You may have heard about the recent expansion of Hubway bike sharing into Cambridge, Somerville and Brookline. They’ve also added more stations in Boston proper.
UPDATE with the return of students there are now two more stations in Dorchester – one at JFK/UMass station and the other at the UMass Boston campus. Excellent and let’s hope they keep on coming.
One of the new stations is actually in Dorchester, but just barely. It’s located right off Mass Ave. in the South Bay shopping center (right near the Stop & Shop). It’s nice to finally get a station in Dorchester but one station way up north is not going to cut it. I hope this one gets lots of use but I can see a couple of potential problems.
First, if you look at the Station Map you may notice that this station is a little isolated. The nearest stations are at the BU hospital North on Mass Ave. (where you need to cross the heinous Melnea Cass/Mass Ave. intersection) or at the intersection of Dudley and Warren streets in Roxbury. There are a couple more stations planned in Dorchester – one in Upham’s corner and another at the JFK T station (hopefully with a paired station at UMass Boston) but they are not there yet so there is a bit of a connectivity issue.
Second, there are no bike accommodations on the stretch of Mass Ave. from Melnea Cass to Edward Everett Square. The mayor and city get props for bike lanes along the length of Mass Ave. but the job is not done yet. Bike lanes and sharrows on the Dorchester section of Mass Ave. would make this first Dot Hubway location even better.
We’re glad that there is at least one Hubway station in Dorchester. We hope it gets used and we look forward to many more as the network continues it’s expansion.