🚗😭 It’s time to break up with your car

It’s Thursday, Boston.

❄️ It may still be summer, but it’s already snowing in New England. OK fine, we’re talking about at the top of Mt. Washington, which saw its first measurable snowfall of the season on Monday. But somehow, the idea still fills us with dread.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Local college enrollment dip

• Trident gets a glow up

• Salem’s premiere dog lawyer

Up first…

 ALTERNATIVE TRANSIT

 Out: Cars. In: Cargos.

If the only thing stopping you from breaking up with your car is your weekly grocery run … this love child between a bike and a wheelbarrow might be a solution.

CargoB, the country’s first-ever electric cargo bikeshare, just kicked off operations in JP, Cambridge, Somerville, and soon, the Seaport. 

Here’s what to know:

🤔 CargoB is meant to address a specific transit problem. Namely, short-distance, urban trips where you need to carry something larger than can fit on a bike — be it groceries, kids, or even a Facebook Marketplace haul, according to co-founder Dorothy Fennell. Enter: CargoB, a small bikeshare fleet of electric cargo bikes that can carry about 300 pounds in a wheelbarrow-like apparatus.

🚗 The other goal? Moving Bostonians away from car dependency. Aside from the somewhat obvious cons of cost, environmental impact, traffic, and the nightmare of parking, driving in Boston can just be a pain. “I would love for you to arrive at the grocery store with a heart rate that's not elevated to some obscene number,” said Fennell, and “actually enjoy” the experience of commuting around the city.

So, we took a CargoB bike for a spin. Here’s what we thought:

🙋 Reserving a ride is similar to unlocking a Bluebike. After downloading the CargoB app, you can either walk up and scan a QR code to start a ride, or pre-reserve a bike for $10. The bikes are $2.50 to unlock and 25 cents a minute to ride. You have to return your bike to the same starting location when a ride ends. 

🚴 Riding the bike is a steep (but quick!) learning curve. “If you can ride a bicycle, you can ride this,” said Fennell, and we’d mostly agree. Even as confident non-cargo bikers, it was a little clunky and intimidating at first — we’re not used to steering wheelbarrows while barreling down a city street. But within a few minutes, we got the hang of it. And adding cargo (in this case, Gia’s roommate) into the bucket was shockingly no more difficult to manage than the empty bike, in part thanks to the e-boost.

💸 It’s pricier than a Bluebike, but likely cheaper than an Uber. A 26-minute ride with CargoB cost us $9.56. Compared with a $2.95 classic Bluebike, that’s a little steep, but it’s pretty much on par with the price of an e-Bluebike. And if a car is your alternative, it seems like a relatively small price to pay overall. 

📝 Thinking about taking a ride? Here’s our two cents: First-timers should give themselves extra time to get used to the bike: Watch this instructional video, ride the bike around a quieter area before you hit a busy road, and don’t be overly ambitious with your first trip. Overall, we found it easier than we thought, convenient, and we have to say, giving a pal a ride in a bike wheelbarrow is one of the more fun experiences we’ve had in Boston lately.

QUICK QUESTION

🚲 Would you ever ditch your car for a cargo bike

TOGETHER WITH THE MGH FUND

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CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🎓 Another local college saw a dip in enrollment for Black freshmen. Harvard is the latest elite school to report a drop in enrollment for Black first-year students this fall (down to 14% from 18% last year). This news follows the Supreme Court’s ruling that effectively banned race-conscious affirmative action in college admissions. It’s worth noting Harvard’s Hispanic enrollment grew slightly. Overall, early numbers from a small number of elite schools have been mixed: While Amherst and MIT have reported sharp drops in diversity, Princeton and Yale have held steady.

😅 Primary election turnout was pretty bad. But it could’ve been worse. 16.6% of eligible Mass. voters turned out for last Tuesday’s state primary election (around 841,000 of the state’s 5 million-plus eligible voters). Relatively speaking, those numbers aren’t bad (TBT to the 2016 state primary where turnout was only 8.8%). Experts suggest a few factors, such as the lack of sexy, contested races and the primary’s timing, for keeping turnout numbers down. After all, primary turnout topped 36% when former Rep. Joe Kennedy III tried to unseat Sen. Ed Markey in 2020. Now THAT was juicy.

📚 One of Boston’s most beloved bookstores just got a major glow up. Just in time for its 40th anniversary, Trident Booksellers and Cafe announced a new expansion that “transformed” its second floor. Post-reno, you’ll find more books, gifts, games, and discounted books, while the floor’s back half will be a private event space, aptly named “The Stacks.” To celebrate the big 4-0, Trident plans to host a free event on Oct. 5 with a side of free drinks and even free books. You can register for the event here. 

😭 Pour one out for Busy Bee. We can’t talk about restaurant openings this week without mentioning some closings. After serving classic American diner food for nearly 60 years, Busy Bee Restaurant & Diner in Brookline officially closed its doors due to the departure of a long-time chef and the owner’s feeling it was time to call it. But in a twist of good news on the closing front, Distraction Brewing in Roslindale, which announced plans to close in August, will apparently stay open after the sale of the brewery fell through. 

GIVEAWAY

Together with Olfactory NYC

Enter to win 2 Custom Scent Experiences at Olfactory NYC on Newbury! To enter, just refer a friend and have them accept your invite by the end of the day on Sept. 13, 2024. If you have already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below*

18+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.

MEDIA SPONSORSHIP

Summer may be ending, but the adventures are just beginning!

B-Side is teaming up with Keolis massAdventures, the organization bringing us endless car-free outings outside of Boston. On Sept. 15, you’re all invited to join the B-Side team on a guided kayaking trip, hosted by Boston influencer @instaiona. We’ll journey on the Commuter Rail from North Station to Ipswich, where we’ll paddle the stunning Castle Neck River at Crane Estate. And, since you’re a loyal B-Side subscriber, you get 15% off your tickets with code Bside15!

ONE LAST THING

Mass.’ premiere … dog lawyer

Is your pup a biter? Or considered a ‘dangerous dog’? Maybe you need help with a canine custody case. Well, there’s a lawyer for that. And he’s practicing right in our backyard.

Jeremy Cohen, a Salem-based lawyer, built a career out of representing pups and their owners after a life-changing experience overturning one pup’s death sentence. Since then, he’s become one of just a dozen or so full-time practicing pet lawyers in the country. From successfully overturning many other canine death sentences to educating landlords about emotional support animals, Cohen has been there, done that.

And just as good as the story of how he built his career? The stories of the pups and families he’s saved. You can read more about them here.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🐶 Thanks for reading! All we have to say is this: Green flag. 

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, The MGH Fund, for supporting local journalism and keeping our city healthy. 

🌮 The results are in: It looks like B-Side Certified is heading to Taco Azul. 38% of polled B-Siders say they want us to check them out. One reader said: “Gotta know if these really are the best tacos and margs in town.”

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