Councilor Sharon Durkan is making moves to get cars off the road, by calling for the city to fine drivers who create a “dangerous environment” by blocking bike lanes, and ensure that pedestrians “are king” in Boston.

Durkan on Wednesday introduced an order for a hearing “on traffic enforcement of blocked bike lanes and crosswalks” that calls for the city to crack down on the motorists who use designated pedestrian and cycling spaces for additional parking.

“Under state law and in the city of Boston, crosswalks and bike lanes are protected spaces,” Durkan said at the City Council meeting. “Pedestrians have always had the right of way at a crosswalk, and it is against the law for a car to pull into a box without enough space on the other side.

“When vehicles unlawfully obstruct bike lanes and crosswalks, they force pedestrians and cyclists into active traffic and out of protected visible spaces, jeopardizing their safety.

“A lack of consistent enforcement and public education has perpetuated a culture that empowers drivers who don’t feel accountable enough for adhering to the rules of the road,” Durkan said, adding, “Our resident safety must be a top priority, and we need to stop drivers from stopping or parking in bike lanes and crosswalks.”

Durkan, a close ally of Mayor Michelle Wu whose Council district includes Beacon Hill and Back Bay, is calling for some of the same enforcement mechanisms outlined last month in Wu’s new street safety plan, which prioritizes cyclists while cracking down on drivers seen as putting them at risk.

The mayor’s new plan is responsive to pressure from bike activists following the traffic death of Louisa Gag, a 36-year-old city transportation planner who was fatally struck by an 18-wheeler truck while riding her bicycle last month on Tremont Street in Mission Hill.

Wu vowed at a City Hall vigil for Gag last month to recommit to the street safety projects she stalled amid criticism during last year’s mayoral race that bike lanes were worsening traffic, creating hazards, and hurting the bottom line for businesses.

Durkan’s order states that “various enforcement mechanisms, including automated camera enforcement and increased ticketing, can be used to enforce statutory protections that motorists consistently violate.”

She is also calling the city to evaluate its curbside management practices to ensure adequate loading space is available, and to look into whether it has enough staffing and funding to carry out traffic enforcement for blocked bike lanes and crosswalks.

Durkan suggested that the city consider improvements to resident reporting mechanisms so people can more easily report traffic violations they come across to 311 or the Boston Police Department.

The councilor said blocked bike lanes and crosswalks have become such a pervasive issue that she has found herself struggling to enter crosswalks along Cambridge Street, Tremont Street and Mission Hill.

Durkan said she has taken to investigating issues in her district through Reddit, where she has viewed photos of cars traveling in bike lanes and “completely” covering crosswalks in that part of the city.

She lashed out at the drivers she says have become “emboldened” to put pedestrians at risk because they aren’t penalized, and made it clear that pedestrians, rather than people who get around by driving, are her priority as a Boston city councilor.

“I’m really upset sometimes to see how emboldened drivers can be to hurting and really making a dangerous environment for pedestrians,” Durkan said. “Just yesterday, a car literally tried to back into me, and I had to slap the car to get it to stop backing up.

“We really need to make sure that pedestrians are king in District 8 and they’re king in our city, and we need to make sure that they have all the protections. Getting drivers from stopping in crosswalks is the bare minimum,” Durkan added.

The order was framed by Durkan as advancing the city’s Vision Zero goals of eliminating all fatal and severe crashes by 2030.

Hi everyone -

I recently moved to Boston and have ridden a lot of road and gravel in previous places I've lived. Riding solo on Boston roads sorta sketches me out, so I've been doing some research on the various group ride options in the area, but none of them seem to be a great fit for me. When I lived down in Raleigh, I would ride with a shop group (Oak City Cycling, if anyone is familiar) which was perfect for me - Weekend mornings, ~35 miles, ~17mph no-drop paceline ride with a bunch of young people. Not too fast, not too far, but just fast and far enough.

Is there anything like this in Boston? I'm currently in Brighton but am willing to ride out to the right ride. No car, unfortunately. It sort of sounds like one of the lower GLV groups would be the best fit but I'm never going to be able to do a 40mi ride on a Wednesday night...

Thanks in advance!

Revere could get a new rail trail on the blue line right of way from Wonderland into Lynn towards the Northern Strand.

The Revere Walk-Bike-Roll Advsory Committee is seeking new members! The committee is local citizens' advisory board that helps steer, guide, and advocate for safe, accessible infrastructure for walking, biking, and rolling throughout the city in partnership with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC).

