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Reposted from the transp-l mailing list:

(SCElectroN@aol.com) forwarded:
>
> Date:   Fri, Nov 14, 1997 7:00 AM PDT
> Subj:    City Cracks Down on Bike Couriers
> 
>       By PAISLEY DODDS
>       BOSTON (AP) - Marilyn Green considered herself a street-savvy
> pedestrian until she was clipped by a bicycle messenger racing the
> clock.
>       ``I was on the sidewalk and - bam - this guy pushes me out of
> the way,'' said Green, a 47-year-old telephone service worker.
> ``But I got mad, and I pushed him and his bike into a car.''
>       The entire city seems to be pushing back after a bank executive
> was critically injured when he was sideswiped by a courier. William
> Spring, a 62-year-old vice president at the Federal Reserve Bank of
> Boston and a member of the Boston School Committee, wound up in a
> coma after the Oct. 30 accident yards from his home.
>       ``Immediate action is needed to curb the safety hazards created
> by discourteous and reckless bicycle messengers,'' said John
> Hamill, president of Fleet Bank and a member of the Boston Chamber
> of Commerce.
>       On Thursday, the chamber voted to send letters to businesses
> urging them to steer clear of unlicensed couriers and to blacklist
> those with bad attitudes. The city has about 500 registered
> couriers.
>       Even Boston's aggressive taxi drivers say the couriers rattle
> them.
>       ``They swerve in front of me all the time,'' cabbie Domingo
> Ferrufine said. ``They're crazy.''
>       For $20 and a trip to the police station for a background check,
> anyone can become a messenger. Some skip the formalities. Few have
> liability insurance.
>       Registered messengers are issued orange patches with license
> numbers, but Boston courier Ted Reiderer said some of his
> colleagues don't wear the patches for fear that people will
> complain about them to the courier companies or authorities.
>       To deal with the growing concern, a special task force has been
> set up to consider upping regulations for Boston messengers. One
> proposal would require insurance for couriers - something that New
> York, a city with about 1,000 couriers, has been unable to adopt.
>       Those in the industry said they've heard the criticism before.
>       San Francisco, which has 600 couriers and few regulations, has
> seen a similar backlash, said Ben Green of Western Messenger
> Service.
>       ``It seems like we go through stretches where bike messengers
> get blamed for things,'' he said. ``It's always a battle.''
>       Regulations and tougher enforcement puts pressure on the courier
> business, already shrinking as businesses turn to technology like
> fax machines and e-mail, said Al Smith of Quick Trip Courier in New
> York.
>       ``We're blue-collar workers afraid of losing our jobs,'' added
> Reiderer, a 27-year-old messenger with a mechanics jacket, black
> satchel and walkie-talkie. ``We may be young, and may not look
> pretty, but most of us follow the rules.''     
--
####    |\^/|     Colin R. Leech     ag414 or crleech@freenet.carleton.ca
#### _|\|   |/|_  Civil engineer by training, transport planner by choice.
#### >         <  Opinions are my own. You may consider them shareware.
####  >_./|\._<   "If you can't return a favour, pass it on." - A.L. Brown