Texas - bike rack on Houston METRO!!

Hey everyone! I have awesome news. I sent an email (months ago) to Sandra Aponte Salazar, part of the
the Houston Metro department and she sent me a response today.

My email that she replied to:
Name: Jason [view details] Title:
Email: ********@yahoo.com Association: college student
Contact Notes: [edit notes]
Inquiry:
I have a folding bike that I brought with me to head to my college campus. The bus driver said I could not ride with my folding bike. She posed no other alternative other than to stop riding my bike and start riding the bus!!!

This is unfair. Other states like San Diego and Pittsburgh, to name a few, have racks in their buses for bikes.

Houston has one of the worst pollutions in the U.S. Although METRO has implemented their HYBRID buses, they have yet to solve the dilemma of bikes. Alot of bus riders commute not only by foot but by bicycles.

Metro should implement bike racks right away. We are lagging behind with the other states.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Jason


Dear Jason Paez-

Thank you for your message regarding the incident with your folding bike.

I had delayed responding your letter because I was aware of discussions within METRO about having bike racks on buses and I did not want to respond until I knew for certain when the plan was going to take effect.

Like you, other bicycle enthusiasts had been asking METRO to accommodate bicycles on board our buses. METRO staff has been working hard to make this happen, and now we are closer than ever to make this come true.

The attached is an invitation to news conference to kick-off the program. More information will become available at that time. If you are unable to attend the event, a news release will be posted online with all the other news releases.



Thanks again for bringing this up to our attention.



Sincerely,

Sandra Aponte Salazar

Communications Supervisor

ss35@ridemetro.org

713.739.4694

832.217.9105


Here is the flier Sandra Aponte Salazar attached!!
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w122/corazon21/metro.jpg

The meeting of putting bike racks on the bus will be this Friday, April 20th 2007; 1900 Main St. (in the lobby), Houston TX 77002; 11:30am-1pm

please come because this issue is looong overdue. SPREAD THE NEWS!!! I will be there with my folding bike:p

About bloody time. Metro has had the money and plans to do this for years, they just haven't done it. Nice to see progress at long last.

Nice work! Way to get involved in Houston. :)

Damn I missed it, and I was off that day. So how does one attach the bike to the bus without it flying off in a quick stop or falling off on a big pot hole and being run over the bus I am riding?? Or if multiple bike riders are on one bus??

I missed the Houston rollout, but I used bike racks on buses when I lived in Ann Arbor, MI.

Each bus had a pull down rack on the front. There was space for two bikes. You lifted your bike up on to the rack, dropped the wheels into the slot, then pulled a spring loaded arm with a padded U-shaped hook up over the front wheel. It worked very well, thouhg one time I didn't get the hook up on the tire high enough and the bike was really wobbling. The driver let me fix it at a stoplight. If the racks were full (which happened a lot in rainstorms), you had to wait for the next bus (or give up and ride).

Looks like Metro has a similar setup http://blogs.ridemetro.org/blogs/write_on/archive/2007/04/20/Shifting-Gears_3A00_-Bike-Racks-on-Buses-_2800_Finally_21002900_.aspx (http://blogs.ridemetro.org/blogs/write_on/archive/2007/04/20/Shifting-Gears_3A00_-Bike-Racks-on-Buses-_2800_Finally_21002900_.aspx)

They've announced that all their local buses will have racks by December of this year. That's fantastic news, and I hope they stay on schedule.

I missed the Houston rollout, but I used bike racks on buses when I lived in Ann Arbor, MI.

Each bus had a pull down rack on the front. There was space for two bikes. You lifted your bike up on to the rack, dropped the wheels into the slot, then pulled a spring loaded arm with a padded U-shaped hook up over the front wheel. It worked very well, thouhg one time I didn't get the hook up on the tire high enough and the bike was really wobbling. The driver let me fix it at a stoplight. If the racks were full (which happened a lot in rainstorms), you had to wait for the next bus (or give up and ride).

Looks like Metro has a similar setup http://blogs.ridemetro.org/blogs/write_on/archive/2007/04/20/Shifting-Gears_3A00_-Bike-Racks-on-Buses-_2800_Finally_21002900_.aspx (http://blogs.ridemetro.org/blogs/write_on/archive/2007/04/20/Shifting-Gears_3A00_-Bike-Racks-on-Buses-_2800_Finally_21002900_.aspx)

They've announced that all their local buses will have racks by December of this year. That's fantastic news, and I hope they stay on schedule.


Thanks for the info, I got rid of my car over a year ago and decided to get a decent bike and this could really help out. :)