In Cambridge, MA, USA, and nearby communities, bike advocates have made real progress with lanes and paths and general infrastructure. Also the city requires that new builds have a proper bike room. This building was recently gutted and fitted out and this is the bike room today - overloaded, and the building is barely half full… Looks like they will need to find more efficient bike racks!
Meanwhile in a recent commute I was in a queue of 30 bicycles at a light at which about 6-8 cars get through at a time. 10-15 years ago I was one of the few bikes on the roads at any time.
Hats off to the advocates and representatives of the local cities that have made this happen through continuous pressure and work over decades…
Boston metro has done a fantastic job with interconnected, separated bike paths. You can now ride from downtown Boston to, I am not making this up, Nutting Lake about 20 miles away all on a separated bike path. It’s really good progress, especially compared to when I first started riding in the city 15 years ago.
Yeah, I’ve watched similar timelines. Used to be honked and punishment-passed even when drivers didn’t have to cross the center line to get past. They just hated that I existed on the roads, and I saw a couple of other bike commuters each day. Now I am actually facing bicycle congestion in Cambridge.
I had an irrationally angry driver a few weeks ago shouting at me and someone else just for existing, on their way to a visible traffic queue literally 100yds up ahead. But that interaction stood out because it’s now rare. I don’t remember the last time that happened. It used to be common.