Bikes on Buses

[User]

 

[slugonabike]

Well done, let's hope this spreads to other areas.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

Lancaster City Council has had racks on the back of the buses round here for about six or seven years.

They apparently have never carried a single bike in all that time.

 

[Riverman]

To be honest I can see some practical limitations to buses carrying bikes given the frequency of stops and the speed at which people have to get off. How are these things overcome?

 

[DTD]

On holiday in Las Vegas last year, noticed most of the buses had bike racks on the front.

 

[HLaB]

Further west, Dumfries & Galloway have some sort of system according to CAPS, 2010:

The Scottish Government will seek to encourage modal integration where​

possible while mindful that the carriage of bicycles on buses remains a matter​

for individual bus operators. For example, Stagecoach often uses a bikefriendly​

bus on the No.81 service between Lockerbie and Dumfries. The​

regional transport partnership (SWESTRANS) subsidises a bike-friendly bus​

service between Dumfries and Stranraer (No.500 service) and it has​

aspirations to extend this service through to connect with trains from​

Edinburgh at Lockerbie. Dumfries and Galloway Council also still operates the​

Bike Bus shown below.

View attachment Bike Bus.bmp

 

[ColinJ]

In theory, some of our little Hebden Bridger buses can carry bikes, but I can't remember ever seeing one doing so.

Suggesting that bike carriage should be booked at least one day ahead doesn't exactly encourage tired cyclists to take to the bus to get up a hill.

 

[david1701]

would be dead handy, my nearest train station (Exeter) is 50 miles away and if I could get a bus there then I could cycle anywhere in the country

 

[Riverman]

In theory, some of our little Hebden Bridger buses can carry bikes, but I can't remember ever seeing one doing so.

Suggesting that bike carriage should be booked at least one day ahead doesn't exactly encourage tired cyclists to take to the bus to get up a hill.

It's a shame bikes aren't taken into account in bus design. They should have a kinda horizontal docking system at the back of the bus that you could simply wheel your bike into and lock it in place before boarding.

 

[marinyork]

It's a shame bikes aren't taken into account in bus design. They should have a kinda horizontal docking system at the back of the bus that you could simply wheel your bike into and lock it in place before boarding.

Docking at the back of the bus when trials were conducted in the UK was why it was dropped (bus services survive that can take bikes here and there). It's much better to have carriers at the front of buses.

 

[Echolalia]

North west Scotland in Ullapool has the fabled Bike Bus! But having just seen this...

http://www.timdearmancoaches.co.uk/

It may be no longer as of April! Gutted.

 

[dellzeqq]

the CTC has a bike/bus expert in the redoubtable form of Dave Holladay. If you'd like advice, or have anything to share, he's your man.

 

[Riverman]

Bring back bus conductors... problems with rear racks solved.

Also I know this sounds crazy but how about the roof? Also a double decker with the lower deck just for bikes and disabled people would be interesting.

 

[domd1979]

Also I know this sounds crazy but how about the roof? Also a double decker with the lower deck just for bikes and disabled people would be interesting.

I think there are some summer services in Snowdonia that use deckers to carry bikes on bottom deck.

Close to my neck of the woods, Moorlands Connect, a demand responsive bus service in the Staffordshire Moorlands (Peak District bit) carries bikes - www.moorlandsconnect.info

 

[fimm]

My boyfriend grew up in Austria - specifically, his parents live in a little village on the side of the valley above Innsbruck. He tells me he'd often cycle down to school in Innsbruck, and then stick the bike in the locker space under the bus for the journey home! It is about 200m ascent IIRC. (He would cycle home too, sometimes, this might explain why he's so good at cycling up hills...)