It’s 12:28 p.m. and I’m on a stakeout just outside downtown Lynn at the corner of Broad and Nahant streets. My quarry is not mendacious or nefarious. I am looking for bicyclists; specifically, anyone on two wheels riding in the bicycle lane painted along both sides of Broad for several blocks.
I watch for a half hour and guess how many bike riders I spot? Zero. That’s not quite accurate: At 12:42 p.m., three of Lynn’s Finest sped down the bike lane headed for downtown.
Don’t get the wrong idea. I love to jump on my Schwinn and pedal to work, feeling like a Dutchman with the wind in my face and the thrill that comes from banking around a corner.
My wife says I look more like a Mormon missionary and less like Lance Armstrong when I hop on my bike. I don’t care. For me, climbing on a bike is the quickest path back to carefree childhood days when I spent hours riding around with my brother and our buddies.
That said, I’m not a martyr or crusader on two wheels wearing a Styrofoam and plastic helmet and daring a driver to honk or cross my path. I climb on a bicycle completely aware that someone steering 3,000 pounds of automobile down the road is more than likely dividing their time between thinking about the day ahead of them; texting, drinking coffee, or talking on Bluetooth. The notion that they are paying attention to me steering a 60-pound bicycle down the road is conceited and preposterous.
Bicycle lanes like the ones added to Lynn roads and Beacon Street by the Public Garden in Boston are intended to give bicyclists’ their share of the road. But if we really want to get people out of their cars and onto bikes, painting a white stripe down the road isn’t going to do the trick.
You’re right in telling me that the chances of spotting a bicyclist on Broad Street in the middle of a workday when it was 30 degrees out were slim to none. But that’s my point: Taking away 30 percent of the public roadway to provide a travel lane used only by morning and evening two-wheeled commuters is not a democratic or even practical way to promote alternative transportation strategies.
Our government has spent trillions of dollars to keep the American economy on life support while we battle our way out of COVID-19’s grip on the country. So it makes sense to discuss ways to spend billions of dollars and shift American society from its century-plus dependence on internal combustion transportation to electric vehicles, mass transportation, and alternative means of getting around, including bicycles.
But replacing internal combustion vehicles requires planning and a wholehearted commitment by the private sector to embrace transportation alternatives.
The coronavirus aftermath is going to find many Americans working and learning at home. But what about the millions of people who still need to get to their job in a country where freezing temperatures, snow and sleet dominate the weather for four months?
If we really want to confront climate change and follow through on President Biden’s intention to re-embrace the Paris Climate Agreement, we can’t just paint stripes and pictures of bicycles on the road.
If we want to put commuters on bicycles, we first have to find out who will actually bike to work or school. The same rule applies to mass transit. If we want people to ditch their cars for buses and subways, then we have to identify those workers and build transit systems that work for people — systems that run on time, stop where people live, and provide comfortable, clean and secure transportation modes.
I’m lucky I can bike to work. But luck can’t be the dynamic driving smart transportation planning aimed at ending the internal combustion era and pollution. We need smart transportation planning that works for people.