In its ongoing effort to accommodate bike riders, the Utah Transit Authority has given two more cyclists reasons to leave their bikes at home and drive their cars.
I was on my way to class the other day on a filled-to-capacity express bus from Salt Lake to Ogden. This was one of the newer buses that is equipped with a second bike rack built into what would be the luggage bay if it were a charter bus.
This second bike rack is accessed from the curb-side of the bus, back near the rear wheels. To use it, the cyclist lifts the hatch to the luggage rack, and then pulls the rack out like a large drawer. Of course she has to do this with one hand because she’s holding her bike up with her other hand. This drawer holds two bikes lying on their sides, one on top of the other. There is a sheet of tightly pulled plastic that supposedly keeps the upper bike from bouncing on the lower bike when the bus is moving.
On this particular day I was lucky enough to get a space in the regular bike rack at the front of the bus, and even luckier to get a seat near the window facing the curb—usually I have to stand up for the whole ride—where I could see the whole fiasco unfold.
A cyclist had drawn out the rear bike rack and was about to load his bike when the bus pulled forward. There was a low commotion from the passengers on the bus as we saw what was happening. Fortunately, the cyclist got out of the way, but there was a bus-stop sign that didn’t. The bike rack plowed right into the sign-post and bent the post and the rack.
Realizing what he had done, the driver backed up and announced that he either didn’t know there was a cyclist using the rear rack, or that he didn’t know he even had a rear rack. I couldn’t quite understand him, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was the latter because I once tried to use the rear rack and the driver didn’t know he even had it. I showed it to him and pointed out that it was locked. He said he didn’t have a key and that I’d just have to wait for the next bus. Thanks again UTA.
Meanwhile, back on the bus, I watched another express bus to Ogden pass us while we sat there. I decided to get my bike and ride the bus route backwards to find another express bus that wasn’t as full. I found one about ten minutes later, but the front bike rack was full. This was also one of the newer buses with a rear bike rack, but not wanting to have the same thing happen to me, I told the driver what I was doing before I pulled out the drawer. He gave me a puzzled look. Here was another UTA driver that didn’t know his bus was equipped to accommodate bike riders.
He got out and together we learned how to load a bike back there. It was my first time too.
We passed the first bus on our way out of town. It was still sitting there, the driver, the cyclist and a police officer trying to sort out the blame. I’m pretty sure the cyclist was wishing he’d just driven his car that day.
The sad part of the whole mess is that John Inglish, the SUV-driving chief of UTA, (his contract includes $37,000 every four years for a new vehicle) is going to see this as another reason to believe bikes don’t belong on public transit.
Apparently his memo got through faster than the one to bus drivers about the new bike racks:
The very next morning Mags and I were trying to get on TRAX. A third cyclist was getting on too so I, wanting to obey the rule about only two bikes at each end of the car, let him and Mags get on while I ran down to the next car. I pushed the button to open the door but nothing happened. I pushed it again—still nothing. I ran to the door at the other end of the car and pushed that button. That door wouldn’t open either. I pushed again but the train had already started pulling away. This is how UTA accommodates bike riders.
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