Options | David Reed
Pedaling on two wheels down an empty street built for cars is a liberating and uplifting experience. Being happy and free means not being bound by a single choice. The word freedom has many contexts and connotations, but for me, it’s about not being tied to the machine that has dictated so much of our lives and shaped our physical world.
Cars have had a positive impact on many people’s lives in the United States over the last 75 years. They’ve enabled long-distance travel and expanded where we can live and work. On the open road, they can feel liberating. Yet the paradox is that they have, in parallel, created deep problems for our society. In cities built before the automobile, owning and driving one rarely delivers the ease it promises. Instead, it often brings stress—stress that’s unnecessary when we now have so many other ways to get around.
In cities in 2025, freedom means not having to deal with parking, storage, insurance, car payments, traffic, or the loss of time and movement. It’s the ability to move through the city unencumbered—cruising past stalled traffic, wind in your face if you so choose, fully in control of your route and pace. For many, that feeling is best found from the seat of a bicycle, on foot, or in transit.
Over the last quarter century, urban mobility in Greater Boston and beyond has undergone nothing short of a transformation: the unbundling of daily life from car dependency, replaced by a menu of transportation options that let individuals reclaim their streets and routines. This is a brief overview of that transformation—a tale of technological breakthroughs, regulatory battles, policy shifts, and the persistent human desire for freedom of movement.
Mobility in Y2K
In 2000, urban mobility in the Boston area was still limited to driving your own car, hailing a taxi with your hand, riding the T, or—for the bold—riding a bike. Boston’s bike network was nearly nonexistent, limited to a few disconnected off-street paths, with almost no dedicated or protected bike lanes.
Boston has always been a walkable city, but in the late 20th century, many areas were redesigned with motorists in mind, prioritizing the highest possible “level of service”—in other words, moving as many cars through as quickly as possible. What used to be easy pedestrian crossings became unsafe. Yet year by year, with bold civic leadership, local advocacy, and startups addressing the challenges of urban congestion, incremental improvements took root. Viewed across a quarter century, the change has been transformative.
Fast forward to today: there are more than 200 miles of connected bike infrastructure across Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline, and neighboring towns and cities. Riding a bike, e-bike, or e-scooter has become a mainstream and practical way to get around.
Safety Drives Adoption
These dramatic improvements are reshaping how people think about getting around—and the evidence is there. Boston’s recent “Better Bike Lane” project added protected or contraflow bike lanes on seven city streets last year and saw a 44% average increase in ridership. Two streets saw major spikes: a 194% increase on Eliot Street and 108% on Boylston Street, both of which I now bike often in Jamaica Plain. These findings show that people want to bike to get around—and will if they feel safe. With new traffic-calming measures slowing car speeds, riding through the city is a very different experience compared to the year 2000.
Options Abound
For many of us, shifting away from car dependency isn’t just about infrastructure; it’s about feeling unshackled. Riding in a protected bike lane through the city and bypassing gridlock is the freedom once promised by the automobile. Today, freedom is also about options—the ability to bike, walk, roll, take transit, or blend modes according to your needs, the weather, or your mood.
I counted more than 50 apps on my phone dedicated to trip planning, micromobility access, parking, train travel, ride-hailing, and more. Some sit dormant, but collectively they reflect a new mindset about mobility. Knowing your bus or train arrival in real time, hailing a car within minutes, or unlocking an e-bike with your phone in seconds is everyday life for an increasing number of us. Smartphone-powered mobility eliminates guesswork and empowers us to mix, match, and optimize trips.
But how did we get here?
The Digital Foundation (2000–2007)
The year 2000 marked a pivotal and largely invisible turning point. On May 1, 2000, President Bill Clinton lifted GPS restrictions, making navigation accurate to within meters. At the time, it seemed minor—most Americans were still fumbling with paper maps or printing MapQuest directions. Cell phones were for calls, texts, and Snake. The idea that phones would soon become the primary interface for urban transportation was unimaginable.
