Bike lane impact study is slow to come together, but business owners remain upset about parking
Fast Phil’s Haircuts in North Cambridge, seen April 13, 2022. Owners complain about a lack of parking since the installation of bike lanes. (Photo: Marc Levy)
Cambridge business owners are dissatisfied with parking and with the progress of a study meant to look at the economic impact of bike lanes – the upshot of a Tuesday meeting of the City Council’s Economic Development and University Relations Committee.
Fifty-nine percent of business owners rated the ability to park in the city as poor in an online business and nonprofit survey held Feb. 7-20. Many attribute parking problems to the recent proliferation of bike lanes, a topic expected to be handled comprehensively in the separate study.
The survey was meant to be equivalent to one from 2022 for residents that some business owners, because they are not residents, were not able to complete, city councillor and committee chair Paul Toner said. The new one was advertised in city emails, on the city website and on social media, and 229 business owners and organizational leaders responded. The survey respondents were not selected randomly, and according to the presentation, “results should be considered within that context.”
The survey asked about everything from transportation and parking to overall satisfaction with Cambridge government: 53 percent rated the overall performance of city government as excellent or good, while 20 percent rated it poorly; 56 percent rated Cambridge as an excellent or good place to do business, and 15 percent rated it poorly.
One commenter, Kelly Dolan, called the figures “terrible … the lack of approval rating for the city’s economic environment from small businesses on the survey is telling and concerning and should be a wakeup call.” She called it “distorting” that the presentation emphasized survey positives, such as 70 percent of respondents giving the ability to get around town by bicycle excellent or good rankings, and 80 percent saying the same about getting around by foot.
Parking problems and worries
Frank’s Steakhouse in North Cambridge on Nov. 20, 2022. The owner worries about customers who stay away because of parking confusion. (Photo: Marc Levy)
Business owners were very negative when it came to parking in the city, with 59 percent rating the “ability to park when you travel around town” as poor; a much lower 33 percent of the general populace in 2020 rated their experience with parking as poor.
“I spend all day long on the phone try to explain for people where to park,” said Cynthia Hughes, a barber and co-founder of the Fast Phil’s Haircuts in North Cambridge, with public comment echoing statements she made in 2021.
Comparison data from the 2022 survey is unavailable, even though a city news release said a report would be released by the end of the year.
Tuesday’s meeting was also meant to address the ongoing efforts to put together a study on the economic impact of bike lanes in Cambridge, the result of a City Council policy order passed Feb. 28, 2022. An update described little progress and seemed to emphasize studies from other cities, even as public comment from business owners described the urgency of the problems caused by having fewer parking spaces and more confusing roadways after the addition of bike and bus lanes. “My customers are so aggravated that they’re going elsewhere,” Hughes said, followed by George Ravanis at Frank’s Steakhouse, where there aren’t bike lanes yet. Still, he said “every day we get calls, and that’s plural, by potential customers who see the restricted avenue asking where they can park because they see what’s going on. God knows how many of them don’t call and just don’t bother coming in.”
Struggles to get started
Some of the business owners said they’d been collecting their own data on customer transportation but hadn’t been asked for it by the city – or been contacted by staff at all.
“By the time you guys finish your studies, by the time you find the right data set, it doesn’t matter, the ship has already sailed,” said Patrick Barrett, a rare Central Square business owner amid comment largely from North Cambridge and the stretch of Massachusetts Avenue between Harvard and Porter squares.
Councillor Patty Nolan was alarmed.
“This policy order passed more than a year ago,” Nolan said, “and we’re just now getting a little bit of data.”
The Community Development Department has struggled to find a consultant, and only recently partnered with the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Kendall Square, Toner said. Meanwhile, the department has been in a long struggle to get meaningful data, and said that the references to studies in other cities were largely about looking at methodology.
