A Copley Square Field Report from Car-Free Boston
A participant’s account of the Boylston bus lane preservation protest.
by Harmony Boyd
I take public transit to protest, as I do everywhere. First a bus over the Tobin, then a quick jaunt on the Orange Line. It’s transit driver appreciation day, so I make extra sure to say thank you to my bus driver. Sadly I don’t get the opportunity with my train conductor on the ride in. I disembark at Back Bay and walk to Copley Square, suffering a brief bout of confusion after discovering the park itself is closed for construction.
Nevertheless, I persist and find my people across the street in the shadow of the Boston Public Library. Unzipping my jacket, I reveal my ‘Street Parking Is Theft’ t-shirt and cross the intersection to join my people. I immerse myself in the diverse crowd with as many varieties of human and bicycle as one could imagine. The organizers are ready to lead us with their loudspeakers on a wagon. I see a familiar face and gravitate that way.
After meeting up with my Car-Free Boston comrade, Sasha, we strike up conversation with a couple of strangers. One is shaggy and he wears a high-vis vest. He and Sasha talk about transit and Minecraft. I try and steer the conversation towards rails because Minecraft is lost on me. The other person mostly listens, other than to say she just came here from after her job and isn’t with any organization. I invite her to join the Car Free Boston group chat, but sadly she’s not on Signal. We talk and socialize as more folks toting bicycles show up. At about 6:30 p.m the speakers begin the speaking.
The main presenters are two men who are both wearing glasses, one with and one without a big bushy mustache. It is impressive how well the loudspeakers carry their voices to the whole crowd. They explain the mission, which is simple: we stand in front of the machine made to rip out the bus lane. To warm up, we get chanting. Between chanting sessions they play music and give the different cadres an opportunity to schmooze.
There are many different groups here protesting together. Some are hardcore cyclists with the whole uniform, some are transit enthusiasts like myself who support safe street politics. I speak to a man who asks what brings me to Massachusetts. I tell him my story, that I am a Florida gender refugee, he says that Massachusetts is happy to have me. Everyone around us is having their own discussions, I take in the feeling of socially connective tissue growing in real time for our transit activism community. It feels pretty darn good!
The many organizations participating all seem energetic, active, and enthusiastic. A representative from Critical Mass rolls up to tell us all know about their monthly protest happening in five days’ time(Last Friday of every month!). Workers Who Ride and Cambridge Bike Safety both make their presence felt, the leading men wearing glasses are members of both organizations. The Boston Cyclists Union, StreetsblogMASS, MassBike, and Transit Matters all make themselves known too. Of course, your Car-Free Boston members are always present when we can be, to ensure that an organization engaging only in direct action is at the table too.
Eventually we all get moving past our starting point to a space where we can get a good look at passing buses. The terrible bus-lane gobbling machine is late. We don’t care. We’re still chanting together. Each time a bus comes along we frantically cheer for it: “Bus! Bus! Bus!” The theme of transit for chanting is more fun than I anticipate. It’s a fluid and collaborative process. People in the protest are suggesting different chants or variations on our transit chants.
The people getting on and off the buses have a variety of reactions. Some of them, passenger and MBTA workers alike, are full of bewilderment. Some of the bus drivers look appreciative, at least one asks the cops shadowing our demonstration what all of this is for. Another one, a double-length accordion bus, opens the doors a little early and we cheer as people disembark right in front of us. We cheer every single bus passing by our spot. All the while as we cheer and clap and chant, Car Free Boston is providing musical Accompaniment for all the goings-on. We’re making sure these transit drivers feel the love on this auspicious occasion.
This is a critically important detail which I have nearly forgotten to mention until this exact precise moment, my Car Free Boston comrade Sasha has her mellophone along for the ride. For those unfamiliar, the mellophone is a louder/hardier/more portable alternative to the French horn, suited for marching bands (although Sasha would clarify that the Horn in F isn't even French, but I digress). One would classify it with other marching brass instruments, like the trumpet and sousaphone.
Sasha plays it with gusto all protest long. Accompanying every bus with drive-up and drive-off music, giving appropriate musical stings when the speakers are speaking, just playing her dang heart out right there on the steps of the library. Everyone likes to talk about the merits of a good drummer at a protest but really the humble wind instrument is subject to criminal underuse.
Despite our showing up to meet it, pavement gobbler does not fulfill its end of the bargain. The city‘s wrecking crew fails to show up at all. Everyone feels a little disappointment when we learn we can’t stand in front of it and prevent it from doing its awful task. I shout out “we scared em off!” which seems to help improve everyone’s morale. We chant some more, until the man with the mustache says we will ride out at 8 or 8:30 p.m, that he hasn’t decided which yet. I say to Sasha that he better go with the 8 because everyone will melt away by 8:30. He evidently comes to the same conclusion because the cyclists ride out at 7:45 p.m.
Sasha and I grab a few brews afterwards at a nearby and nearly-empty Northeastern college bar. We’re full of enthusiasm and vinegar, plotting total transit world domination. We part ways with half a dozen decent premises for good trouble. On the train ride home I take the opportunity to wish my train conductor a happy transit driver appreciation day.
Thank you to my Car-Free Boston comrade Aleksandra for coming out to protest/helping me remember who was there, and to my girlfriend for giving me good writing ideas.