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06-14-06, 11:25 PM
Hey all, long time lurker, very new at actually posting but I thought I wanted to share this to all in Arizona at the very least.
Today, after getting out of school at ASU I decided to take the Flash bus (a free full-sized bus that just goes in circles around campus to bring people to their parking lots) since my brother and family friend did not have bikes with them.
Well, after getting into the bus with my folding bike (downtube fs) and sitting contently chatting for a couple minutes, the bus driver hollers at me telling me that I HAVE to put my bike into the bike rack outside the bus. I politely try to explain that folding bikes that are all folded up are allowed in public transportation, but he refused even mocking me in a subtle way. I grudgingly put my bike in the rack, obviously not designed for a petite bike like this, the spring-loaded clamp that holds down one of the tires on the bike to prevent it from jumping off didn't even securely hold down the bike. I was worried the entire time that my bike would be flung off the front of the bus if he took a turn too hard, and in fact the bike did precariously shift every time he took a turn. Needless to say, I was VERY angry and got down his name and numbers after getting to the parking lot.
Well, I gave a call the Valley Metro, they have kindly e-mailed me a copy of bike on bus policy and guidelines that specifically say folding bikes are allowed in buses; which I have linked to below:
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1566/mail9po.th.jpg (http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mail9po.jpg)
So, for those of you that do some commuting in Arizona, print out or save this image just in case your bus driver mistakes your folding bike for "just another bike." This was the first time out of 4 rides with my bike in a bus that a bus driver has done this to me, the others were always amazed and very interested in learning more about them.
Today, after getting out of school at ASU I decided to take the Flash bus (a free full-sized bus that just goes in circles around campus to bring people to their parking lots) since my brother and family friend did not have bikes with them.
Well, after getting into the bus with my folding bike (downtube fs) and sitting contently chatting for a couple minutes, the bus driver hollers at me telling me that I HAVE to put my bike into the bike rack outside the bus. I politely try to explain that folding bikes that are all folded up are allowed in public transportation, but he refused even mocking me in a subtle way. I grudgingly put my bike in the rack, obviously not designed for a petite bike like this, the spring-loaded clamp that holds down one of the tires on the bike to prevent it from jumping off didn't even securely hold down the bike. I was worried the entire time that my bike would be flung off the front of the bus if he took a turn too hard, and in fact the bike did precariously shift every time he took a turn. Needless to say, I was VERY angry and got down his name and numbers after getting to the parking lot.
Well, I gave a call the Valley Metro, they have kindly e-mailed me a copy of bike on bus policy and guidelines that specifically say folding bikes are allowed in buses; which I have linked to below:
http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/1566/mail9po.th.jpg (http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mail9po.jpg)
So, for those of you that do some commuting in Arizona, print out or save this image just in case your bus driver mistakes your folding bike for "just another bike." This was the first time out of 4 rides with my bike in a bus that a bus driver has done this to me, the others were always amazed and very interested in learning more about them.