BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

http://bike-pgh.org/resources/bikesontransit/

Yeah, there are a couple out there. They come and go.

PAT isn't getting any new buses this year, so unless they're getting ready to scrap a bus, they should be putting the racks back on after a bus has been in for some sort of maintenance.

3070 is rather long in the tooth, a 1998 purchase, but if it's on the road, it should have a rack.

Thanks for the link, Scott. I called the complaint line and actually talked to a person. They said the garage supervisor for that bus will look into it.

I ran into one as well and PAT twitter said that sometimes when a bus is being serviced they will remove the rack and not get it put back on before it goes into service.

i actually believe they are trying to keep all the busses out there with racks on them.

Also worth pointing out is buses with racks that cannot be used. Bus 5404 is one such. The last time I tried to use it, I could not lower it. A flange was bent.

For each of them, report it.

I had a heart-stopping experience today: as the P3 (formerly EBO) bus I was on turned right from the Neville Street Ramp onto the busway, my bike seemingly came loose and slid/rolled back on the bus rack. The driver stopped and let me adjust it and put it in the other rack. In the end it was OK, but very scary to think that my bike might have fallen off and (in another context) gotten run over at high speed.

I've often felt uncomfortable with the bus racks, especially since installing fenders on my front wheel that wouldn't let me get the rack support arm against the fork. The front wheel had a "tray" that seemed a bit shallow, and an open-ended support for the back wheel. I had 700x25 wheels on a normal-sized cyclocross bike.

Am I doing this wrong? Any suggestions for this?

Once my bike was wobbling in the rack and the driver stopped and let me fix it. The arm had come down, so it was no longer holding the wheel in place. I moved it back, made sure it was snug against the wheel, and it was fine for the rest of the trip.

Did the rack or arm seem broken? For instance, was the spring that pulls the arm down over the wheel still working?

I normally put the arm up against my tire, next to the fender, but one driver told me the right way was to put it on top of the fender, up against the fork.

Call me an idiot or whatever — but what is the point of riding the bus around town with your bike on a rack when... um... you could just ride your bike?

Just an observation.

Adam, there's lots of reasons. My reason - I have a 17 mile commute and there is no route with little enough traffic for me to actually enjoy riding the whole way. So I bus it about 2/3 of the way, relax and read, and bike the rest.

@Adam- I used to use the bus to help shorten my 12 miile commute before I was really capable of doing it all. I also still use it sometimes if Im being lazy and do not get out of bed in time. In the afternoon I will use the bus as a back up if I have a mech. issue that I cant (or do not want to) fix on the side of the road. And on cases like today when I plan to goto happy hour after work and will have no business on a bike in a few hours!

As far as the racks and fenders, when I first started racking, I cut the front part of my front fender off so the rack arm could go up to the fork. The fender still worked fine, on my new bike I just put it on top of the fender.

I have also gone to take my bike off the rack and the arm had slid down and the tray held it in place on its own, luckily. I have noticed that some of the trays seem to be more shallow than others and sometimes they seem dented, which makes them seem more shallow.

I sometimes bus home if I'm too tired to bike. When I lived at Arlingon/Elanor, I used to bike to work every day, and bus up the hills every afternoon.

Ian - The J-hook arm should have a fairly stiff spring. No reason the bike should ever flop around. I've done this 150 times, and have never had a problem.

Adam - For me, inbound morning is fairly pleasant. Cool, I'm feeling fresh, light is good, and it's downhill. End of day, I'm wiped, it's hot, it's uphill, and it's getting dark.

It was more of a joke than a serious comment, but I did consider taking the "T" from my house to downtown before going on a long loaded up bike ride to avoid riding up and over Mt. Washington, but then I felt like a wussy so I just sucked it up and rode over the hill anyway and it wasn't so bad.

I could see it being useful if I were stranded and needed a repair I couldn't make out on the road so I totally am in favor of the bike racks — better transit money spent there than for a bunch of lazy fat sports fans who can't walk across a bridge in my "humble" opinion.

I've been noticing a few broken racks on the buses. Two cases necessitated moving my bike to the other tray. One had lost it's spring in the arm, so the bike started leaning forward then almost hitting the windshield. The other time was due to a completely missing hook arm! There was no trace of the thing!

I love the racks, but I fear that PAT will stop spending money to fix them. There are so many minor problems already: (sticking hook arms, stuck release handles, bent up trays, etc.)

I just started using the PAT bike racks to get to work last week. The ride in would be ~12 miles through Penn Hills-ish area, and there aren't any showers at work. So for now, I use the bus for the morning commute and then bike home. Once the weather cools down more, I may start riding into work if I think I can do it without getting too gross.

I've also seen a girl with an older Raleigh 3-speed on my bus. I can't imagine riding one of those from my neighborhood to Monroeville, let alone from wherever she gets on the bus (which is farther west).

I'm using the bus from downtown to coraopolis because it cuts nearly an hour, a shit climb (western pen up to mckees rocks bridge) and some really sketchy roads (mrb-51-Neville island in morning rush hour traffic) out of my 26 mile commute from morningside out to the RIDC West park past Robinson town center. With the bus it goes from a pretty killer commute to a ride on the jail trail, a break to read and a ride on the Montour trail. Much nicer way to start and end the day.

Colin, an alternative method is the 28X to/from Ikea. The mile of 6%-grade suburban madness from Montour Trail to Ikea at the FedEx Drive traffic light is rather rotten, but only a 10-minute climb or a two-minute plummet, and skip Downtown altogether, one nice long ride from Ikea to Fifth & Morewood.

Yet another option is the #29 bus from downtown, which puts you right on the Montour Trail at MP 5.9 (the Cliff Mine Road trailhead), letting you avoid the mile on Route 51 from Coraopolis to the Montour Trail entrance. (Though I think the #29 passes through your RIDC West destination a few minutes before it reaches the trail, which perhaps spoils a bit of the fun of biking to it.

that mile out of coraopolis doesnt bother me at all and i want to keep the mileage of the commute a little high to make sure i stay in shape this winter and the trails are a nice pleasant way to wake up in the morning and i can go directly from the trail to the sidewalk up into the industrial park my office is in. the only roads i share with cars are from my house to junction hollow and that stretch of 51, which has a sidewalk if i really want to chill (i can either cruise down 1st ave to the downtown bus stop or go over hmb to the southside trail and get the bus at the duquesne incline)