Allston-Brighton Bike Parking Map

Zach’s RAX survey:

I covered most of A-B (as the map will show you) but not Allston north of the pike. Some observations:

1. More bike racks would be great in Allston Village (Harvard and Brighton). There are lots of people who ride there, and currently there are bikes attached to meters, trash cans, signs, etc for lack of racks.

2. More bike racks would be great in Union Square (Brighton and Cambridge). There’s a bunch of vegan/cycling friendly places there and my friends and I are there always with no where to park. TJ’s Pizza are big cycling promoters and they deserve a big rack outside!

3. Brighton Center could use more racks, especially on the south side of Washington.

4. Shaws on Comm Ave could always use another rack. It’s always full at rush hour and on weekdays

5. The absolute best kind of multiple bike racks (in terms of # of bikes and sheer good lockability) are the ones they have all over the MIT campus: the long big bar across the top with many little triangle hanging vertically from the big bar. That way any type of lock can fit the wheel AND frame. The best kind of single bike racks that I have found are the ones they have in Cambridge: poles with a vertical circle made of solid steel. They can even be combined with parking meters. The reason these racks are good is because the racks are skinny but very strong. That way any type of u-lock can fit around as many things on the bicycle as possible. The wide diameter racks are kind of pain to tell you the truth, and pretty inefficient. For whatever reason, these are all over Boston and they just don’t make sense in my opinion. Also, I have often seen racks installed by simple bolts without any sort of cement to “permanently” secure the rack to the ground. That doesn’t help much. We need racks that encourage people to lock their bikes appropriately. Ie, with as small a u-lock as possible that fits around wheels AND frame. Without the racks to encourage it, people are going to continue to use crappy cable locks or just put the u-lock around a wheel or a frame. Bike theft will continue to be a problem.

6. For kicks, I’ve often thought it would be really neat to get local artists and cyclists to collaborate on making beautiful sculptures that are nice public art AND extremely functional for bikes racks. Multiple use for public spaces! Just putting that out there.

Hope this helps. Thanks.

~ZSH

See Zach’s RAX map here.

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