Subject: Letter to the Editor: A Bicycle-Friendly Natick
         Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 13:59:21 -0400
         From: Dick and Jill Miller <TheMillers@millermicro.com>
 Organization: Miller Microcomputer Services
           To: Local Newspapers

National Bike Week is May 16th-22nd. We'll have some good publicity and
some good activities. But in Massachusetts, here in Metrowest Boston,
the best is in the years to come.

We see possibilities that aren't yet available. More bicycle and
walking alternatives to unnecessary car trips means better health and
enjoyment for those who do it, and it also means better health and
enjoyment for our car-choked communities. But is it practical? Some
bicycle commuters brave poorly-educated car traffic on poorly-arranged
roadways, and find ways to park their bikes safely out of the weather
despite the general neglect for this kind of planning. Most say it
would be nice if... -- and they continue to take the car.

So when we celebrate Bike Week, I'll salute the brave pioneers while I
help make better plans for the rest to join in. The Cochituate Rail
Trail (http://millermicro.com/crt.html) is a major feature in this
future. But streets and drivers that welcome bicycles everywhere are
fundamental, as are welcoming places to park your bike.

Imagine biking down the lovely, wooded Cochituate Rail Trail south from
Saxonville to downtown Natick.  No traffic, no cars, no fumes.  Along
Cochituate Brook, under the Massachusetts Turnpike.  After crossing
Route 30 you could bear left for the day-use area of Cochituate State
Park or, just beyond Home Depot, you could bear right across Speen
Street to the Natick Mall and west to the movie theaters and Shoppers
World -- the greatest concentration of shopping malls in New England.
But you continue south alongside Lake Cochituate, over Route 9 and --
still in the woods -- downtown, a flat and easy four miles in all.

At the end of the ride, you'll either make your rounds in Natick or hop
the train to Boston -- taking your bike with you. If bikes make sense in
Natick, why not in Boston? The train has bicycle facilities at no extra
charge; after all, that means more parking and cleaner air in Natick and
Boston, so it's in the public interest to support that. Each driver
thanks today's bikers for making the roads and town that much healthier
and for freeing up parking places -- and may take their own bike
tomorrow.

On other days, you'd rather park your bike downtown, before walking or
taking the train to Boston where you'll walk or use public transportation.
So, where the Rail Trail leads up a ramp into downtown Natick, imagine
an indoor bike parking facility -- again free, to coax hundreds of drivers
out of their cars. A bicycle rental and repair facility shares the
space; in exchange, it provides surveillance and friendly support as
needed. Some folks reverse-commute, parking a bicycle there all night
but peddling it to work in the Golden Triangle each day. Local buses
have free bicycle-carrier racks hanging off their fronts, as well.

Is this good planning, or just a crazy dream? In Natick, we're waiting
to find out. But we know this much. In Palo Alto, California, in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and at UCSF in San Francisco, it's called good
planning and it's working today:
http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/bikestation.html

Ever hopeful,
--A. Richard Miller <TheMillers@millermicro.com>