Business case study: Slow Times at Fast Phil’s after North Cambridge bike and bus lanes go in
Cynthia Hughes and Philip Soccorso are co-owners of Fast Phil’s barbershop in North Cambridge. They removed their masks while this photo was taken. (Photo: Andy Zucker)
Cynthia (Cindy) Hughes and Philip Soccorso, friends for decades and experienced barbers, founded Fast Phil’s in North Cambridge in 2004. Business was excellent before the pandemic. They provided dozens of haircuts every day, and customers sometimes needed to take a ticket to wait their turn. Now, because of bike and bus lanes installed on Massachusetts Avenue in November, Hughes said she spends the day answering the telephone and trying to explain to people where to park, “which is nowhere.”
During the pandemic, these co-owners, like many others, were scared about the future of their business and accommodated customers as best they could. Hughes even brought her equipment to a local park occasionally to serve longtime customers. “We were so careful about the virus,” she said, “because we needed the business, and we didn’t want people to be afraid of us.” She spoke Dec. 15, just before the Covid omicron variant bloomed into ubiquity.
Once vaccinations became available, business picked up. “And then, boom, just like that” – Hughes snapped her fingers – “the city took it from us overnight with the parking.”
At least 70 spaces were removed. Forty of them were metered, said Andreas Wolfe, the city’s manager for the project. Seventeen total side-street spaces were repurposed, 15 of them with meters, while a pair of spaces on Gold Star Road became a loading zone.
“I just turned around”
A customer entering the shop asked about parking at a meter around the corner, one of the few nearby. Hughes advised him that even those two spaces were unavailable because it was street cleaning day, and suggested he park directly in front of Fast Phil’s driveway on Massachusetts Avenue.
“This is worse than the pandemic,” she said. “This will put us out of business for sure.” There are dedicated bike lanes and bus lanes on each side of Massachusetts Avenue between Dudley Street and Alewife Brook Parkway. Along that stretch there are a few spaces for people with physical disabilities and several loading zones on the southbound side of the street. Neither offer a parking solution for most customers at Fast Phil’s or other businesses.
Fast Phil’s surveyed its customers and found that 75 percent drive to the shop, some from as far away as Cape Cod and New Hampshire, Hughes said.
Having a single lane for traffic in each direction has also caused traffic problems. As one longtime customer left Fast Phil’s, he said he had tried to come the day before but when he was just two blocks away, “there was so much traffic I just turned around and went home.”
Frustration with city government
Hughes said she has communicated with city officials but found the experience frustrating. Years ago she asked that a bicycle rack be installed nearby so Fast Phil’s customers who ride could more easily come and go; her request was denied, she said. Nor was Fast Phil’s given warning of November’s parking changes, she said.
Wolfe suggested to Hughes that Fast Phil’s customers could park at Alewife Station. Parking there costs more than metered spaces, and it would take almost 20 minutes to walk to the shop. Another suggestion was that their customers park in Arlington and walk the rest of the way, Hughes said.
Hughes provided comment at a City Council meeting Dec. 6 about “the economic impact on our business that took us 18 years to build and to tell you that we need help now to mitigate our business losses.”
She endorsed a City Council order that the city manager “conduct a study to collect relevant economic data relating to the business impacts from the bike lane installations, which will help inform future installations of bike lanes in commercial corridors.” The study should have been done before the project started, she said in an interview at Fast Phil’s, but she hasn’t received a commitment from the city that one will be conducted. Asked about actions by the City Council, Hughes said, “They just listen.” Although a few are sympathetic, “no one has said they would do anything.”
Other businesses affected
The manager at City Paint, open 40 years, also said business has been hurt significantly by the lack of parking. Commercial vehicles used to arrive early to pick up paint for jobs that day. Now, the store is not crowded early in the morning, and commercial operators are afraid to come later, too, because Cambridge police may ticket them or chase them away, Thimi Luarasi said. City Paint’s own drivers and vehicles have also been affected.
