What’s with Walking in the Bike Lanes?

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1. 

   May 27, 2012

   Career Messenger

   On any given weekday there are around 20 bike messengers operating in the city of Boston. Considering the sheer volume of cyclist in the city nowadays, the odds of one them being a bike messenger are about 1/1000. Messenger bags and streamlined city bikes have become so commonplace in cycling culture that its easy to be confused into thinking that one person who was riding on the sidewalk or cutting you off was a bike messenger.
   But if someone pissed you off or did something blatantly reckless it probably wasn’t one of us.
   The courier industry is half of what it used to be. It can be very difficult to find a job and make a decent living working as a messenger in Boston. And those of us who managed to carve out a living are professionals who understand that there is an etiquette to riding in the city. That person in the crosswalk or that driver at the red light may very well be the person who is responsible for requesting your service later on that day.
   Would you order from a pizza restaurant after you saw their driver almost run someone over? I wouldn’t.
   Most of us working now have been for several years. And some of us even remember when Boston wasn’t so cyclist friendly. Back when the Green Way was the Brown Way (big-dig) and the only bike lane in Boston was the SW Corridor. Navigating the city without the help of bike lanes really separated the people who shouldn’t be mingling with traffic and the people who were capable.
   If it wasn’t safe to ride somewhere it was an experience issue, not a bike lane issue.
   I think bike lanes are a great thing, but they are no substitute for experience and safe cycling etiquette. And now when i’m not in a bike lane (despite being well within my legal right as a cyclist to be there and acting completely cordial to the motorists i share the road with) there is always someone around to tell me that i’m doing something wrong cause its their tax dollars that paid for that little white line.

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2. 

   May 27, 2012

   Penny

   In Boston, bike messengers are easy to identify because they are required to be licensed and insured. That may be one more incentive for bike messengers to be better, more polite and responsible riders.
   From the city’s Bike Plan, “In 1991 the City of Boston adopted regulations affecting bicycle messengers. The regulations were amended in 1998. The regulations require that messenger companies be registered and that bicycle couriers be licensed. Messengers are subject to a criminal record check and must carry liability insurance. Messengers must display a license plate on their bicycle and a number on their back or on their courier bag. They must also carry their license at all times. Failure to carry the license, to display the number, or to have the plate on the bicycle each carry a $100 fine. Businesses should employ only registered bicycle messenger services.”
   So you may be onto the solution to the problem. If we can license and insure everyone on bikes they may feel less anonymous and more willing to join the ranks of the bikers who do “play well with others” and follow the rules.
   I try to thank the bikers who are sharing the system well with the rest of us. But, I have no way to report the ones that are creating a bad impression on the entire biking community. A big bold license number might be a great start toward civility for some.
   Your pizza analogy is great. We have a very dangerous pizza delivery guy operating out of the Newbury street store of a pizza chain. I would never spend money with that business.

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