, financial centers, things like that. If they are close to the front desk, they will let you use them if you say it is an emergency and they are not too busy. Even the subway and train station bathrooms are not great but still better than most people think. Fast food places work really well in a pinch too.
Thanks!
This is a great video - really appreciate you providing a proper glimpse into our fabulous city. It really is world class and a whole lot more than the mainstream representation of droppin’ ah’s, dude. Very progressive, quite international. And to echo some other comments here - you showed a lot of infrastructure, and there’s even more, really great stuff too. A very significant, expansive network has really started to link together as of late. And a very robust cycling community with some great groups. Come join us again!
Boston traffic is way less sketchy than riding in CA; I commuted my bike to work for 10 years, all seasons, even in the winter storms, and barely had close encounters ever.. in CA, I have approximately 4 close encounters per month.
I haven't ridden in Cali but I just have to say I find that hard to believe - but California is a huge state so I'm sure it varies a bunch depending on where you are....
In Boston you are highly likely to be hit by a California driver in their Tesla, now. There will be someone yelling at you to ride on the sidewalk; those are usually local screamers. Since 2015 the car driving has changed. Many cannot navigate a roundabout nor a rotary.
@@TimFitzwater It as well depends on how often and intense you are riding. I ride around 300 miles per week on the road every day. In Boston, jaywalking is allowed as drivers are primarily alert. In California, where I live, it's not allowed, and as such, drivers are mostly less alert or feel entitled over a cyclist... I had those convos with some of them
The Kittie Knox Community Cycle Center right near where you got beer has free bathrooms! :)
Thanks for the history
Nice vid!
I lost my GoPro
Oh no!
@@TimFitzwater it’s in my house it’s a GoPro 8 I tried walking around to see if I could turn it on and maybe hear it ,but nothing. I can’t even believe it . I was making videos to torture my kids . Nobody has been here ,so I know I misplaced it . Took me two years to learn how to use it and the freaking thing grew legs and left .
I dropped one in a weird place at the house - bought a new one - found the old one a week later.😂
@@TimFitzwaterthat’s me I break things and lose things .
Bathroom tip: churches
I light on fire when I walk in those.....j/k.
I think my favorite tip on that so far has been hotel lobbies.
@@TimFitzwater I agree, that’s a good option. Out in the ‘burbs, the town soccer field usually has a porta-john, that’s another of my go-to’s, to “go”. 😜
yer a brave man! some of those in and outs of traffic are nailbiters, but like you said you are more aware of the surrounds than what the go pro affords. well done, interesting and entertaining video! thanks as always.
Thank YOU!