BIKE RACKS ON BUSES - LETS USE THEM
The best way to travel to the Sign of the Takahe...
Check out the Bike Rack Rap here!
All buses on "bikes on buses" routes in Christchurch now have bike racks. You can find a map of the routes here (3MB). Tiimetables for the routes and a guide to using the racks are at http://www.metroinfo.org.nz/bikeRacks_Main.html
Contact METRO at 366 8855 or metroinfo [at] ecan [dot] govt [dot] nz if you require any information about the routes, or wish to report a "no show". See also the Comment below about recording use of the bikes on buses service.
The bike racks are easy to use, and its free to take your bike on them. One the main ways to encourage their use (and build support for cycling and for adding racks to other routes) will be through people seeing bikes being transported and thinking "I could use that". So give them them a go - remember when you are using them, you are also advertising them!
If you live on or near a route that goes your way, try using them for all or part of your trip, or on the way back home. Remember also that for routes travelling along Colombo Street and not entering the Exchange (Nos. 11, 14, 15, 18, 21, 28, 77, 90) you can leave your bike on the bus through the centre of town, and load or unload your bike at the Colombo St Exchange stops. This means that people travelling to and from Lyttelton (for example) can now catch or get off the 28 in the centre of town, rather than one stop before and after.
Bikes on buses are also great "range extenders". You can travel by several different routes (e.g. Nos. 11, 14, 15, 18, 21) all the way from the NW and West up onto the Port Hills - a great option if you don't want to cycle all the way across town. If you want to cycle all or part of the way to Sumner, but don't necessarily want to do the whole route or bike all the way back you now have the option of putting your bike on the No 3 Sumner bus (but you will have to get off before the exchange on this one).
So, after a number of years of lobbying by Spokes and others we finally have some decent "bikes on buses" routes - lets enjoy them!
Tried out the #15 and #14
Tried out the #15 and #14 services last week (changed over in town on Colombo St). Rack was easy enough to work out, bike stayed firmly in place, and the bus drivers had no problems transporting my chariot across town.
Glen Koorey
Spokes Core Member
ECAN have posted a useful
ECAN have posted a useful map showing all the bikes on buses routes here http://www.metroinfo.org.nz/docs/bikes-on-buses-map-290110.pdf
I've used them half a dozen times now, and there have been absolutely no problems. They are great!
If you use them, don't forget to record this (see Comment above) so we can pass the information back to ECAN, and help snuff out any claims by the operators that no one is using them.
ECAN have asked Spokes if we
ECAN have asked Spokes if we could request members (and other cyclists) to log their use of bikes on buses services, in order to address claims by one bus operator that "no-one is using the service". We will endeavour to set up a weblog on-line to record this information, but in the meantime if you do use the bike racks (or have used them), could you record the time, date and route used, and number of users. Also any issues such as lack of racks on scheduled services.
In the interim you can either post this as a comment, or send the information to me (the Cycling Improvements Convenor) using the "Contact Us" link at the very top right hand corner of the page. Probably best to do this on a weekly basis rather than daily. Thanks for you help!