The city of Boston has it in for all bike messengers, and they're gonna make us pay if it kills 'em. Bicycling Magazine recently rated Boston as one of the least bike-friendly cities . No bike lanes, very few racks, insane motorists, and very few laws to protect our rights and safety. Boston is also one of the toughest cities when it comes to bike messengers. The new year brought with it a slew of new laws governing bicycle couriers which, as most sane people can see, are unfair. It all began with the Spring-Gladstone incident (click here for more info) in October of 1997. To sum it up, an off-duty, unlicensed courier collided with a jaywalking rich old bastard, who ended up in a coma with serious injuries. Ever since then, the city of Boston has decided that bike messengers are a threat to public safety, and that we all need to be caged and branded and scapegoated, blamed for something we never did. This all occurred before I became a bike messenger, but even then I knew it was unfair the way the city suddenly lashed out at all couriers for something one of them did. People seemed to overlook the fact that what happened was an ACCIDENT. Of course Jonathan Gladstone didn't mean to hit the guy. Accidents happen, you know? Car accidents happen every day, but you don't see a public outcry over every one, pointing fingers at the motorists as if they meant to cause an accident. I was reading an article in Hideous White Noise today which said "Its getting to the point where getting killed by a car is being accepted as a natural cause of death." It's scary, but true. Nobody even bats an eyelash at the hundreds of thousands of car-related deaths each year, but as soon as a bicyclist hits someone, all of a sudden all cyclists are demonized.
In the time since William Spring was hit by Jonathan Gladstone, the city of Boston tried out numerous solutions to curb the supposed recklessness of all bike couriers. Licenses were given out, but they weren't mandatory. Courier companies were not required to carry insurance and liability for whatever damage their messengers may cause. The people who lived and worked in the city began to fear mesengers, recoiling every time they saw one ride by in fear that they would be hit. Some companies even decided to boycott messenger services, as if that would solve anything. I wonder how they're getting by without bike messengers to attend to their super rush deliveries. Their important documents are sitting in a car somewhere, stuck in traffic, unable to make it there by the required deadline. I wonder why they would boycott bike messenger services in favor of cars, when cars cause far more accidents than bikes. If they only took the time to think about it, they'd realize how silly their little boycott is.
Another incident further dirtied the reputations of all Boston bike messengers, when a courier assaulted a driver with his Kryptonite lock after the car cut him off in traffic. Apparently the biker then assemblede a posse of his courier colleagues to gang up on the guy and vandalize his car while he was still inside the vehicle, shivering with fear. I was a witness to the aftermath of this incident, as I was riding down Summer st. where it happened, I saw several bike messengers gathered around, a bike with a bent wheel leaning on the sidewalk, its owner talking to a cop. After this, the city was really on its toes. The general feeling permeating the public was one of "Now we KNOW those people are evil. We have to put an end to their terrorism." I actually witnessed people's looks of terror as they thought twice before crossing the street into my path. People in elevators gave me funnier looks than usual, and some people even refused to get in the elevator with me, as if I was going to whip out a crowbar and beat them senseless for no reason. I heard people whispering things like "Did you hear about that bike messenger who attacked that guy? They're dangerous," and "That's one of those bike messengers. Watch out." It gave me quite a few good chuckles for a few weeks before the hype died down.
Things got better before they got worse. Several weeks before 1999 arrived, my boss clipped out an article from the Boston Herald which stated that the new bicycle courier licensing laws would go into effect on January 1, 1999. The law requires that ALL bicycle couriers AND all companies employing bicycle couriers must be licensed with the Boston Police Department, subject to hefty fines for not being licensed. All courier companies must be insured, and, double standard again, bikers are now required to carry more insurance than taxi drivers or courier drivers. Also, a bike messenger must wear a helmet at all times, and is subject to all the same rules of the road as a motorist. Failure to obey these rules can result in fines ranging from $100 to $300, and with a third offense, the license may be revoked. A bicycle courier license costs $25, and consists of an identification card, an orange reflective numbered "vest" to be pinned to the courier bag, and a numbered license plate to put on the bike. The license must be renewed, to the tune of another $25, every time a courier switches companies.
