It’s a 12-plus-mile journey and climbs some notorious hills.
Thankfully, Northeastern University professor David Myers has an electric-assist bike for his regular commute from Wellesley to the university’s Boston campus.
“I’m pedaling so I still get my exercise,” said Myers, associate teaching professor of finance and director of the Business Sustainability Initiative.
According to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s 2023 Rideshare report, 7.9% of students commuted to campus by bike or scooters, and 4.6% of employees commuted to campus by bike or scooter. Meanwhile, The League of American Bicyclists found that approximately 2.8% of commuters bike in Boston, growing 15% since COVID.Nationally, 0.5% of workers commute by bike, roughly 1.7 million people.
As the rest of us sit in traffic in cars and buses, Myers and many others commute by bike, a mode of transportation celebrated in National Bike Month during May, and National Bike Week, which runs from May 11-17.
“It’s a way to promote cycling as one of the many alternative transportations from a sustainability standpoint, working to reduce people driving to work,” Megan Curtis-Murphy, director of campus sustainability and engagement at Northeastern. “The celebration is a culmination of wanting to bring together folks and celebrate those who are cycling to work, while also providing them resources to make it easier.”
Northeastern University will celebrate Bike Week on Centennial Common on the Boston campus from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Tuesday, May 12, complete with refreshments, a vendor who will offer free bike safety checks, and a bike registration and free bike lock distribution with the NUPD.
The event showcases the university’s efforts to encourage cycling as a sustainable and healthy activity.
A Bike Week celebration will be held on Centennial Common on Tuesday, May 12. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University
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Bike repair stations are available throughout the Boston campus, and Northeastern affiliates qualify for a discounted membership for the city’s Bluebikes bike-share program. The Oakland campus also offers bike repair tools that students, faculty and staff can take out on loan, Curtis-Murphy said.
Third-year student Charlie Johnston, a biology student in Boston, has been biking to and from Snell Library every day, where he studies for the Medical College Admission Test, using Bluebikes as his primary transportation method.
“It’s faster and cheaper than the T,” Johnston said on Thursday, his bike helmet strapped to his backpack.
Torrey Spies, who crosses the Charles River from Cambridge every day to work as a senior sustainability strategist on the Boston campus, listed many reasons she bikes to work, even in the winter.
“It’s the fastest way to get to work, Spies said, explaining that she can keep moving through traffic jams and at backed-up intersections.
She said she also gets fresh air and exercise, an opportunity to see people sailing or rowing on the Charles in the summer, and sunsets and moonrises when the days are shorter.
That’s not to say there aren’t challenges.
“Unfortunately, drivers – particularly those with heavy trucks – seem to find their way across barriers and into the bike lanes,” Spies said. “Since other drivers don’t expect cyclists to jump in and out of the bike lane, this can be a bit hairy.”
Curtis-Murphy said she hopes that by celebrating cycling, members of the university community can connect over a shared interest and encourage more cyclists to join the commute.
Spies agreed.
“I’m always happy to share tips with new riders,” said Spies.