Bike racks on Buses:
I'm not overly sure that's the best idea to pursue. The TTC spent about $200,000 on it one busy route and it was used by 20 riders. That's a pretty hefty price per rider. Imagine doing that on every route.
Although that video does seem nice, and it is interesting that the one guy mentions there is no decrease in travel time, you can pretty clearly see on almost all occasions where they show someone loading a bike, the bus is waiting (even if minimally.) It's interesting that New York, the only city where transit mode share is really significant, seems to be the one without bike racks. To my recollection, much like most European and especially Asian systems. There was a study a couple years ago that supposedly calculated that if the MTA (New York) stopped collecting cash fares and let everyone ride for free, that they would actually do better financially - due to much lower dwell times, thereby increase route speeds.
Another aspect that has to be regarded is the trip typology this would entail in the first place. Most likely both an origin and a destination that is sparsely served. If it's the origin, for sure there is no need for a rack, as is more often than not the case in a city with at least a good portion of employment in rather concentrated areas, then you can simply bike to the station and leave it there.
The intent may indeed be to make the last mile much easier, where there are no connecting routes to the eventual destination. Thus, it is relatively safe to assume that there will be few alightings (or boardings) at such a place and thus making the unloading (or loading) of the bike all the more a majority factor in the bus dwell time.
My underlying point is that bike racks on buses moreso seem to be evident in less successful transit systems, where perhaps the time (time lost) of captive riders is of less consequence and is moreso a service that overcaters to a specific niche rider, who might of otherwise taken the car - and in a city where car ownership is high, and parking in most areas is cheap (FREE,) that is often going to look like a better option.
Furthermore, the bike racks can really quickly become a victim of their own success as well as becoming increasingly more of a burden on the system as a whole. The space on the rack is obviously rather limited, and say hypothetically that there is high turnover on the racks themselves, it is undoubtable that that will have a negative effect on the dwell times - 3 or 4 people loading bikes, one after another. And there is the issue of what is pretty easy
theft.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker
The big issue with bike share is you need docking stations near your destination, not just your starting point.
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And I do have to raise a point here, because this is not true. While most bike share systems do make use of stations, this isn't inherent to bike shares as some allow the user to literally park the bike wherever they want such as Deutschebahn's Call a Bike system. I don't recall if there exists a broader term for these types of systems. (4th Generation Bike Shares...)
I do think though, that largely for reasons already stated, that Calgary would have to employee such a Call-a-Bike system, but I'd be wary of the honesty levels of Calgarians on average, as they are definitely easier to steal. A hybrid model perhaps?
My slightly more subtle underlying point here being that a decent bike share is probably a better focus of resources than bus bike racks. They have a lower need for a built out network to be equally effective, as "stations" can be places in strategic locations to start with, act to better compliment transit as opposed to hinder it with increasing success, serve a more varied trip purpose and user group, can additionally revenue generate and although still fairly high in initial costs, likely no where near equipping most every bus with a rack, along with the points previously mentioned in other posts.
But, if resources are drawn from other even more costly modes (ie, the private car and roads) then I wouldn't necessarily say bus bike racks are a terrible thing to pursue.
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Most buses don't have one but you'll be hard pressed to go downtown or on a major road and not see a bus with one during summer months. I recall storage being the number one issue with them.
or cold weather cities like Minneapolis and Milwaukee
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