Luarasi suggested Cambridge consider alternate traffic designs such as what he sees a few blocks away in Arlington: a combination lane approaching Alewife that is dedicated to buses only during the morning rush hour. Originally Cambridge planned only a single dedicated bus lane.
Before parking became such a problem, Fast Phil’s signed a new long-term lease. “Our landlord is awesome,” Hughes said, and Fast Phil’s doesn’t want to move. “I’m too old to start over, and we don’t want to pay triple the rent somewhere else.” She and Soccorso believe the current situation is untenable, though. “We’re going to get killed with this,” she said.
Andy Zucker is a North Cambridge resident who has expressed an opinion around bike lanes during public comment to the City Council. This post was updated Dec. 24, 2021, to correct that rather than asking directly that the city manager “conduct a study to collect relevant economic data relating to the business impacts from the bike lane installations, which will help inform future installations of bike lanes in commercial corridors,” the business owner endorsed a City Council order asking it.
A) this article provides no data on the amount of business lost. 10%? 50%? 100%? 0%?
B) who the hell drives 2 hours for a 15 dollar haircut?
We have been customers of Fast Phil’s for over 10 years. We come from Arlington. We also shop along Mass Ave, use a dentist on Mass Ave and see a doctor all within Cambridge. Parking is now more difficult for anyone not a resident. It’s almost like the city doesn’t want my money.
“Nor was Fast Phil’s given warning of November’s parking changes, she said.”
That’s funny, they were speaking out against these changes before they were made, so they must have been informed. I also recall them speaking at one of the city meetings about the project.
Bono wonders what sort of moral widget reads an article like this one and jumps to demand more “data”? (As if that would matter to these cretins… [i.e., “Hi, Joe, how’s business??” Not so good, Sandy. Business is really down, a lot. “Well, Joe, where’s the data?”] All the “data” in the world won’t tell you what bicyclists were doing when they were killed riding their bikes in Cambridge in wanton violation of traffic laws and common sense safety precautions. Why did bike fanatics try desperately to suppress the video of Amanda Phillips pulled from the drug store in Inman Square which showed her cutting through Vellucci Park and coming off the sidewalk behind a parked car, in front of a bus? Why did the “bike Nazis” immediately attack the State Police accident report on the fatality in Porter Square the second it was released when it didn’t say exactly what they wanted to hear?? How does “data” explain the death of the student racing to beat an 18-wheeler making a right turn at Vassar Street (turning first left to turn right) near MIT, and ending up squnched under the cab?? Data: “Three bicyclists killed.” Facts: Three people were doing very stupid, and in at least two cases, blatantly unlawful (not to mention, extremely dangerous) things. Bono’s conclusion? Relying on “data” – absent any real understanding – will get you killed. How about a little COMMON SENSE and DECENCY? (Is there any data for that??)
It is all about accountability and transparency. The Traffic, Parking and Transportation department said many times that they have consulted local businesses but there is no documentation of such consultations and steps they have taken to mitigate their concerns.
Had TP&T conducted a community meeting and presented their engineering contractor’s concept design which was a required contract deliverable (how many of you even knew that the plan was developed by outside contractor and not by TP&T? And how many of you even looked at the contractor’s roll plan that called for metered parking along southbound Mass Ave?), we could have avoided all these controversy of the implemented separated bicycle lane measures.
The legislation that made this lane possible was pushed through March 16 2020 the day before lockdown and the policy order from which this was all prompted was from 2015 so it’s natural for folks to think that no notice was given. Fast Phil’s is not only a great cheap haircut it’s also one of the best if not the best barbershop for children. Cynthia handled my son like a champ through blood curdling screams and craziness. I am not sure what data is out there on bus usage but it seems extreme to me to give the lane to buses when in the course of an hour I didn’t notice one pass by. Further there is a 2.6’ median that’s eats up significant road that might be used to create a bike lane and keep a good portion of the parking. This is a really dumb fight, even for Cambridge, when the solution is in outreach and better (any) design.
