Boston's Old Bike Czar Is Back So Soon?


It was a big deal when the director of the Boston Bikes program, Nicole Freedman, left her post for a job as executive director of Maine Huts and Trails last April. So it’s odd to learn, via an announcement from the city today, that she’s returning to her old gig as the city’s bike czar after just a few months away.

When Freedman, a former Olympic cyclist, became the director of the new program back in 2007, she racked up a range of accomplishments, from instituting the Hubway bike-share system to laying out bike lanes and turning around Boston’s reputation as an unbikeable city. (She scored a place on our 50 Most Powerful list in the process.) She left us for Maine back in April, but in a press release sent Thursday, the city announced her return. The press release reads, in part:

After completing much of Phase I of the Boston Bikes program, Freedman departed the City for a short time in April 2012 to explore a new opportunity as Executive Director of Maine Huts and Trails in Kingfield, Maine. Kris Carter served as interim director during Freedman’s hiatus, and will now resume his role as Advisor to the Mayor.

“I’m so excited to be back in Boston, and grateful for the vision of the Mayor, and the work of Kris Carter and the team of people who have continued to lead Boston Bikes on a successful path,” Freedman said. “Over the past five years, the program has made tremendous strides, but there’s always more work to do. We’re looking forward to another successful year of cycling in Boston.”

When she announced her departure back in April, she said it’d come “after a lot of soul searching.” Seems like the job didn’t measure up as well as she thought it would, for whatever reason. But at any rate, if she keeps up the work she started here, we imagine bikers will only be glad to have her back.