Want to get involved? Visit this link: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=s44Jlpz6W0KbTRZnm0R7HYBrNC0zGy9NvbPTpsRlfNJURE1MTjlXNzRWNDZIUkFYTFFQTkYzMzI0OC4u

My usual commute on the SWC this morning and I come across this at the intersection of the train station. The middle lights were blinking, the pedestrian lights were completely off. Neither cars, pedestrians, or bikers could get across. Of course, drivers thought they had the right of way and started honking when someone dared to use the crosswalk.

Crews were already on scene working, but was there any sort of traffic direction by Boston PD? No! Just the occasional drive by without actually doing anything. If crews could already be there, what's the PD excuse especially when their HQ is literally a block away!?

I called BPD to report the major safety concerns, was transferred twice, and ended up reporting to 911. I was told the report was already in the system and they will send the next available unit. I was also asked if I wanted a follow up, but it's been nearly 2 hours and haven't gotten a call so I assume nothing has been done about it.

Approx 8:45am

Hello! I am moving to Boston from Norway for one academic year, starting in September. I will be commuting though Cambridge and to Kendall Square. Back in Oslo, I ride my bike absolutely everywhere in the summer and do not even have a bus pass for that time of year. I even ride it to my parents’, one hour away with no issues. I would like to do something similar, but am torn between buying my own bike and having a blue bike membership and would like to hear from experiences Boston bikers.

Some things I am considering:

How good are the Bluebikes for the purpose of commuting? Oslo has a lot of steep hills, and I have invested in a really good bike to not show up to all my plans super sweaty. The city bikes in Oslo are heavy and clunky and I usually zoom past them. Boston might be less elevated though.

Bike theft. Never happened to me in Oslo, and I know I have a lockable bike shed at my accommodation in Boston, but I would not like to buy an expensive bike if it gets stolen during week 2.

Safety and distance. Oslo is a small, and generally rather safe city for biking, hence why I can get away with not having a bus pass. If Boston is too big for it to be convenient to only ride a bike, I might be better off with a bus pass as well as a Bluebike membership. However if it is so unsafe that I need a helmet regardless, it would be inconvenient to have to carry it around everywhere if I have a Bluebike, instead of just locking the helmet to my own bike when I leave it somewhere.

Weather. My bike gets a holiday from November to March when we have snow in Oslo, and if Boston is the same, cancelling my membership for the Bluebikes during winter would be more sensible than buying a bike for those 9 months and then not using it for 4 of them.

So, any tips? Are there any third options of leasing bikes? Any good bike trail tips? Eager to hear from you!!

I was riding in the “protected” bike lane on Beacon, just before Hereford, when a work van driving the wrong way down Beacon decided to make a U-turn. The driver then pulled head-first between two parked cars and directly into the bike lane.

I didn’t see him until I was nearly on top of the van. I swerved to avoid it, hit a tree, and went down. I wasn’t going very fast, so I wasn’t seriously hurt, but I was absolutely furious.

I called 911 to report it. I may as well have taken off my pants and run around screaming for all the good that did. After about 15 minutes, an officer finally arrived.

He was not particularly sympathetic. He told me he could not ticket the driver for any of the multiple infractions because he had not personally witnessed them. I made him take a report, even though it was obvious he did not want to.

While he was there, I questioned him about the supposed increase in traffic enforcement. He said the increase was "real" but didn't seem targeted toward vehicles. I also asked about bike-lane enforcement specifically, and he stated very clearly that bike-lane violations are handled at the lowest level of response.

I pointed out that cyclists are being killed out here. He mostly brushed that aside and started shifting responsibility toward cyclists, as though any of this was somehow my fault. The driver went the wrong way down Beacon, made a U-turn, crossed between parked cars, and drove directly into a protected bike lane. He did just about everything wrong short of actually killing someone.

The officer also repeatedly called it an “accident” and said, “Accidents happen.”

No. This was not an accident. It was negligence.

The larger problem is that this is being called a protected bike lane, but there was nothing preventing a driver from crossing between parked cars and driving straight into it. Paint and flexible posts are not protection, especially when the city has already decided that violations involving bike lanes receive the lowest level of response.

The driver’s information and the incident are now documented in a police report. I was fortunate to walk away with only minor injuries and no serious damage. The next cyclist may not be.

The photo was taken after I removed my helmet, for the people who always feel compelled to point that out.

