Many good people have spent decades working to build a great place place on the waterfront across the Fort Port Channel from Downtown Boston and to make Boston a city that celebrates and embraces all modes of transportation, especially the sort that doesn’t emit greenhouse gas emissions.  That includes many past and present CLF staffers.

All those warriors for a better Boston should note that in the first weekend of operation of the new Hubway bicycle sharing program that the system map for the Hubway has shown the “station” in the Seaport has been in heavy use all day – with very few of the 15 bikes that were placed there at the launch of the program still in residence.

Sage advice from Freddie Mercury.

There may be days when the air quality in urban areas is bad, but the summer is still a great time to get outside and ride a bicycle; to work, to the store, or just for fun. Doing so will also help improve the air quality, assuming you are biking instead of driving a car, and if you can find a decent route you should breeze past the gridlock and thereby avoid sitting in the car traffic, inhaling the exhaust of the vehicles around you. It will only get more pleasant as the temperature begins to cool during the fall months, and if your employer is a member of a Transportation Management Association you could even win prizes for riding your bike to work!

Boston is making a big effort to improve the cycling infrastructure by adding many miles of on-road bike lanes and many new bike racks. This will all serve to make biking safer and more convenient. In addition, the City is poised to rollout a city-wide bike sharing program in the near future. Soon, even if you don’t commute to work from home on a bike, you will still be able to make trips during the day by bike, all over the city.

Parallel to these efforts, MassBike is conducting an online survey regarding the behavior of cyclists and drivers. The results will hopefully help to shed light on issues that result in reasonable frustration as well as misplaced anger. Anyone who rides a bike or drives a vehicle in Massachusetts should take the survey.

When you’re done with the survey, turn off the computer and get outside! This Friday, August 28th, is the final BikeFriday event of the summer. It’s time to stop procrastinating and start enjoying your commute.