A question of data
The state Department of Revenue has useful data the city can’t see evades of privacy restrictions, assistant city manager for community development Iram Farooq said. “We have spent a lot of time and tried all kinds of suggestions, like ‘Hey, could we attach a release in our survey and if people sign off, would DOR then give us the information? We have spent months with them in just trying to negotiate this,” Farooq said. “After a lot of consultation amongst lawyers, we’ve gotten the no, they will not share information.”
Other cities have more granular data available to them. New York City collects its own taxes, so it has data on sales it can use; Cambridge does not. “We will have to rely on things like people actually sharing their sales or other information,” Farooq said.
The city says it will mail invitations to a second business survey to address the economics of bike lanes. Staff initially described an emphasis on ground-floor businesses. Concerns were raised about the letters missing especially the many health providers who didn’t have pedestrian-facing storefronts, and Farooq said the point was well-taken.
A presentation about the study by Pardis Saffari, the city’s director of economic opportunity and development, covered the the lack of strong, consistent sources of data available for it and mentioned looking at changes to sales revenue since 2019 as a pre-Covid baseline, which drew objections from business owners and leaders. The more pertinent comparison was to revenue before bike lanes were installed, they said. Staff agreed. Nolan also suggested finding a way to parse meaning from 229 written responses from businesses. “There’s 229 answers, but it’s not 17,000,” Nolan said.
“As the urgency hits us, we need to do a better job of figuring out a way to get this done more quickly,” Nolan said.
A sense of urgency
Bike lanes are being installed on city streets – many of them old and narrow – in response to a City Council law passed in 2019. An amendment the next year laid out a timeline for rapid rollout meant to avoid more bicyclist deaths.
At an April 25 meeting of the Cycling Safety Ordinance Advisory Committee, attendees learned of three lane installations coming to Massachusetts Avenue from this year to 2026, starting with quick-build projects on Hampshire Street and Main Street this summer; a full-construction project next year in Harvard Square between Plympton and Garden streets; and partial construction on Massachusetts Avenue between Waterhouse Street and Alewife Brook Parkway – some overlapping with other construction on Massachusetts Avenue and in Harvard Square.
“So you can imagine what kind of impact that is going to have,” said Denise Jillson, executive director of the the Harvard Square Business Association. “[It] really ought to be looked at before construction.”
80.34% responded that the ability to get around by bike was good or excellent. 84.72% responded that the ability to park a car around town was fair or poor. This shows that a good majority of these survey responders have no idea what they are talking about. There is currently not a single long distance separated bike lane on any Cambridge owned road.
Is it possible that by creating hysteria about parking that business owners are keeping customers away? Frank’s seems like a great example, they had aggressive posters and social media posts scaring people about complete parking loss on Mass Ave. Yet they are two blocks away from the bike lanes, and they are already allegedly getting multiple calls per day.
One possible explanation is that parking on or near Mass Ave was always tricky for people without a residential permit. Another is that they are scaring customers into thinking it will be harder than it actually is right now.
Separately, they are likely scaring off customers who don’t appreciate the angry and divisive rhetoric. In any case, let it go on the record that Frank’s is already complaining about people not being able to park a year before the bike lanes go in.
The people are wrong and let’s go after small businesses. Terrific first couple of posts. Let it then go on the record that Franks is phenomenal and they’ve the best tomahawk steak I’ve ever had. Further the businesses on North Mass Ave have every right to protest. The way the bike lanes have been handled has been a mess from the onset. If you had your livelihood taken away from you during the pandemic which most of them did … and were straddled with regulations above and beyond what other towns were experiencing … and we did … and the day you were allowed to open all parking was removed you’d be terrified which is where I believe a lot of the anger and frustration comes from. We’ve never really done a good job with our neighborhood business districts and many have been destroyed like on River and Western Ave. We can do better by these people and should.
I’m not disagreeing for a second that the climate is challenging. I actually think the city should take a much more active role in improving our small business environment. Streamlining support for storefronts and business changes, making it easier to get permits for outdoor dining and events, reducing business fees for street level retail wherever possible would all be helpful, and I’m sure you have more great ideas there.
