No Driving - Bikes and Buses?

I've biked to work several times over the last few years. It's a 4 1/2 mile ride - not too bad, except the last mile has some heavy traffic and goes through kind of a rough neighborhood.

Well, a few weeks ago, I had a couple of seizures and have been diagnosed with a seizure disorder (which is a more modern term for epilepsy). Since Kansas law says you can't drive until you're 6 months seizure-free, I've been considering riding my bike to work again. I've had a lot of dizziness since the seizures. Plus the seizure-control meds made me really drowsy at first, but I'm finally getting used to them. Between getting to feeling better and going a few weeks without seizures, plus knowing that I did have enough warning prior to the seizures that I'd have time to get off a bike to safety, I might try biking to work in the next week or two.--

Another option is riding my bike part way and riding the bus part way (to avoid the bad traffic area and not have to ride in the dark). Our bus service isn't the greatest, and since buses run every 30 minutes, riding my bike to a bus stop to avoid a late-running-bus-that-misses-the-last-connection-of-the-day is an option. Around here, bikes are allowed on buses "at the discretion of the driver." I've seen posts about taking a bike on a city bus. Do your buses have a place for bike storage or do you have to take them to the back and keep them in the aisle? Do you have trouble getting your bike on the bus? It looks pretty tricky to me, and I've never seen anyone try and take a bike on the bus around here.--

Deb

Sorry to hear about your seizure disorder Deb, I hope the meds work well for you.

The buses here have bike racks mounted on the front, you might check with your bus company and see what they offer.

Many transit system have added front bike racks to their busses--check with your local transit system to see if yours has racks. They are easy to use.

Unless you have a quick folding bike like a Tikit, getting a bike on a bus would be difficult.

If your system does not currently provide bike racks on their busses, it's worth asking them if and when they are planning on it.

Best of luck with all that :)

Buses here have the front racks too. I had a somewhat difficult time getting my bike on and off the trolley in san diego (granted, I had a heavy rear bad on it) - but there were stairs and they weren't wide enough for me and my bike. I'd think the bus (with no rack) would be worse.

Is there an alternate route to the busy road? The bad section - it depends on how bad it is. Many aren't *that* bad, and varying your route/time will keep you from being an obvious easy target.

Good luck to you!

CA

I'm an avid bus/biker and it's very convenient and easy. Hopefully the buses in your area have bus racks on the front of the bike. Putting a bike on the inside of the bus would be very inconvenient for you and I wouldn't trust "the discretion of the bus driver." Many are nice but some can be really ornery even about the rack on the front of the bus!

I'm so sorry to hear of your seizure disorder. It's bad enough to have that and then suddenly not to be able to drive a car is another blow. But you may find that you really like bus/bike commuting. I certainly do and haven't driven the car since.

You can also contact the "paratransit" division of your bus company. By law, thanks to the ADA, bus companies are required to supply transportation to people who have trouble using their regular buses and if they don't have front racks, that would certainly qualify. Who knows they might even decide to add a rack to the route you would be using.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Our buses don't have front racks, but I'll have to check into that some more. I just can't imagine carrying my mountain bike up the steps and then down the aisle of the bus. Surely the racks aren't too expensive - less expensive than setting up buses with a storage area inside - and the City might go for it. I hadn't thought about the ADA laws coming into play, either.--

Deb