Bills support bike racks on buses
By Matt Krupnick,
Contra Costa Times
Friday, May 2, 2003
Two state lawmakers are attempting to change a little-known law that has hampered bicyclists' ability to ride Bay Area buses.
State Sen. Byron Sher, D-San Jose, and Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Vacaville, have introduced bills that would allow 45-foot-long buses to have folding bicycle racks on their fronts. State law prohibits vehicles longer than 40 feet from having the devices.
Bicyclists had heralded AC Transit's new 39-vehicle fleet of 45-foot buses, which would have allowed cyclists to travel easily across the San Mateo and Bay bridges with their bikes. However, the California Highway Patrol kept the agency from installing racks on the new buses, leaving cyclists livid.
"I look at the number of people clobbered by cars while they're riding their bikes or walking, and these are the things I wish the CHP would directly address rather than showing concern over bike racks," said Robert Raburn, executive director of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition. "What's the state doing? They're getting in the way of a service that is very effective."
CHP representatives say their only concern is safety. Studies show the racks cause 45-foot buses to swing into other lanes when turning, said Hal Koehncke, a legislative representative for the agency.
A rack-equipped 45-foot bus "has a sweep range of 21.9 feet," Koehncke said. "That puts it well into the next lane."
Sixty-foot buses, connected in the middle by a flexible section, have a turning radius that is 3 feet shorter than the 45-footers.
The CHP's admonition apparently came as a surprise to AC Transit officials, who continue to operate about 40 rack-equipped 45-foot vehicles they obtained two years ago.
AC Transit spokesman Mike Mills said the racks have never caused an accident and the agency would like to include the devices on the new fleet.
At Tri Delta Transit, officials said the agency knew about the law when it bought all 10 of its 45-foot buses and chose not to install the racks. Instead, the newest Tri Delta buses have special compartments underneath the vehicle that carry bicycles.
The front-loading racks would be much easier to use, General Manager Jeanne Krieg said.
With the under-the-bus compartments, "the driver has to get out of his seat, go around, pull the rack out, put the bike in and close the door," Krieg said. "On the front-loading racks, the passengers are responsible for putting the bikes on, so the drivers can concentrate on the bus."
Rack supporters say the two bills will probably be combined at some point, and advocates are spending most of their energy on Wolk's legislation.
The bill's newest amendment would require each transit agency to form a committee -- composed of bus drivers and traffic engineers -- that would determine which routes the rack-equipped buses could use. While cyclists have expressed concern about the amendment, Wolk's chief of staff said the concessions were made to diminish safety worries.
"Anytime in the whole history of putting bicycle racks on buses, there's always been resistance from the traffic-safety viewpoint," Craig Reynolds said. "You're extending the length of a vehicle and therefore raising the risk of an accident. (But) the record, in terms of racks on buses, has been excellent."
In Richmond, where many of the rack-equipped AC Transit buses are based, police Sgt. Joe Silva said he has never heard of an accident caused by a bike rack and wasn't aware of the law prohibiting the racks until a reporter called him Thursday.
"I'll put them on notice that it is illegal," Silva said. "I won't hunt them down and make them remove the racks unless they present a hazard, though."