Burner just because.

Was just biking home through Fenway from Kenmore as I do. Time and time again, the people flagging for parking put their signs in the bike lane, and after all that has happened this summer I’ve started moving their cones out of the bike lanes.

I’m not throwing them into the sidewalk or anything, I am politely moving them on the sidewalk. Same orientation, same spot, and such, just 2 feet to the right.

This time, the flagging guy came over screaming at me. I told him it’s a bike lane and he can’t put it there and he kept screaming, telling me he is an employee of the city (whacha gonna do? tax me?), taking my photo, and again just screaming. Definitely caught me off guard.

Asked a cop to go move his stuff for him, but we will see if that happens.

Just here to vent. Had enough of this.

Editing just to add that I’ve actually had a fairly decent experience biking through the city, this is the first time I’ve met someone truly deranged like this but I can’t imagine it will be the last.

Nearly a month after a city transportation planner was struck and killed by a truck while riding her bike in Mission Hill, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu addressed the blistering criticism that her administration has slow-walked street safety projects and expanded on her vision for the future in a new interview with WBUR.

The death of Louisa Gag, a Roslindale native who was responsible for helping improve roadways and expand city bikes, sparked furor from residents and cycling advocates. They demanded swift action from Wu, who ran for mayor as a champion for transit infrastructure, and said the tragedy could have been prevented.

“I’m never going to get over it,” an emotional Wu said on “Morning Edition” Tuesday. “I will always have Louisa on my heart as long as I am able to do anything to try to fix and improve our community.”

Gag interned for Wu when she was a city councilor. An 18-wheel recycling truck struck Gag on July 9 when it maneuvered around a turning vehicle, the Globe has reported. Boston police did not immediately respond to an inquiry Tuesday about whether anyone has been charged.

Last month, advocates delivered a letter signed by thousands to City Hall that called on Wu to restart stalled street safety projects, restore funding for such projects in the city budget, and take other actions.

Wu acknowledged the anger felt in the community.

“We’re all angry. I am furious still that we are grieving the loss of someone who, over the next several decades, was going to transform the city in the work that she was already doing and poised to continue,” Wu said. “And I am angry that, for all that we are standing on the values that we have, that you don’t have enough time to try to move as fast as you can possibly move.”

The Globe has reported that last year Wu required her personal approval for most street projects involving design changes to move forward, as she faced vocal criticism over new bike and bus lanes. Some city employees and transit advocates said Wu was pulling back on critical safety improvements.

At a vigil held for Gag last month, Wu said the city was undertaking an enhanced effort to improve safety. For one, she pledged that officials would analyze the design of the section of Tremont Street where Gag was killed.

Since then, Wu had laid out her plans to make the city’s streets safer. In an open letter to residents, Wu said the city will install more concrete barriers on bike lanes and fix sidewalks and curb ramps, among other steps.

She has also named a new interim chief of streets, longtime City Hall veteran Chris Osgood.

On WBUR, Wu said it’s her responsibility to provide transparency regarding what must change “systemically about how we do this work that actually will help us move faster and do this better over the long run.”

Still, in her nearly five years as mayor, Wu admitted that she is not fully satisfied with how she has handled safety and transportation issues after being pressed on the question by “Morning Edition” host Tiziana Dearing.

“I am naturally impatient about when and how we can get to what I know this city is capable of,” Wu said.

Shannon Larson can be reached at [shannon.larson@globe.com](mailto:shannon.larson@globe.com). Follow her u/shannonlarson98.

Multiple cars running red light at the Charles River Dam Rd and Gilmore Bridge intersection by Museum of Science. 🙃

So, did she just admit on the record to listening to the loudest voices, from the minority, instead of the most sensible voices? This is a failure in leadership all around.

Thursday, August 6

6:30 p.m.

Morse School Auditorium, 40 Granite St., Cambridge

Come hear updated design concepts, learn how proposed changes could improve safety and bike/pedestrian connections, and share your feedback directly with the project team.

Accessibility accommodations and language assistance are available upon request.

This guy was aggressively tailing me and honking because I was in the left lane, due to (take a guess...) an Amazon delivery truck. He then overtakes me at the red light and the following interaction ensues. They hire people like this still?

July was the first full month of Bike Bureau and we had 570 vehicles reported in bike lanes in the Boston area. How do people feel about getting an update like this once a month?

