The crowd went as wild as it ever got for Josh Kraft when, during his Boston mayoral kickoff speech in February 2025, he promised “a common-sense transportation plan” that included “an immediate pause for all new bike lane construction.”
The next month, the Globe reported that Mayor Michelle Wu was changing her tune on public transportation policy by eliminating a bus lane, pulling barriers from protected bike lanes, and announcing a comprehensive review of all street changes made in the last three years. As the Globe also noted, the city’s new review followed “intense lobbying from Back Bay business leaders, notably wealthy businessman Jay Cashman, who has supported Wu in the past but donated $1,000 to Kraft shortly after the nonprofit leader entered the race.”
Given that sequence, it seems fair to conclude that politics played some role in Wu’s retreat from unabashed champion of bus and bike lanes to something less ardent and more politically pragmatic — a retreat that is now drawing harsh criticism from cycling advocates after the tragic death of Louisa Gag, a city transportation planner who was killed while riding her bike on July 9. In Gag’s memory and honor, Wu has pledged to review safety designs for the section of Tremont Street where Gag was killed and greater enforcement of laws regarding bike lanes that are blocked by illegally parked cars.
What should not be lost in the emotion of the moment is the need for balance and openness to different points of view when it comes to creating safe streets for everyone. The perception that both were lacking under Wu gave Kraft an opportunity on the bike lane issue. While he was never able to capitalize on it beyond the loud cheers he got for mentioning it at his announcement, he did force Wu to acknowledge there is more than one side to the bicycle lane debate. It’s the side of businesses that say they lose customer parking spaces to bike lanes as well as the side of pedestrians who dodge people on bicycles, e-bikes, and scooters who ignore red lights and other rules of the road.
To cycling advocates, those are fighting words. From where I sit — which is usually not on a bicycle — they see no other side to the issue, just energy-hogging barbarians. While I respect those who believe cycling is the best way to save the planet, an all-or-nothing perspective defies the reality of Boston’s jumble of streets and the need to share them with cars and trucks because everyone can’t or won’t ride a bike. Unless the city somehow builds protected tunnels for cyclists, they are going up against vehicles that weigh thousands of pounds. That’s inherently unsafe. Speed limits and attention to traffic signals should be enforced on the motorist side, but risk is part of cycling.
Of course, the city should also do what it can to address roads that are especially unsafe. For example, in 2023, the city said that section of Tremont Street in Mission Hill where Gag was killed needed improvements, such as wider sidewalks, more protections for cyclists, and measures to slow traffic. Whether it simply got lost in a bureaucratic shuffle, or was put off because of election year politics, the project has not advanced.
Kraft never posed any real threat to Wu. Early polls showed she was ahead of him by 14 points. She beat him by a 49-point margin in the September preliminary election and he dropped out shortly afterward.
Yet despite her big political win, the perception that Wu does not listen to all sides persists and continues to fuel criticism of the way she pursues transportation policy. That’s the case with her $135-million proposal to add center-running bus lanes on Blue Hill Avenue. The pushback is now so strong that opponents asked the Trump administration to withhold $80 million in federal funding that’s allocated for the project.
Bill Forry, executive editor and co-publisher of The Dorchester Reporter, recently wrote that complaints from opponents about a lack of public input on the Blue Hill bus project don’t “pass the sniff test.” His review of news articles in The Reporter chronicled 18 forums, open houses, and hearings over the past four years, plus pop-up workshops and “street team” engagement.
Yet quantity doesn’t trump quality. If people don’t feel they are being listened to, that’s a problem for a mayor. For Wu, it’s a consistent problem on any number of issues, from bike and bus lanes to renovating White Stadium.
From a personal perspective, this has to be a difficult moment for Wu. Gag worked for her as a policy fellow and intern when Wu was a Boston city councilor, then took on a role as a city transportation planner who oversaw bike-share policies and road safety improvements.
She will want to do the right thing for the cycling community. But she shouldn’t make the same mistake she did before and shut out Bostonians with a different point of view.
Some may have cheered Kraft’s words about bike lanes. But like it or not, she’s their mayor, too.
Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at joan.vennochi@globe.com. Follow her @joan_vennochi.