Kinkemam, reading comprehension skills are important. Speaking out on a potential change is quite different from receiving notification from the city about when and how exactly the changes will take place.
Handicapped? Poor access to public transportation? Just have too many errands to run to make a bike practical?
Too bad! Cambridge doesn’t need your money now that it has pot shops galore. Ponies for everyone!
Yes actually business is booming along mass Ave in n Cambridge! All the business owners are killing it.
It’s super easy to get there and park lol.
WTH just admit it’s messed uo. Never seen such chaos by the city so quickly. Sad times
@Bono I guess we can just say whatever we want now.
My business is doing great on Mass Ave. I’ve never had more customers.
@PRC maybe if people could learn to drive, follow basic traffic laws, and not drive like a**holes, maybe there wouldn’t be “chaos.”
I get my hair cut at Fast Phil’s, so I’m not totally objective. But even trying to look at it from the other perspective I don’t see how eliminating parking to install a bike lane next to a bike path is a fair or proportionate use of space.
Yes, bikes need safe travel along Mass Ave — and they’ve got it on the Minuteman and Linear Park paths from Lexington to Somerville. In fact, to follow Andreas Wolfe’s recommendation, someone who drove to Alewife and parked there to visit Mass Ave would be walking back ON A BIKE PATH.
I’m fine with the bus lanes, BTW. They’re a godsend for commuters from every walk of life in huge numbers. But at most the bike lane should have been made a part of that bus lane. The number of people who use them is negligible compared to car/bus users, and they’re almost all young, fit, affluent people who could just as easily take a bus in the way a parent or caregiver or laborer can’t take a bike.
I used to patronize the restaurants in the ruined area and have a handicapped placard. Handicapped parking is limited to sidestreets making midblock businesses not so accessible. Poor residents lost scores of parking spots to metered parking. Bicycling is the least popular travel mode, so makes more sense to combine with the bus lane as done elsewhere. With no cyclist deaths on that stretch, the only reason for the protected lane is political ideology, not safety. Data on business harm will be available soon enough with decreased meals tax collections, but the Cambridge communists still won’t care. Places are not walkable and bikable when places to go close, leaving no place to bike or walk to.
@Poor Bono Publico, Some other facts on the cyclist killed on Vassar St. in the left turn lane by the tanker-trailer truck turning right from Mass. Ave WB to Vassar NB. Both roads are designated truck routes, but MIT and the City of Cambridge thought it would be a brilliant idea to narrow the intersection with bump outs so trucks had to cross other lanes to make the turn from one truck route to the other. MIT transportation activists wanted to shorten the roadway distance pedestrians had to cross, but instead killed a cyclist. The crash occurred on a dark, rainy night in January and the cyclist was wearing all dark clothing without a legally required headlight. I don’t recall in the report if the cyclist was said to be rushing. I assume he was waiting at his red light.
Bono appreciates MarkK’s evident interest in a thoughtful and serious analysis of the unfortunate mishap at Mass Ave and Vassar in 2011. Robert Winters, an MIT grad who evidently also blogs about these matters, had an extensive series of posts with images and links about this terrible accident. I’m not sure the information there – including official accident reports (which are also critiqued in this instance) – tell us very much. But I believe it’s fair to say that riding carefully and cautiously is essential to survival – just as it is for driving and walking – regardless of how perfect or imperfect any “safety” infrastructure supposedly may be. There is certainly “safer infrastructure,” but we are also all ultimately responsible for our own and others’ safety to the best of our ability. Reckless operator behavior should not be tolerated on dangerous streets, period. Robert Winters: http://cambridgecivic.com/?p=1933
Bono wishes to add that the accident was in December, not January. The State Police Accident Report indicates that bicycle speed may indeed have been a factor, along with some darkness (8 p.m., but relatively well lit) and a wet roadway surface, due to rain. The gears were found in a high speed condition. The report does, however, end with this (admittedly possibly flawed) conclusion: “21. Roadway design and engineering did not precipitate or contribute to this collision.” I’m afraid I have to believe the young cyclist was racing to try and beat a turning 18-wheel tractor-trailer. Safer infrastructure can surely help. But bicyclists need to RIDE safely, too, for themselves, and for all the rest of us, also.
