Bike on the Front of a Bus?

jamesdemien

I was wondering if this makes me lazy, not really a bike commuter or just a tool...and if anyone else out there puts there bike on the front of a bus, ours have those racks that look like they're going to eject your bike over every bump, do you worry about someone grabbing it at stop lights...

I usually sit up front, in the seat reserved for old ladies, and watch it pretty close but I am always worried someone is going to grab it and run with it. Which could prove comical cause its a fixie...

Anyway, if you guys use the bus rack let me know your feelings about security and whatnot...

__________________
LeMond Alpe-d' Huez (Fixed conversion)
Lemond Zurich
Gary Fisher Paragon
Red Line RL430 (20 inch) I found at Bicycle Works

Where I volunteer on Saturdays to help little kids learn to wrench on thier bikes http://www.stlbikeworks.com

Bike Parts | My Blog | MO DWI Defense | Voltron T-shirts

wALDOsLACK

They just put them on all the buses here in Va this year. I see folks using them all the time. I've yet to use one though but I have some fragments to throw out.

Dude, All that worry & for what? It's not very likely someone will steal the bike from the rack. Most bus drivers will alert you when something like this is happening or is about to happen. They know who put a bike on front.

Seems the time to worry would be if there were 2 or more bikes on the rack. Someone might be tempted to remove yours instead of the thiers. So in this instance I'd keep the ol' guard up.

Eden

If you volunteer at bikeworks you must be in Seattle. I've put my bike the rack a few times and never felt I had to worry too much - of course I ride a 44cm frame so not too many people could ride it.... I do like to keep any eye on it just to see if it is bouncing around too much. but theft if much less on my mind.
I wouldn't worry too much about someone grabbing a bike from the rack unless it was a really easy to recognize and really expensive model that could be tempting to a thief. Otherwise I think Metro has more problems with people leaving bikes on the rack and forgetting them (or as sometimes is the case ditching a stolen bike on the rack). I've heard at any time they have a large number of bikes in their lost and found.
Of course if someone does try to swipe your fixie it could be really really funny....

Ike90

At last, a subject upon which I am something of an expert.

I too, live in the Seattle area, and I bike, or bus-and-bike, to work about 90% of the time, year-round, and have for the past four years.

The racks themselves are pretty solid. My bus gets up to near 70 m.p.h. for about ten miles, and I've never seen a bike fall off. In terms of theft, I can't imagine it happening, but I suppose it could.

I was on the bus in November of '04 when it struick a deer, which screwed-up my bike pretty well. I'm sure Metro would have paid for it, but I didn't file. I figured they've done plenty for me, and they didn't plant the deer out there on the road.

Using the Bus and Bike service is certainly not being lazy: If it works and it's an alternative to single-occupant commuting, you are to be commended. I live 17 miles from work, and while I do "ride the distance" often in good weather, in the winter I'll use the bus to cut my round-trip ride to less than seven miles. That's not lazy, it's smart.

The one drawback to the bus & bike is now approaching. With dry and sunny skies, the "fair weather" cyclists are coming out in force, and they can suck-up the available spaces on the bus in a hurry. Drivers aren't supposed to let bicyclists bring their frames onto the bus, but a few will. Mostly though, I often get "closed out" of the rack during the summer months, and either ride further on and try to catch the next one, or ride the distance.

Overall, it's a great system, and I highly recommend it. The best thing about it is that it gives you extra flexibility. I vary where I get on and off both on the way to work and on the way home. It gives me great variety in my commute, and a ton of options ... as long as the rack isn't full!

Ike90

It looks like St. Louis to me.

Eden

I should have clicked on the link - we have a place called BikeWorks up here too that kids can go to learn to fix their own bikes and earn a bike by helping to fix others - I had no idea that they had programs in other cities - cool. They almost got my old Trek 420, but a kids group home right at the end of my block was looking for bikes just when I got my new one so I gave it to them instead.

jamesdemien

I wish... Actually I volunteer at he bikeworks in st louis...It's a similar program

__________________
LeMond Alpe-d' Huez (Fixed conversion)
Lemond Zurich
Gary Fisher Paragon
Red Line RL430 (20 inch) I found at Bicycle Works

Where I volunteer on Saturdays to help little kids learn to wrench on thier bikes http://www.stlbikeworks.com

Bike Parts | My Blog | MO DWI Defense | Voltron T-shirts

cole505

I used to commute to work on my bike (15 miles), got tired of puting up with the idiocy of the cagers. Now I ride to the bus stop, toss my bike on the front and Hakuna Matata. As far as security of the bike, get a small U-Lock and lock the rear tire to the frame before you put it on the bus. I'm not worried about people stealing my $180 Marin, its just I don't want to walk home while wearing cleats (not cool).

Tenspeeder

Here in the Lower Mainland (read: Vancouver and area)...our local busses have racks in front of the busses that allow for TWO bikes to be transported.

That's a problem where I live, because the busses out here run once an hour.

THe racks are pretty sturdy: there's a latch or hook that runs from the base of the rack to the top of the front wheel. IT's advantageous for larger wheels, but sometimes the thicker wheels don't fit very well.

I've never enquired about whether there is any insurance concerning damage.