Canberra's bus company ACTION launched the first trial of bike racks on buses in Australia. This is what ACTION said in their media release on 14 February 1997:
"ACTION will be launching bicycle racks which will be fitted to the fronts of buses and will allow cyclists to reach their destination more quickly by using an environmentally aware means of transport. The first phase of this is to evaluate the bike racks by ACTION operations staff and interested cycling groups.
Bicycle racks are extensively used in some North American cities and if the evaluation is positive the bicycle racks will be eventually fitted to all 333 services which operate between the town centres of Belconnen, Civic, Woden and Tuggeranong.
The racks securely carry two bicycles of almost any style and are quick and easy to load and unload. Preliminary tests on the bicycle racks shows that the bicycles remain fixed securely in place even in the event of heavy braking, and the racks do not scratch bicycles.
As this initiative is the first in Australia, parallel operational and legal evaluation will also be undertaken by ACTION as community and user feedback is assessed."
Roger Payne, ACTION's chief engineer, told me at the launch that the bicycle racks are similar to the design used successfully for some years on buses in Seattle. He currently has two buses fitted with the racks, which will be used for the evaluation trials. I understand these will take place off public roads. If successful ACTION plan to fit all 33 articulated buses with the racks at a total cost of $45,000.
ACTION expect to complete the evaluations and have the buses on the roads within four to five months.
Bike racks are unlikely to be seen on buses in 1997. The holdup appears to be related to concerns by the Federal Office of Road Safety that bike racks on the front of buses are too hazardous to be allowed, despite their increasing use in the USA.
This is what's happening in Seattle:
Bikes on Buses - Seattle, Washington
by Tracy Zafian
Over the past twenty years, Seattle has developed one of the largest and most successful bikes on buses programs in the country. All 1,200 Seattle Metro buses now have bike racks, as do 20 percent of the 600 vehicle vanpool fleet. Seattle Metro will fit additional vanpool vans with bike racks upon request. The bus bike racks hold up to two bicycles, and the vanpool racks from 2 to 4 bicycles. Seattle Metro has over a quarter of a million bike rack users per year.
This program has been successful, in part, because of its large promotion and information campaigns, including brochures on the program overall, and instructions on how to load and unload bikes from the racks. Information is also available over the Internet.
The program has not been without a few problems. For one, drivers have difficulty seeing the bike racks, which are mounted on the front of the buses. As a result, sometimes the racks have gotten damaged. Also, sometimes the bus racks are full, since they only hold two bikes, and cyclists end up waiting for the next bus. Lastly, some people forget to take their bikes with them when they get off the bus. In response, Seattle Metro developed educational programs and brochures to address lost and found as well as safety issues for those removing and loading bicycles.
The Seattle Metro experience is a good one to consider when developing bikes-on-buses programs for your community.
This is what's happening in other parts of Australia:
"TransAdelaide's Morphettville Depot is considering the viability and safety of introducing bicycle racks to the front of buses. If successful TransAdelaide will be the only public transport provider in Australia to offer the service. Bike racks are used extensively in the United States where they continue to grow in popularity. California's Sunline Transit Agency carries around 6000 bikes each month on the racks and is trialling a new rack which increases carrying capacity from two to three per vehicle."
Reported from Transit Australia, December 1997
Postscript:
The bike rack trial was finally abandoned in 1997 when advice from the
Federal Office of Road Safety stated that "bicycle racks fitted to the front of buses
are not
technically essential for the operation of the buses and are likely to increase the risk
of bodily injury to persons, eg pedestrians. Therefore, they do no comply with clause 12,
External and Internal Protrusions, of ADR42/03 and should not be fitted" quoted from
FORS correspondence to ACT Government October 1997.
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