Vanshnookenraggen’s future MBTA map.

Boston’s big blank Boylston wall: The Globe’s Alex Beam criticizes Boston’s new Mandarin Oriental, whose long, flat facade lacks cafes or stores and (at least in Beam’s opinion) looms too darkly over the street.

The best Boston fantasy map yet: Vanshnookenraggen has a new and really nice looking future MBTA map combining commuter, heavy and light rail.

More free bikes: A Wisconsin college is offering free bikes to students who don’t bring a car. (I still ride the bike I got for free during college while interning at Microsoft.) WashCycle suggests DC schools take a page from this idea and contribute to SmartBike kiosks on their campuses.

Less free parking: New York is implementing performance parking in Greenwich Village and on a segment of Brooklyn’s Kings Highway.

Pro-bike, pro-pedestrian California politicians: The California legislature recently passed two important pieces of legislation: a Complete Streets Act, requiring local transportation plans to “meet the needs of … pedestrians, bicyclists, users of public transit, motorists, children, the elderly, and the disabled,” and Fair Share for Safety, “to ensure that the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians are addressed in the development of its safety programs.”