And how did the bus drivers react to you using the racks? Were they supportive?


I ride the bus quite a lot, and have done in just about all the places I've lived for the past couple decades. Yes, they are a good way to get around quite inexpensively.


When bike racks were installed on buses I saw three main issues:

1. For reasons I could not understand, in one of the cities I lived in, they installed bike racks on only two buses ... then ran those buses at random times in random places. You could never count on the next bus pulling up having a rack. In fact, since only two buses in the entire system had bike racks, chances are the next bus pulling up would not have a rack. After a few weeks of this, I learned that more often than not they were running the bike rack buses at night. And then, not surprisingly, they pronounced the program a failure. I don't know what has happened since.

But I have noticed something similar in other cities where random buses will have racks and you can't count on there being racks on the one you need.

2. In the case of the city I mentioned above, the two racks they installed were different. I think the idea was that they were trying out two different models to see which would be best. One was, apparently, quite easy to work with (from observation and discussions with other cyclists), the other was not, and created various issues and frustrations. Again, I have no idea what happened after they pronounced the program a failure.

If there are racks, they do need to be easy to use.

3. Driver attitude. In the city I mentioned above, the drivers were not allowed to leave their seats to help you load your bicycle, would not offer advice ... and if you took some time loading, their annoyance level rose. I never used the racks myself, but I watched several times as this happened. Drivers got quite agitated. I also overheard drivers talking ... and they did not like the racks.

That's why I ask about the drivers ... it sounds like most of your buses have racks so the first issue isn't a problem for you. It sounds like your racks are easy to use. But how did the driver react to having to wait a moment while you loaded your bicycle? Were they quite supportive of it?


Rowan and I are in the process of getting folding bikes, and I'm hoping that we might be able to take those onto buses. I'm even toying with the idea of taking the bus halfway to work and then cycling the rest of the way ... or something like that.



Edit: I looked it up, and I see that the city in question is trying racks again. However, they are only on 30 buses on 3 routes. And they are all removed for the winter.