But I am saying something different, take River St, Frank’s, Atwood’s, and now Sligo — all of those challenges have nothing to do with bike lanes, so we are shooting ourselves in the foot if we keep beating the parking = business narrative. A whole lot of people in Cambridge get around by transit, walking, biking, and they spend a lot of money in Central. Take Cambridgeport – over a third of households don’t own a car, and those numbers are even higher in Riverside. They eat and shop in Central. What makes Central attractive to them? Density which supports the businesses, more places to be outside (Starlight, outdoor dining, etc), things to do, it’s not the abundant parking for sure.
So I understand and respect that business owners are afraid, and agree that we should be doing whatever we can to listen and address the challenges. But it is important to help them adapt (with support) to the changes in the community, and maybe even to recognize that parking is not always the number 1 barrier to more business.
AFAIK, years later, the only closed storefront on Cambridge St where there are bike lanes are is Darwin’s (union/retirement related), and the apothecary is still going strong. The dry cleaners on Brattle are still there, despite fear mongering about ambulances and that they would have to close.
Correct Patrick.
Can already see as a small example Phil’s haircut cost:
$10 for over a decade
$15 last yr
$20 announced for sept
Businesses will be forced to raise prices to compensate for all the lost business. No big deal most can afford it. The city thinks it can afford to spend X million per mile with the red war paint pulling up the pavement which is actually destroying the roads creating an ongoing maintenance nightmare. Plastic pylons broken off all over the place that need to be replaced creating another maintenance nightmare.
All good the “experts” designed it!
It’s easy enough to just go over to Arlington where small businesses are thriving and park there if you indeed have a car.
Progress!
Have you heard of inflation? That might have more to do with rising prices than bike lanes.
@cambridgegent,
Central Sq is a different animal than north mass Ave but I largely agree with you that we need to find a way to move forward and find new ways to support local business. The BID built the meager protected lanes during the pandemic and we support bike lanes but we have the T, buses, and a much more dense area to support; though I believe we should have adopted C2 and tripled our density when the timing was near perfect to do so. Still we have many businesses that are still closed on Monday and some even on Tuesday for lack of business since the slow return began. That may just be a new condition but time will tell. The office of tourism and economic development need to step up and to date both really haven’t done much and thus our city response to these changing conditions is flat footed. If I owned a business on that strip I’d be screaming at the top of my lungs to anyone who would listen and maybe some of that is out of fear but that fear is warranted given the leaderless state of this city. The apothecary on Cambridge St is a great example of a business that is resilient because it’s really the only show in town. When my son needed a specialized medication Skendarians was the only one in the City who could make it. However because they’re so essential I would think at the very least parking for seniors and handicapped access should be a priority at that spot at least for now. Parking is important in a business district but faith in our political and city leaders is even more so and currently that is in short supply. I wonder if a unified online market place kind of like a hyper localized Etsy would help folks? We should all be focused on throwing solutions on the white board and taking some risks. As a business owner myself I’d be much more at ease knowing folks had our backs. Teamwork makes the dream work … and so on.
We are tired of the bloviating from bike advocates who know nothing about running a small business, who think Mass Ave is just like the Champs Elyseese and Bloor Street.
Tired of ineffective bureaucrats who think translating marketing messages into 12 languages and storefront art helps
drives bottom line profits.
Small businesses add more community and vibrancy to this city than Kendall Square ever will. They deserve much better treatment than this current City Council has given them.
This is a wake up call in an election year.
Dear mrchatterbox, cambridgegent and multimodel- if you really stand behind what you post then have the conviction to use your real names and stop hiding behind silly fake monikers.
@kdolan, I’m reminded of this enlightening neighborhood discussion —
https://twitter.com/noisecapella/status/1487919539014750213/photo/1
Welcome to Cambridge, there are people who are different than you, and they shop and live and thrive just fine. And (I can’t believe I have to say this, but) there are more than 18 of us who take the bus.
