Boston’s bicyclists - activism on two wheels

By Ella Hamilton

Cyclists in the cities of Boston and Cambridge are using not only their voices, but their bikes, as catalysts of social change to promote causes ranging from racial mobility to individual freedoms, while also fighting for their own safety.

“We change the roads by riding them. These roads belong to all of us. And courage is contagious,” said Reverend Laura Everett, biking advocate, and author of “Holy Spokes: The Search for Urban Spirituality on Two Wheels.” “So when I take up space, that makes the space safer for other people. When I ride with other people, we take up more space together.”

For Everett, biking is not just about fitness and transportation. She uses her bike as a vehicle for promoting cyclist support in cities because through 15 years of biking through the city of Boston she has been struck by the inequality of bicycle accessibility and safety.

Alongside Everett in this movement is the Boston Cyclists Union, a non-profit organization that works to transform the streets of the city to into “equitable and inviting people-centered spaces.” Part of what the union is committed to is assembling support for neighborhoods that have neglected bike infrastructure.

“We’re really working to support people in those neighborhoods who bike and make sure they have access to safe and equitable transportation systems,” said Alex Shames, community organizer for Boston Cyclists Union and grassroots activist.

Neighborhoods like Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park and East Boston are central to the organization’s focus, and where projects like implementing protected bike lanes have been fought for. The union is advocating for these neighborhoods to have better bike infrastructure for its citizens to have an alternative to the public transit system, which has failed them.

But the organization has not only advocated for physical ridership in Boston. For years, the Boston Cyclists Union has contributed to expanding diversity in the cycling community, making it a safe space for all who wish to participate.

“...the Boston Cyclists Union has done incredible work… in intentionally diversifying, sort of who counts as a cyclist in the city and outreach and intentional community building,” said Everett.

But the work in diversifying the cycling community continues beyond what has been achieved by the Boston Cyclists Union, and the organization Bikes Not Bombs is actively contributing to using bikes to mobilize racial equity.

“Many people think cycling is a white people thing, and amongst poorer and POC communities, even if they do cycle, they don't consider themselves to be a cyclist,” said Montell Khaldi, Bikes Not Bombs youth organizer for mobility justice.

Bikes Not Bombs, an organization led by Black and marginalized people, uses bicycles as a power in mobilizing social change, particularly in changing the climate around people of color in the cycling community.

Although the cycling community itself has seen changes and struggles, most of its members stand united on the call for transformative change in city action to protect them and ensure their visibility as people of the city, as opposed to the way cities often favor motorized vehicles.

The United States is heavily dependent on cars, and “we have an infrastructure, and we have mindsets that are really organized around the automobile,” said Ralph Buehler, program chair and professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech. “And that has been going on for a long time. And it's very hard to make changes to that mindset.”

This issue creates a paradox, according to Buehler, in which more cyclists are needed to make political change for better bike infrastructure, but better bike infrastructure is needed for more people to become cyclists.

Rallying support for the cause of changing Boston’s streets to focus on humans rather than cars has made its way through social media platforms like Twitter, gaining a following of people who are beginning to see why there is a need for change in the first place.

“I just kept following people who are thinking about buses and bicycle lanes and the damage that our very car-centric policymaking does. The more you get into it, the more you realize things, like how there are all these parking spaces everywhere,” said Ellery Klein, a mother and biker. “And all of these spaces are doing absolutely nothing, generating no economic activity, benefitting nobody. And when the car gets into the spot, all it’s done is pollute and create danger for people walking around.”

The city of Cambridge has moved forward with prioritizing bikers in the community by passing the Cycling Safety Ordinance, which requires bike lanes to be constructed on all street reconstruction projects. While in Boston, there is still a need for meetings and public input for the city to even consider putting a bike lane on a street, according to Shames.

“Cambridge has been so transformative, seeing protected bike lanes going in…it's just been really gratifying to see that. And then also people using it more because of that,” said Christopher Cassa, Assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and volunteer with Cambridge Bicycle Safety. “Like every time a new bike lane goes in, you know, hundreds of new people get to use the bike lane and they discover the activity.”

Historically bicycles have been machines of social change for different reasons, but cyclists today continue to use their power of community to make a difference in their individual causes.

As a proclaimed cycling advocate, Everett finds joy in the societal changes that have been made possible by her community.

“Whoever says about their commute. 'God, I really loved sitting in traffic today,'” said Everett. “But I get to say that it's better for the Earth. It's better for my body. It's better for my community. But the truth is riding a bike is a hell of a lot more fun than sitting on the orange line or sitting in traffic.”