Your city buses with bike racks?

[shootingstar]

Do your local transit buses have bike racks? In Canada, it's pretty recent. Only in last few years Metro Vancouver had all of their buses outfitted with bike racks. To my understanding many British Columbian municipalities are getting bike racks on their local buses also.

Here's ours:

Toronto is slowly getting their buses with bike racks. Think they started about 2 yrs. ago. or so.

I am aware that Seattle, Portland (?), etc. buses have them.

[Thorn]

Milwaukee County added racks a while back. It was quite the political mess.

Due to grant money, the county had to come up only 10% of the money to install the racks. 90% of the cost was "found money". For the $40K that the county needed to pay, the county supervisor vetoed the installation of the bike racks.

Needless to say the county board overruled the veto and now the buses have racks. And they're being used. Perhaps not as much as Mr Anti-Bike Supervisor would like, but they are used.

[Crankin]

They have them in Boston, too. I am not sure how many of the buses have them, but my son has used them quite a few times when it was raining hard or thundering and he didn't want to commute home from work.

[soprano]

We have them in Austin. All of the regular city buses take two bikes. They get used a lot; seeing a bus without a bike on the front is increasingly rare.

A few of the express commuter buses are the big coach/touring types and don't have racks, so the driver gets out and opens the cargo bay below and you stick your bike in there. It's OK if you're not too worried about wear and tear from the bike sliding around a bit.

We just got commuter train with bike hooks last March and I hear that they have lots of bicycle traffic from cyclists taking the train out to the suburbs for rides in the countryside. I'm on vacation next week and might have to do that myself!

[withm]

We have them in lower slower Sussex County. BUT we only have bus service from mid-May to mid-Sept. Fat lot of good that does.

[abejita]

Dallas has racks on some buses too...and I've even seen them being used!

[kimikaw]

Milwaukee County added racks a while back. It was quite the political mess.

Due to grant money, the county had to come up only 10% of the money to install the racks. 90% of the cost was "found money". For the $40K that the county needed to pay, the county supervisor vetoed the installation of the bike racks.

Needless to say the county board overruled the veto and now the buses have racks. And they're being used. Perhaps not as much as Mr Anti-Bike Supervisor would like, but they are used.

And what could that former county executive be up to these days? Oh yeah, that's right he's the governor who just cut all bike funding in the state, moved transit money into the general fund( which some think will cause that to disappear). And then there's that teacher thing. So sad in a state with a great start on a biking infrastructure.

Sorry to rant/ hijack...but was reading the old messages to make sue MKE was listed as having bike racks. And saw this story (which I didn't know)

[crazycanuck]

I often wonder why Perth doesn't add racks to the buses & brought it up at a sust transport meeting I went to this week. The Minister for Planning, A greens member (pushing for light rail) and a few others were there & so I asked.

I don't get why it's so hard...

[laura*]

Santa Cruz county California has a triple rack on the front of every bus. They do get used heavily - certain routes at certain times of the day are often at capacity. They've had racks for a long time - perhaps 20 years ago they had a four position rack on the back of the buses used on a few routes.

Santa Clara county California has double racks on probably every bus. They get used sporadically - but many of the routes run quite frequently. The light rail and heavy rail also both allow bikes.

[Tourbiker]

We have bike racks on the buses in Whistler (and Vancouver, as you all know by now).

Tip to cyclists in cities that are considering bike racks...
I've used the Vancouver ones occasionally, including when they originally installed as a trial. The bus drivers were initially against them - my friend is a transit supervisor and told me the attitude of the drivers who wanted the program to fail. The drivers were supposed to record in a log whenever a cyclist used the rack so most didn't. Therefore, I used the racks many times and made a note of whether or not the driver made a note in his log. I then submitted the list to BC Transit and Cycling BC, politely noting that I realize that many drivers want to sabatosh the program. Fortunately, for whatever reason, the bike racks were eventually added to all buses although it took many years. So, if your city is going through this process, let those responsible know that you appreciate their efforts and provide helpful feedback.

[shootingstar]

The bus drivers were initially against them - my friend is a transit supervisor and told me the attitude of the drivers who wanted the program to fail. The drivers were supposed to record in a log whenever a cyclist used the rack so most didn't. Therefore, I used the racks many times and made a note of whether or not the driver made a note in his log. I then submitted the list to BC Transit and Cycling BC, politely noting that I realize that many drivers want to sabatosh the program. Fortunately, for whatever reason, the bike racks were eventually added to all buses although it took many years. So, if your city is going through this process, let those responsible know that you appreciate their efforts and provide helpful feedback.

Whereas in Eugene, Oregon when we were vacationing there for a few days last year, bus drivers help cyclists put bike on bus rack --if necessary. Even explain certain things to newbies.

By the way, welcome to TE forums!

[Groundhog]

For my first time loading a bike on the Seattle-area Sound Transit bus, I was having a hard time and the nice (woman) driver came out to help me. I felt pretty stupid but she said that all the racks are different and some are really hard to use and that I shouldn't feel bad. I haven't had any trouble after the last time. Good thing because not all drivers are nice.

[badgercat]

Interesting to hear about drivers getting out to help--in my cities, I've always heard/seen (from the transit company website, etc, not from a huffy bus driver) that drivers are not allowed to exit the bus to help. A couple times, I've seen drivers try to shout instructions through the windshield, which wasn't terribly effective.

[northstar]

Jumping in-

We have them in Minneapolis. The drivers help load them for you.

Not to digress, but I know there is also a voucher program available - so if you bike to work and get rained out, you can hop on a bus with your bike, free of charge. I'm not sure how it works as I commute a different direction than downtown, where it would be convenient to use, but it sounds pretty darn cool.

[shootingstar]

So crazycanuck, any movement on bus bike racks?

Any more municipalities not yet names in this list of local buses with bike racks?