New Commuter Rail Stop: West Station

Public transportation and bicycles go together like peanut butter and chocolate.  New stations help everyone ditch single occupancy car rides in favor of better more sustainable travel.

From MassBike:

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Governor Deval Patrick, MassDOT Secretary Richard Davey, and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh announced that West Station construction will be part of the Allston I-90 Interchange Improvement Project. This new Commuter Rail station in Allston will be partially funded by Harvard, which owns the surrounding land.

Also at the announcement were Senator William Brownsberger, sponsor of the recent bicycle-friendly Act to Protect Vulnerable Road Users and Act to Protect Bicyclists in Bicycle Lanes, and Representative Kevin Honan. Both spoke about the planned West Station.

If you’ve been following (and supporting!) the People’s Pike campaign, you’ll know that construction of this new Commuter Rail station was a topic of concern that many local groups, including MassBike, cited in the letter to Patricia Leavenworth of MassDOT.

MassBike’s David Watson, who attended the announcement, called the plan to build West Station an “important step forward for this project and the neighborhood.” Of course there is more work to be done. “Now,” Watson added, “we just need to ensure that the bicyclist and pedestrian aspects of the project will be top notch!”

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Pre-Boston Marathon Bike Ride

Found this through the FaceBook (thanks Xue for the tip!) Looks like fun.

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If you forgot to raise $3000 to run this year’s marathon, but remembered you still have your beloved bike, this ride is for you.

Come join my fellow biker friends and me for this glorious bike ride along the Boston Marathon Route the night before. This won’t be a race, but a slow-paced relaxing ride under the moonlight. We only encourage you to come if you want to have a good time. There’s been talk about a boom-box bike, and who knows, there might even be free coffee and doughnuts at the starting line depending on the turnout, so come with and tell your friends! All are welcome!

Details:
When: Sunday April 19th
Where:
-10:30pm: Meet us at South Station in the food court with your bike to buy tickets.
-11:00pm Catch commuter rail out to Southborough (we checked with MBTA, and bikes are allowed on the train) Fare is $6.75. I’d bring $10 just in case.
-12:01am Arrive at Boston Marathon Starting Line in Framingham,
-12:25ish: Begin our glorious bike ride into Boston
-2:25ish Arrive at Copley Square in Boston.

Even though we’ll be going slow, it’s still a two hour ride, so things you should bring:
-Your bike
-Commuter Rail Fare money ($6.75)
-At least one bottle of water
-gloves (it gets chilly at night)

And some other things you might want to consider bringing:
-Additional snacks and beverages
-spare tube and/or patch kit
-helmet/blinkies
-silly hats

For support, we will do our best to bring put together a First Aid Kit. And in case of flats, we will bring a pump and a patch kit, but I’m sure many of you will be able to help those who need it just in case.

Official Marathon Route:
http://www.bostonmarathon.org/images/BostonMarathon/CourseMap.gif
Map of the route we’ll be taking:
This ride will happen weather permitting, so we’ll be keeping posted on weather:

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