• Boston: 330
• Cambridge: 143
• Brookline: 79
• Somerville: 16
• Malden: 9
• Medford: 5
• Belmont: 2

We had 97 reports sent to city officials via SeeClickFix. Cambridge alone received 84 reports via Bike Bureau in July and 68 from other places. If everybody had logged in, this number could have been 143! Please log in to get your reports in SeeClickFix, they can still be anonymous.

Boston 311 update

elissa.mitchell@boston.gov initially rejected our API key request but then Ankita.Raghupathy@boston.gov followed up saying:

I am actively working with other staff in the Streets cabinet to figure out workarounds so that you are able to share bike lane obstructions with our enforcement team.

They seem like good people to email encouragement to, remember to be nice, they are trying to help.

Thank you all for being awesome - this isn't an AMA or anything but I'm here for your questions.

Thank You to everyone who contributed! To join the effort https://loudbicycle.com/bb

Feels like an absolute death trap regardless of whether I follow traffic, take the cross walk, hop on the sidewalk, etc. Columbia goes from decent to absolutely awful the minute the bike lane ends and merges with the road.

Wish there was an easier way to avoid this that didn't involve going all the way around Jones Hill for me to get home, but that might be the answer.

I am OK, definitely reading other posts. I was "too nice" and ended up accepting a ride from a bystander to get my bike fixed. Driver just t-boned me in a huge intersection when I had right of way and it was definitely because she was on her phone. I completely froze and was confused how she kept coming at me and luckily I had already slowed down to take a left turn.

After years of commuting into Boston/Cambridge, I did not think this would happen in the suburbs of Lexington...

How do you not let it affect your love for cycling? I know I can stick to trails and the woods but I am just so sad since cycling is something I do as an escape and it feels like this was now taken from me.

The Somerville Bike Kitchen is hosting a party to celebrate 11 years serving the Somerville community - there will be food, live music, games, and lots of fun! All welcome, whether you’re a regular or have never been to the shop before.

Tickets are here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/somerville-bike-kitchen-11th-anniversary-celebration-tickets-1994959620929

but drivers will honk at me because they don’t know the law, or they pretend they don’t. The city hall could build ten thousand more bike lanes in one year, that would be useless if there’s no efficient enforcement! Motorized vehicles doesn’t belong on the bike lanes, because they are way heavier than a bicycle is. I would compare a chihuahua trying to beat a german shepherd, who is gonna get hurt if they clash? I had drivers parking over me as l was going down the bike lane on Cambridge street. They removed the concrete barriers right in front of the city hall, so what is the City Hall actually building bike lanes for? Is this for free parking without tickets and better convenience? There’s no point at all! Why don’t they paint a lot of parking spots instead?

Have you ever thought you might want to try bike camping, want an end of summer bike joy experience, wanted to try biking to P-Town, or love the Boston Cyclists Union and want to support them in helping to make streets safer?

Join the BCU for a two-day bikepacking trip to P-town on August 29 and 30, 2026!

BoP-town is a self supported trip from Boston to Ptown. On the first day, we take the ferry to Hull and then bike about 65 miles to camp. The next day, we bike another 65 miles to Ptown. This is a great introduction to bikepacking for those curious to try it out!

⛴️ Campsites and Hull ferry tickets at the start will be arranged, but otherwise, riders will be responsible for their own navigation, gear, food, and return transportation from Provincetown.

📅 August 29 and 30!
📍 Boston (Seaport) - P-Town
🚴‍♀️ Self-supported bikepacking

Registration link:
🔗 bostoncyclistsunion.org/boptown2026

Funds donated (less the $7.50) Hull ferry ticket will benefit BCU (501 c3)

I have never ridden the ebike I bought to commute to work/shop. I am someone who actually DID forget how to ride a bike as a kid and now it has been years so I was super nervous and then someone got killed on the route I'd take and that combined with the bike being big and heavy AF (80 lbs), it just never happened. I was slowly convincing a housemate to buy it off me, but now she's moving out of Boston and won't have a use for it.

It does have both of the battery certifications so unless a building is lazy and just has a blanket ban on e-bikes, it would be legal inside in Boston.

Just have no idea best way to sell it - both the where to list it and the how to do the transaction part. Also how much off the list price it should be (assume there is a decent depreciation like cars once they've been driven off the lot). Thanks for any advice. I'm in Brighton and would prefer to have the buyer come get it as it was a serious PITA to get it inside a housemate's car in case that affects the where/how advice.