Numerous studies show that bike lanes do NOT hurt local businesses. In fact, they help local businesses. Somerville reported that local business revenue *increased* in neighborhoods after bike lanes were installed. NYC and other cities report the same thing. The majority of people getting around Cambridge do not use cars.
The businesses along North Mass Ave are hurting their own business, not the bike lanes. They are scaring away customers. They are all over Cambridge Day, social media, etc. complaining that it is impossible to visit their businesses. They are pretty much telling people to stay away.
Hey Paul Toner: You find out if bike lanes are helping or hurting businesses by using *data* like business revenue, taxes etc.
Asking people what they think is useless. Opinions are not evidence.
We already know what people *think*. People believe a lot of things that are not true. We need to know what is actually happening.
It’s called “data”, check it out.
It’s painful to see so much self-destructive PR done by small business owners.
The bike lanes are here to stay.
Business owners need to understand that and work with the City to mitigate any possible negative consequences.
Until then, I will not patronize business that work to diminish public safety.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/01441647.2021.1912849?needAccess=true&role=button
It reviewed and “identified 23 studies, focusing on the US and Canada, that quantified an economic impact to local businesses following the installation of bicycle or pedestrian facilities” (p. 401).
Here is their conclusion: “Taken together, the 23 studies we reviewed indicated that creating or improving active travel facilities generally has positive or non-significant economic impacts on retail and food services businesses abutting or within a short distance of the facilities…The results are similar regardless of whether vehicular parking or travel lanes are removed or reduced to make room for the active travel facilities” (p. 402).
cambridgegent you are 100% correct. It’s the constant histrionics from the business owners that are likely hurting their businesses. I can attest that no one I know cared about Violette before this nonsense, but I now know DOZENS of people who are screaming from the mountain tops that everyone should avoid that crazy lady’s bakery.
No one cares if business owners are upset, except the other business owners. The residents and customers likely don’t see a realistic change in parking availability, despite the constant whining. We’re too busy enjoying the safer and more equitable allocation of public roadways.
Newsflash, parking is going to be difficult anywhere in the Boston metro area, because it’s a dense community based around mass transit and biking/walking. Cambridge isn’t even the worst area for it, yet if you go on Nextdoor you have a bunch of out of touch boomers complaining nonstop about not being able to park anywhere they want.
Get a grip people.
AvgJoe exactly. The data is overwhelming here, yet business owners keep screaming that bike lanes are going to shutter their businesses, despite not having a lick of evidence to support that.
Ok last comment, because there is just so much to reply to…
Councillor Patty Nolan was alarmed.
“This policy order passed more than a year ago,” Nolan said, “and we’re just now getting a little bit of data.”
Where does she think data comes from? How are you supposed to study the impact of bike lanes on business over time, during a period which also covers a HISTORIC reset on the modality of commerce which happened post-covid, and HISTORIC inflation which is cooling the economy?
Just gathering data takes YEARS, and sifting through it to find relevant messages takes even longer.
Businesses complaining that the have fewer customers isn’t data. Even if they are able to show their business has receded, DETERMINING THE CAUSE during this period requires a high bar.
Customers complaining to business owners about parking isn’t data.
People complaining on Nextdoor isn’t data.
People saying “use your common sense” isn’t data.
People saying “I waited on the corner and only saw three bikes vs. sixty cars” isn’t data.
The data required to show what impact bike lanes are having on abutting businesses, especially when there are other contributing factors, takes lots of time and careful studying.
Luckily, we can look at the many other studies completed around the world on the same topic to close the gap, and those studies show bike lanes have either a positive or negligible impact on businesses.
@shedrovemehere +1
The data is clear: Bike lanes have positive or neutral effects on businesses. This has been shown again and again.
Formal Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone said that local business revenue went *up* everywhere bike lanes were installed. NYC found increases in business retail of 45% or more after bike lanes. There are many more examples.
If North Mass Ave businesses are being hurt it is because of their hyperbolic the-sky-is-falling complaining of the business owners. They are telling everyone who will listen that no one can visit their businesses. I know people who now avoid those businesses because of the owners’ dramatics.
