Bicycles

25
Sep

2012

“Bikes on Board” — a Bike Transit Integration issue

Bikes on Board. CC image by Flickr user Richard Masoner / Cyclelicious

This is a guest post by Scott Lane.

As gas prices keep escalating, many people are turning away from cars as their primary mode of transportation. For a growing minority of us it is a combination of cars, bikes and buses. For those that like exercise and need to make the first and last leg of their commute faster than walking, biking is a good alternative.

The great news is that more are riding. The bad news is sometimes there is no room for bikes on the bus.

Most buses reach their bike carrying capacity with just 2 bicycles.

During non-commute hours this is normally not an issue on most bus lines. But on many “backbone” bus lines only having the ability to secure two bikes on the front of a bus simply doesn’t work. Then what? Some agencies allow bikes to be brought on board, but this is according to the judgment of the individual driver. This may not sound like a big deal until 2-3 buses in a row already have the (2 bike) front bike rack already full.

You’ll have a much better chance to get your bikes onto trains and light rail as these modes have more room to accomodate them.

In the SF Bay Area it was advocates that have pushed CalTrain to drastically introduce capacity. Some are pushing BART to loosen restrictions as well.

On buses it is much harder to solve this issue than on light rail and trains. Most buses only have capacity for two bikes on the front of buses, with no permanent/semi-permanent interior bike capacity.

The Highway 17 Express has three bike slots on the front of each bus.

A wonderful exception to this generalization can be seen on the Santa Cruz Metro/VTA/Amtrak Highway 17 Express — a popular route that travels over Highway 17 between San Jose and Santa Cruz. It has three slots on the front and additional capacity inside for two more. But still, sometimes all of the exterior and interior capacity is filled, requiring bike riders to wait for the next bus. On two occasions the driver allowed an additional bike inside the bus (only because I offered to help arrange the bikes into a more tightly packed configuration).

The key question is how can we increase bicycle capacity without significantly affecting the non-biking riders? And how can these bikes be loaded where they don’t affect the ingress/egress. Or become possible theft targets.

  • added bike racks/storage lockers at bus stops
  • added external bike capacity
  • added internal bike capacity

These three examples are meant to engage conversation. Each has very obvious limitations, which can be found here. There certainly are other possibilites, many of which might be much better than the three listed here. What are your suggestions?

There is much research on this and blogs that have been looking into “Bikes on Board” buses, light rail and trains.

Research: Rutgers, LA Metro/Alta, MTI, FHWA and McGill
Blogs: Bike restrictions in NYC area, BicyclingInfo, StevenCanPlan, TheCityFix, BikePortland and a google search for Bikes On Board



About the author:
Scott Lane is an avid bicyclist, trail user and user of local alternative transportation.
He is involved in local non-profits in the Santa Clara Valley that support non-automotive transportation.



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30
Aug

2012

World’s First ‘Invisible’ Bike Helmet: The Hövding

Yeah, but can I get it in paisley?

Do bicycle helmet laws help protect cyclists?

On the one hand, yes, helmets reduce serious injuries to cyclists so presumably a law that mandates helmet usage will reduce injuries.

On the other hand, however, are the people who make the not illogical point that people don’t like helmets. Helmets mess up a cyclist’s hair, they make one sweat more and they just generally look stupid. These people argue that because of these reasons, helmet laws actually reduce cycling usage, thereby defeating the point of the legislation.

This counter point (and others) has generated enough attention that even a cycle helmet advocacy site has taken the time to assemble much of the research against helmet laws.

Enter into this never-ending debate, the Hövding – the world’s first ‘invisible’ bike helmet.

The Hövding is the brainchild of Swedish (of course, Sweden) industrial designers Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin who recognized that “Swedish cyclists were extremely reluctant to wear helmets and were critical of the possibility they might be made mandatory for adult cyclists.”

'Invisible' might be a touch of an overstatement.

More airbag for your head than “invisible” helmet, it’s an ingenious – but expensive contraption. Starting at $600, the Hövding is out of reach for all but the most fashion-conscious amongst us. There is also some question as to the effectiveness of the device and whether or not it would be compliant with strict North American helmet laws.

Whether the Hövding catches on or not (and while I hope it does, I suspect the price point will prevent it from doing so) at least we have people like Haupt and Alstin who understand the human dimension of the products they’re designing. Too often when we design products, laws, buildings or spaces we forget that the end user is almost always a person.

We may not like to admit it (especially to ourselves), but people are highly irrational and illogical. Even if a bicycle helmet may save our life, there are many of us out there who simply won’t wear one if it ruins our perfect coif. It ain’t rational, but it’s reality.

Haupt and Alstin recognized that and designed around it.

We in the planning and policy-making professions should take a lesson.



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21
Sep

2011

Groningen, Bicycle Capital of the World

Bicycle parking stall outside Groningen Main Station. Image by flickr user Daniel Sparing.

Yesterday we had a quick little contest to see how many people could name the city in the western world with the highest percentage of cyclists. The answer was . . .

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10
Jun

2011

Give Casey Neistat His 50 Bucks Back!

For all you bicycle enthusiasts, frankie g sends along this hilarious (and educational) video about the current state of cycling in New York City:




 



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18
Jan

2010

Kolelinia

Kolelinia Aerial Cable Support System for Bicycles

I was recently sent a link to the fascinating Kolelinia aerial cable support system for bicycles. While not cable propelled, per se, it clearly uses cables and is well worth exploring.

Created by architect Martin Angelov, the Kolelinia allows cyclists to travel in mid-air above the line of traffic. Cyclists follow narrow u-shaped furrows supported by two aerial cables. cyclists are then attached to a third safety cable via harness and carabiner.

There are several questions I have about the concept (interestingly, they’re not so very different than questions I’ve had to answer about CPT): Does the safety wire prevent the bicycle from falling, or just the cyclist? How do cyclists pass one another? What about snow and ice build-up in the furrow? I can’t seem to find the answers to these questions, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.

The Kolelinia reminds me of a past proposal by Chris Hardwicke called velo-city:

velo-city

Hardwicke’s concept was certainly intriguing and garnered a massive amount of attention, but like similar concepts before it, velo-city suffered from one major flaw: Economics. The cost to build such corridors (not to mention maintain and operate) were such that the concept never took off.

Could the Kolelinia solve velo-city’s economic problem? Possibly, but who knows. Increased cycling is going to be one of several major changes our urban centres will see in the future and the more people think about it the better. So here’s what I’d like to see:

Lock velo-city’s Hardwicke and Kolelinia’s Angelov in a room for a weekend and see what they come up with. Do that, and we just might find ourselves with a high-capacity, low-cost bike lane in the sky.



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