A major part of my inclination to support those who are raising questions about the alterations t0 Mass. Ave. between Dudley and Alewife is my own observation that cyclists tend not to obey traffic laws. They speed through red lights, ride on sidewalks, and cycle in the roadway even when there’s a bike lane. (One cyclist informed that it’s fine to ride on sidewalks when there’s NO bike lane!) Furthermore, my wife was recently run over by a cyclist three blocks south of the area in question when she was crossing in a crosswalk marked by flashing orange lights. The cyclist was unable to see her crossing because of a van which had stopped in a traffic lane–but the cyclist should have slowed down in this case. A police officer came to the scene and concluded “it’s only an accident,” as though that excused the cyclist’s actions. Until the City accepts the need to license adult cyclists, require insurance and cites illegal behavior, I will have little sympathy for cyclists and Cambridge’s rush to please them. That small businesses are suffering is just a common-sense conclusion.
@Poor Bono Publico When sundown is at 4:30 PM, there are clouds, and no full moon, it is dark. Another factor was the blindingly bright light from the ATM kiosk near the line of sight of the driver to the cyclist. Banks (and cell stores) sneak around zoning regulations on lighting by having big windows and the bright unregulated advertising inside plus dimmer regulated outside signage. I still can’t get past the stupidity of shrinking corners on designated truck routes. Arlington did the same and trucks kept taking out sign posts while traversing the corner.
@Poor Bono Publico The state police wrote infrastructure played no part because they didn’t want Cambridge/MIT to be sued and styme the bump out fad, which has little data showing effectiveness. Cambridge has spent millions and millions of dollars to remove roadway infrastructure since the 1970s when converting road to sidewalk in Harvard Sq., then Central Sq., Western Ave., Memorial Drive, and so on. The 1972 bike boom had ended and they had no thought of bike lanes or road space needed for safe biking. Bump outs are mostly to sustain civil engineering companies where roads and capacity are only diminished and never expanded, as in Cambridge, Boston, Arlington, DCR, etc. Sadly, every time Cambridge gets some infrastructure money for roads, they use it to remove capacity. Gone is space to go around left turning vehicles. Road rage inducing features are given the Orwellian name “traffic calming”. 12% of Biden’s infrastructure bill is for roads and bridges and I pray that it is used to increase capacity and reduce congestion and CO2 production by vehicles stuck in traffic, as in North Cambridge. One last thing, the wide raised median on Mass Ave. saves lives. Data shows a 50% reduction in pedestrian crashes where there is a refuge median. Pray that it isn’t given to cyclists where there isn’t a safety problem or fatalities.
There was no thought about how these bike lanes would affect businesses or customers of these businesses.
So who’s getting paid off in exchange for this disaster.
The author of this article spoke out against these bike lanes a few days before this article was published. This is an opinion piece, not a “business case study” and it is highly misleading to not label it as such.
“Andy Zucker … expressed an opinion around bike lanes”. That opinion was that the bike lanes were a “break it now” approach to Mass Ave. Essential context is still being left out of this article.
Bono finds it refreshing to hear the perspective of a business owner for a change, rather than always just the ideologues – the crazed bike zealots and true believers. (You know, “studies show…”?) We know there are differing – and competing – opinions on all of this. It’s nice to hear someone just telling us about what they’re going through, without all the relentless noise of the professional bike trolls, who can’t seem to let anyone even offer a description of their own experience without having to drone on about how “wrong” they must be. (And they’ve got “data” to prove it, of course! Why, just drop in a bunch of links from a google search – without reading any of it – and you can “prove” almost anything! I saw it on the internet! Oy…)