People say “never mind data, talk to the owners” as if the business owners had Nobel Prizes in Economics. If they really knew business, they would realize that scaring people away is not good for business.
They would also realize that most shoppers/diners in Cambridge do *not* use cars.
Let’s be clear: There is zero evidence that the bike lanes are hurting businesses. They have been proven to help local businesses. But let’s say, just for a second, that they have some impact.
My question: How much business is worth how many lives and injuries?
That is the tradeoff their business owners are asking us to make.
I will not patronize any business that wants us to trade our public safety for their own gain.
@kdolan
I think it’s the business owners who don’t understand. They are making claims based on zero evidence and they are scaring away customers with their own bloviating.
Oh, and BTW, business is tough all over, including streets without bike lanes. How do the business owners know the bike lanes are to blame? Answer: They don’t know. But they’ll keep alienating people and scaring away customers. Smart.
Business owners are “upset”. Are they as upset as the next-of-kin of those killed on our streets? Or the people with debilitating injuries?
These business owners have no evidence supporting their claim of harm. But that doesn’t stop them from trying to overturn the will of Cambridge voters or putting others in harm’s way.
I am with @AvgJoe. I used to patronize those businesses. I won’t anymore.
@prc You made predictions that bike lanes will force businesses to raise prices.
Bike lanes have been installed in hundreds of cities. That has NOT happened anywhere, not a single place!!
If you can find any place where bike lanes caused prices to go up, please post a link so we can verify it. But you won’t because that has literally never happened.
Instead, this happens:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/01441647.2021.1912849?needAccess=true&role=button
It reviewed and “identified 23 studies, focusing on the US and Canada, that quantified an economic impact to local businesses following the installation of bicycle or pedestrian facilities” (p. 401).
Here is their conclusion: “Taken together, the 23 studies we reviewed indicated that creating or improving active travel facilities generally has positive or non-significant economic impacts on retail and food services businesses abutting or within a short distance of the facilities
Something isn’t true just because you think and say it. There is something called “reality”. You find out about reality with actual data, not with stuff you make up.
There are a lot a problems facing businesses these days, post-pandemic woes, with inflation, rising rents, rising wages, supply issues. Business is tough everywhere.
Yet, some people will blame it on bike lanes without offering even a single shred of evidence.
The actual evidence is clear, bike lanes often help and do not hurt businesses. This has been studied again and again and again.
We need to stop giving airtime to these business owners who are scapegoating bike lanes. Bike lanes have nothing to do with their problems.
The business owners are asking others to risk their lives for nothing. And as others have pointed out, the owners are creating their own problems with they hyperbolic nonsense.
Avgjoe the points re Somerville are all anecdotal. All made up that Somerville increased.
My goodness we all want bike lanes but please stop it’s embarrassing.
Just in one week:
Sligo Pub gone
The Tasting Counter gone
Littleburg gone
Trust the road/street “experts” meanwhile businesses are still closing at a staggering pace. No wonder small businesses are terrified – it’s only their livelihood.
Why list the closing of Sligo, The Tasting Counter and Littleburg? None of these had anything to do with bike lanes. Looks like a clumsy attempt at misdirection. Now that’s embarrassing!
The “Somerville small businesses and booming” is ridiculous.
Everyone really everyone I’ve met wants protected bike lanes.
The design and even worse the implementation / aftermath is disturbing. “Experts” wow.
Bring on the war paint!
Paint the town red!
@prc
The closing of those businesses you listed has nothing to do with bike lanes. They are not anywhere near bike lanes!! Stop gaslighting!
The increase in business in Somerville as a result of bike lanes comes directly from the former, long-time, mayor of Somerville. He was using actual data (e.g., tax revenue). In other words, he wasn’t making stuff up (like you just did).
Elections and surveys show wide support for bike lanes in Cambridge and Somerville. So many people you know want protected bike lanes.