Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Boston

Massachusetts Official: Boston’s Winter Cyclists “Living in the Wrong City”

Bostonians making polite requests for a clear path on one of the city's key bike routes were met with disdain from the state agency responsible for maintaining the paths.

Social media campaigns by Boston cyclists seized on some unfortunate remakrs by state officials to dramatize the plight of the city's winter cyclists. Image: Boston Cyclists Union
With a rapid-response social media campaign, Boston residents put a face on the purported ".05%" of cyclists who bike through the winter. Photo: Boston Cyclists Union
Social media campaigns by Boston cyclists seized on some unfortunate remakrs by state officials to dramatize the plight of the city's winter cyclists. Image: Boston Cyclists Union

Here's how one unnamed official from the Massachusetts' Department of Conservation and Recreation responded in an internal email thread to a message from a Boston resident asking for better snow removal on the Southwest Corridor, an important off-street bike path. The leaked email was published on the Boston site Universal Hub (emphasis ours):

Frankly, I am tired of our dedicated team wasting valuable time addressing the less than .05% of all cyclists who choose to bike after a snow/ice event… We should not spend time debating cyclists with poor judgement [sic] and unrealistic expectations, and stick with [the staffer]‘s recommendation that they find other transportation. If someone is completely depending on a bike for year-round transportation, they are living in the wrong city.

Bikes advocates in the Boston region didn't take those remarks lying down. The Boston Cyclists Union, working with Allston-Brighton Bikes and Southie Bikes, asked local cyclists to share photos of themselves on social media with the slogan "I am the .05%" to demonstrate their numbers and their normalcy. Local cyclists also took to tweeting under the hastag #winterbiker to explain why biking in cold weather months is their best option.

Those efforts appear to have found their target. The Boston Cyclists Union and MassBike are reporting today that DCR has agreed to meet with local cyclists to discuss their concerns regarding snow and ice clearance on bike paths.

And, for the record, cold weather cities that put real effort into making it safe to bike see little drop-off in cycling during the winter. Copenhagen, for instance, retains 80 percent of its peak-season bike traffic in the cold months.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Wednesday’s Headlines Wait With Bated Breath

Dear next president: Let's get rid of the highway trust fund and appoint an NHTSA head who's actually about safety.

November 6, 2024

Q&A: On the Front Lines of America’s ‘Long War to Take Back Streets’

Streetsblog chats with author Nicole Gelinas, whose new book, "Movement," is a deep dive into all the ways our cities have been destroyed by cars.

November 6, 2024

Presidential Elections Hinge on Gas Prices. Why Not on the High Cost of Car Dependency?

Policymakers must to prioritize making car-light living a real option through policies that encourage building more housing in multimodal communities and retrofitting unimodal neighborhoods around people outside cars.

November 6, 2024

What to Know About Chicago’s Bus and Bike Lane Enforcement Pilot

Plus the Active Transportation Alliance and Commuters Take Action weigh in on the long-delayed launch.

November 6, 2024

Tuesday’s Headlines Go to the Polls

Transit is on the ballot today in Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix, Atlanta, Nashville and elsewhere.

November 5, 2024
See all posts