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Date: 23 Sep 2007 12:09:31
From:
Subject: Group's message: Ride your bicycles (Quad-City Times)
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http://www.ng2000.com/fw.php?tp=bicycles
09/23/2007: “Think outside the car” is the motto of a newly formed group advocating for people to use alternatives to four-wheeled modes of transportation.
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Date: 23 Sep 2007 09:17:52
From: Jorg Lueke
Subject: Re: Group's message: Ride your bicycles (Quad-City Times)
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On Sep 23, 6:09 pm, ad...@ng2000.com wrote:
> http://www.ng2000.com/fw.php?tp=bicycles
>
> 09/23/2007: "Think outside the car" is the motto of a newly formed group advocating for people to use alternatives to four-wheeled modes of transportation.
What happens if there's ever a time where more than two bus riders
want to bring bikes?
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Date: 23 Sep 2007 10:53:42
From: Claire Petersky
Subject: Re: Group's message: Ride your bicycles (Quad-City Times)
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"Jorg Lueke" <jlueke_2000@yahoo.com > wrote in message
news:1190564272.393845.327360@19g2000hsx.googlegroups.com...
> On Sep 23, 6:09 pm, ad...@ng2000.com wrote:
>> http://www.ng2000.com/fw.php?tp=bicycles
> What happens if there's ever a time where more than two bus riders
> want to bring bikes?
In now eight years of doing a multi-modal commute for a lot of the year (I
only ride the full 30 miles round-trip, really, in late spring and summer),
I have only not been able to board the bus twice. It's not a big deal at
rush hour, when buses run every few minutes, but it's more of a big deal
when it's off-peak and they run every half-hour. When I ride up to the stop
and there's another bicyclist there, I usually ask the person what bus he (I
can't think of when it's been a "she") is planning to take. If it's my bus,
then I ask which stop, so we can coordinate loading on the rack. (The
drivers prefer the last bike off to be on the furthest slot.) It's usually
first come first serve. One time I did plead, as I had to pick up my kids at
a specific time, and the other rider was just out goofing around for the
day, and got him to give up his slot, which was kind of him.
The stop where there's often rack competition, though, is at Montlake. This
is the big stop on the freeway by the university, so there are a lot of
bicyclists. And you can't ride across the Evergreen Point Bridge - when it
was built in the early 60s, they didn't think it was important to provide
bicycle or pedestrian access. Alternatives to the north, or over the I-90
bike trail put you about 10 miles out of your way, so it's pretty important
to be able to cross the bridge there. I have never had a problem at Montlake
myself, for the times I've used it, but I hear from others that the rack is
often full.
In response to rack competition, the regional transit system, and then the
local one, started putting three slot racks on the buses. Now, nearly every
bus I take has a three-slot rack. I just heard from a driver that they're
experimenting with four-slot racks for runs that stop at Montlake.
Meanwhile, Microsoft, which is a major destination for those using the
Evergreen Point bridge, is running a separate van service for employees,
meeting at Montlake and running bikes across the bridge, so that they can
encourage non-SOV car commuting and meet the needs of people who want to
ride to work but can't rely on a slot on the bus to cross the bridge.
--
Warm Regards,
Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky
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