Both my boss and I put off getting a license for a long time, the article lying on a desk as a reminder. Every once in a while, one of us would pick it up and say, "What are we gonna do about this?" I was the only bike messenger employed there, and it seemed a waste to go through the process when I knew I'd be quitting soon anyway. But finally, some time after the laws went into effect (luckily I wasn't nabbed for being unlicensed), I went down to the main police station with a note from my boss, a mandatory statement that I was employed as a bike messenger at Shitty-post. I got there, only to find that my company had to be registered as well, which it wasn't. I returned to the office with a form for my boss to fill out, and a few days later we went back together to register.
At the licensing counter my boss humored the heavily made-up, Boston-accented young woman as she entered our information into the computer. When she left to go run a background check on me, my boss asked me, "Where do you think she's from, Dorchester?" "Nah, Southie," I joked. Same thing. She came back and gave me my license plate and vest, # 177. As much as I was against this whole licensing thing, as much as I knew how unfair it was, it was still kinda cool having a license. Number 177, I kept thinking to myself. Licensed bicycle courier number 177. Boston Police Department Scapegoat number 177. The Southie chick took my picture, which came out goofy as usual, and gave me my new license a few minutes later. That was it. All done. Later that day as I pinned the vest to my courier bag, I could almost feel it burning into my back - everyone would know what I was now, and if I did anything wrong, they could call the fuzz on me. I felt like a marked woman. Branded.
I think something needs to be done to make these laws a little more fair for bike messengers. First of all, these laws, inexplicably, only apply to couriers, and not average citizens on a bike. This doesn't make sense, because couriers are not the only ones who break the rules of the road and get into accidents. In fact, I would even venture to say that messengers are just a little more knowledgeable about the rules they must follow on the road than your average bike commuter or casual rider. I see a lot of these non-messenger folks riding on sidewalks, going the wrong way on one-way streets, etc. Why don't they have to be licensed? I think if the city is going to license couriers, it would have to start licensing everybody who rides a bike. It seems like kind of a stupid idea, but fair is fair right? Saying that couriers are more dangerous on a bike than the general population is flat-out discrimination.
Another change that has to be made is in insurance policies. Bike messengery is a dangerous job, and since any accident that occurs is usually presumed to be the bicyclist's fault, many bike messengers are not covered for bodily injury and damage to their property. Victims of so-called "reckless" couriers are covered for their damages, yet the courier has to pay his or her own medical and bike repair bills.
I would also like to see the city of Boston become more bike friendly. We need bike lanes, more bike racks in more places, and public education about bicycle laws and safety. The cause of most bike-car or bike-pedestrian skirmishes is lack of education on everybody's part. Most motorists and pedestrians are unaware that bicyclists not only have to follow the same rules on the road as motorists, but also have the same rights to BE on the road as the motorists. I've had many motorists try to run me off the road, angry that I was in "their" lane, because they don't know that that's where I'm supposed to be. By having visible bike lanes painted on all major roads, motorists will see that this is where bicyclists are supposed to be, and perhaps they will be more understanding. Although I wouldn't expect them to be friendly to cyclists. This IS Boston, after all.
Boston, unlike most major cities, does not have a local chapter of the BMA (Bike Messenger Association). According to the IFBMA (International Federation of Bike Messenger Associations), the purpose of a BMA is:
1. To ensure the succesful realisation of an annual Cycle Messenger World Championships.
2. To foster a spirit of cooperation and community amongst bicycle messengers world-wide.
3. To promote the use of pedal power for commercial purposes.
I believe that a BMA in Boston could really work to change the laws to make them more fair, and to make Boston a more bike-friendly city. I don't have the ambition or the motivation to start a BMA all by myself, and I'm way too antisocial to go out and try to recruit messengers. I'm hoping that maybe some Boston messengers might read this and be inspired, as I am, to start a BMA. Perhaps we could work on one together. Who knows?
To read more about the Boston Bike Messenger Controversies, click here
To read the article I wrote for my zine, The Flamingo Conspiracy, click here
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