Before she finishes the final version of the map, most likely in the fall, says Freedman, "We're going to ride all of the roads ourselves. We'll get a team of riders to head out and talk about what our standards are for rating roads, so we'll all be on the same page."
Rating roads for safety standards was a primary concern for Chris Braiotta (an occasional Phoenix contributor), when he designed his Web site, TheRightRide, a year ago. Braiotta, who's biked in Boston for more than 10 years, was concerned after Gordon Riker and Kelly Wallace, both young Boston bikers, died tragically in fatal bicycle accidents within one month of each other in 2007. Spurred to action, he built a Web site packed with advice for biking in specific areas of Boston. He depends almost entirely on community input, combined with Google Maps. The site has been successful enough that bikers from Chicago and 10 other cities have contacted Braiotta and asked him to set up similar sites for their locales.
Any user of TheRightRide can post red darts on the map, as indicators of biking hazards, and make comments on the safest routes, as well as alternative roads to the busiest — and most obvious — ones. Additionally, users can rate each other's posts and comments. Under an entry posted in the BU area, a user writes, "Many pedestrians crossing the streets. They won't always obey the lights and may dart in front of you. Even if the pedestrians aren't following the rules, please don't blow through these red lights on your bike — the situation is bad enough as it is."
Another entry, on the topic of the BU Bridge (my personal arch nemesis), suggests, "Be assertive. Be visible. Take the lane. Going either direction on Comm Ave, use the 3rd lane from the left and hold a straight line." The rating system, says Braiotta, will help discard outdated or disadvantageous comments.
Bikely employs a similar concept, in that users can post suggested bike routes, and MapMyRide, an offshoot (based partly out of Boston) of the three-year-old MapMyRun Web site, has comparable goals, but with less emphasis on potholes and other city biking snafus, and more on high-tech ways to bike. Like MapMyRun, MapMyRide, which went online in 2007, allows users to map out bike routes, with indications of one-way roads and road elevation, and save them for future reference. A sidebar displays written directions for whichever route is mapped. Users can also download routes to GPS trackers. Additionally, there's a community section with lists of cycling groups and events, message boards for bike-related discussions, and an area to submit feedback.
"Our cycling users have requested the ability to track the mileage on their bike gear, so we have recently added a new Gear Tracker feature," says Gisela Boland, head of client services for the MapMy sites. "When a user enters their cycling activity for the day (e.g. a five-mile commute to work) via our Training Calendar, they can add that mileage to any bike gear they might be tracking. This includes shocks, bike tires, bike wheels, chains, etcetera."
The inception of these mapping programs lends a certain degree of hope and relief for Boston's weary bikers, but there's still a question of whether they're adequate to make biking in Boston — and elsewhere — a safer enterprise.
