The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority should definitely add an extra car to each train on the Blue Line that will allow #cyclists to bring their bikes on board, as originally suggested by former councilor Lydia Edwards. If this request were granted, it would change the daily lives of many people who live in or travel to East Boston because it would make biking to work a feasible option.
Boston has invested a lot of money in upgrading our city by creating better bike lanes on our streets. More people than ever are using bicycles to get around town. They are economically practical in a way that cars are not, and it is much easier to find parking for a bike than it is to find a place to park a car. A lot of people also rely upon public transportation, but the system is not always compatible with bicycling.
It was reported in October of 2022 that between 14% and 17% of the traffic on our roads consisted of bicycles, even before bike lanes were commonplace. MBTA knew they had to do something. When they decided to start allowing bikes on all of their trains, they gained a great deal of favor from East Boston residents who were looking for more efficient ways to commute to and from work.
Given the increase in Bostonians who travel by bike, reserving a car for this subset of people is not too much to ask. It is certainly a cheaper alternative to building a bridge to convey bikers across Boston Harbor, but for some reason we are willing to pursue around $35 million in federal grants to fund that project. Of course, that is just an early estimate. What the Mystic River Bridge actually ends up costing will likely be much more, since projects of this sort tend to run out of funding pretty early on and get taxpayers to foot the rest of the bill.
If one car on each Blue Line train were dedicated to bicycles, it would bring a lot of relief to cyclists residing in East Boston. There are major barriers to traveling downtown on bike. It would become much easier and faster if cyclists could use a reserved car on the Blue Line. If anything, it would probably increase the amount of fares the MBTA is able to collect, because more people would find public transportation to be a feasible option for at least part of their daily commute.
A popular aphorism says that time is money, and the introduction of a reserved rush-car for bikers would improve the economy because it would make traveling quicker. The time saved from using this mode of transport would be freed up for people to spend on activities such as shopping and dining out, which will contribute to post-pandemic economic recovery in East Boston as well as downtown. It would also attract a lot of cyclists that would love to reside in the neighborhood of East Boston, but do not currently feel that it would be practical due to the challenges faced traveling downtown from their prospective neighborhood.
In conclusion, the MBTA needs to revisit the request of Lydia Edwards to have a reserved car for bikers on the Blue Line; it would make traveling from the East Boston neighborhood to downtown easier, cheaper, and faster.
