4 ms·

The entire state of MA is highly unwelcoming to anything with two wheels and a motor that is less than a motorcycle (and even then it kinda sucks for them too).

The entire state of MA is highly unwelcoming to anything with two wheels and a motor that is less than a motorcycle (and even then it kinda sucks for them too). You say "scooter" or "moped" and suburban soccer moms and uptight politicians get images of New Dehli in their heads and that's too low class for MA so any organized attempt at doing that gets blocked by the power of arbitrary enforcement. As another commenters mentioned they were there briefly before the .gov told them to get lost. The other thing about MA is that it's highly totalitarian. The government is mostly benign and the single party nature of the state means it doesn't cause too much discontent but trying to pull an Uber and provide a service that has popular support before the regulators can kick you out doesn't really work in MA because the people have little choice in the manner, the .gov can just say "this isn't good for you" and that's the end of it.

ar-nelson 8y ago
Eastern MA is like this, but Western MA is surprisingly bike-friendly. The Amherst/Northampton/Easthampton area is wonderful for biking.
- screye 8y ago
  Yes! I stay in Amherst and it is lovely for biking.
coleca 8y ago
MA already had laws statewide mandating bike lanes on new construction and renovation. This has led to the situation near my house where a highway intersection (Route 1 and 495) was rebuilt and a bike lane added for about 1000 feet on a road that has a 55mph speed limit. There is no bike lane on the rest of Route 1, just around the intersection where the construction happened. Now we have a bike lane that will never be used confusing the drivers trying to figure out where they should be when taking the entrance ramp onto the highway. This is a suburb around 40 miles outside of the city. I’m all in favor of bike lanes but these types of blanket mandates aren’t the solution because it eliminates the community’s ability to use common sense and apply the law logically. So you wouldn’t be encouraging biking across a ramp with no signals and cars going from 55 mph to 65 mph for example.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  This is what you get when the state government is basically the standard oil octopus with its tentacles into everything and the majority of state decisions are made by people who don't acknowledge anything outside of I95. They could have just passed local laws but doing it state level lets them pat themselves on the back more so of course they do it to the detriment of everyone else. >eliminates the community’s ability to use common sense The higher entity telling the lower entity they can't be trusted to think for themselves is a really common theme in MA politics if you're looking for it. I'm not sure how we got here but it sucks.
- frosted-flakes 8y ago
  Well, it seems to me that constructing bike lanes piece-meal as roads are re-built is the most cost-effective way to do it, even if it results in a super fragmented bike lane network at first. As far as bike lanes across freeway entrance ramps goes, great, if it's done right. The bike lane should be painted solid green or red where it crosses the ramp, with a "Yield to " sign. The rebuilt interchanges in my city are like this, and the coloured lane is a visual obstruction that forces drivers to take notice of any cyclists on it. I've both cycled on and driven across these lanes, and they work well, far better than the alternative. Also, bike lanes on 55 mph roads is fine if there are no alternative roads for cyclists to use. Often, this just means paving a wide shoulder and putting regular "" signs as reminders to drivers. Even if only a few people a day ride it. Edit: it looks like the commenting platform strips out the "U+1F6B2 BICYCLE" character, used twice above.
gbear605 8y ago
Single party nature of the state? The governor is Republican
- wool_gather 8y ago
  And has been for most of the last three or four decades.
- dsfyu404ed 8y ago
  Look at the 2016 election county map. MA is really thoroughly blue. Having a (relatively) politically homogeneous state minimizes the amount of people who find the actions of a powerful state government to be distasteful. Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_In_Name_Only https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_In_Name_Only

ar-nelson 8y ago

Eastern MA is like this, but Western MA is surprisingly bike-friendly. The Amherst/Northampton/Easthampton area is wonderful for biking.

screye 8y ago
Yes! I stay in Amherst and it is lovely for biking.

coleca 8y ago

MA already had laws statewide mandating bike lanes on new construction and renovation. This has led to the situation near my house where a highway intersection (Route 1 and 495) was rebuilt and a bike lane added for about 1000 feet on a road that has a 55mph speed limit. There is no bike lane on the rest of Route 1, just around the intersection where the construction happened. Now we have a bike lane that will never be used confusing the drivers trying to figure out where they should be when taking the entrance ramp onto the highway. This is a suburb around 40 miles outside of the city. I’m all in favor of bike lanes but these types of blanket mandates aren’t the solution because it eliminates the community’s ability to use common sense and apply the law logically. So you wouldn’t be encouraging biking across a ramp with no signals and cars going from 55 mph to 65 mph for example.

dsfyu404ed 8y ago
This is what you get when the state government is basically the standard oil octopus with its tentacles into everything and the majority of state decisions are made by people who don't acknowledge anything outside of I95. They could have just passed local laws but doing it state level lets them pat themselves on the back more so of course they do it to the detriment of everyone else. >eliminates the community’s ability to use common sense The higher entity telling the lower entity they can't be trusted to think for themselves is a really common theme in MA politics if you're looking for it. I'm not sure how we got here but it sucks.
frosted-flakes 8y ago
Well, it seems to me that constructing bike lanes piece-meal as roads are re-built is the most cost-effective way to do it, even if it results in a super fragmented bike lane network at first. As far as bike lanes across freeway entrance ramps goes, great, if it's done right. The bike lane should be painted solid green or red where it crosses the ramp, with a "Yield to " sign. The rebuilt interchanges in my city are like this, and the coloured lane is a visual obstruction that forces drivers to take notice of any cyclists on it. I've both cycled on and driven across these lanes, and they work well, far better than the alternative. Also, bike lanes on 55 mph roads is fine if there are no alternative roads for cyclists to use. Often, this just means paving a wide shoulder and putting regular "" signs as reminders to drivers. Even if only a few people a day ride it. Edit: it looks like the commenting platform strips out the "U+1F6B2 BICYCLE" character, used twice above.

gbear605 8y ago

Single party nature of the state? The governor is Republican

wool_gather 8y ago
And has been for most of the last three or four decades.
dsfyu404ed 8y ago
Look at the 2016 election county map. MA is really thoroughly blue. Having a (relatively) politically homogeneous state minimizes the amount of people who find the actions of a powerful state government to be distasteful. Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_In_Name_Only https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_In_Name_Only