The Smartphone Revolution (2007–2012)
Everything changed on June 29, 2007, when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone. It introduced the concept of “apps” and popularized GPS navigation in a pocket-sized device, making real-time location awareness ubiquitous. The timing was perfect. Google Transit launched in 2006, and by 2007, the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) became an open standard adopted by transit agencies. Developers could now create applications that provided real-time transit information across multiple cities. The age of mobile-first transportation had begun.
Uber launched in 2009, followed by Lyft in 2012, introducing on-demand ride-sharing that reshaped expectations. Regulators resisted: San Francisco’s transit authority told Uber to stop operating and threatened fines and prison time. But the convenience of summoning a ride by smartphone proved irresistible, setting up a decade of clashes between innovation and regulation.
The Sharing Revolution (2012–2019)
The mid-2010s saw an explosion of shared mobility options that shifted the urban transportation landscape. It wasn’t just about new services; it was about a philosophical shift from ownership to access, and from fixed routes to on-demand convenience.
In 2011, Boston launched its bike-share system, Hubway. It grew rapidly into Bluebikes, now serving 13 municipalities with 5,300+ bikes across 550 stations. Nearly 90% of Boston residents live within a 10-minute walk of a station. E-bikes have been particularly transformative, flattening hills and lengthening rides. In 2024, e-bikes averaged 3.6 trips per bike per day, compared with 0.9 for classic bikes, contributing to a record 4.7 million trips.
Disruption came again in September 2017, when Bird deployed its first electric scooters in Santa Monica. With universal smartphone adoption and mobile payments in place, scooter sharing grew from zero to 86 million annual trips in two years. Cities scrambled to regulate while consumers embraced convenience. By 2018, scooters had appeared in more than 100 cities. Companies like Lime and Bird raised billions, achieving “unicorn” status faster than almost any prior mobility company. Their “launch first, ask forgiveness later” strategy mirrored Uber’s, but it often alienated city governments.
Crisis and Acceleration (2020–2025)
The COVID-19 pandemic marked a turning point. While transit and ride-sharing plummeted, cycling and walking surged as people sought outdoor, socially distanced ways to move. Cities rolled out quick-build bike lanes and pedestrian spaces—projects that normally would have taken years. Transit ridership has since recovered to about 85% of pre-pandemic levels, and app-based mobility adoption has only accelerated.
Two other shifts have reshaped mobility. First, zoning codes and policies that created an oversupply of car parking are being revised. Parking minimums are being eliminated, housing around transit incentivized, and alternative modes promoted. After fifty years of subsidizing car dependency, momentum is finally swinging back.
Second, the cost of owning a car now exceeds $12,000 annually. With rising expenses, the menu of alternatives looks increasingly attractive—especially for young people weighing the trade-off between neighborhood choice and car ownership.
The Next 25 Years (2025–2050) and the Freedom to Choose
The story of urban transportation from 2000 to 2025 is, at its core, about the relentless pursuit of better ways to move through the world. As we stand on the threshold of autonomous vehicles, we need leaders who understand this history and who will champion the most space- and energy-efficient ways to move through our cities.
Autonomous vehicles can be valuable when they enhance, rather than compete with, public transportation, and when they complement a multimodal system instead of simply replacing human-driven cars. The tools for a more open, accessible, and flexible transportation future are still evolving. The best chapters may yet be written—but only if we ensure that our hard-won freedom to choose how we move doesn’t slip away.
David Reed works at the intersection of mobility and place, rethinking how people move and the spaces they move through. He founded SustainMobility, a practice that partners with real estate developers, cities, and campuses to create environments where movement feels purposeful and connected. He has more than a decade of experience leading and advising mobility companies. A lifelong urbanist and committed cyclist, David is drawn to the possibility of more livable cities.
Written by David Reed | Photography by Chessin Gertler