Does DB/BE have double deckers with bike racks?

dowlingm

GO Transit in Toronto just took delivery of the first of their Alexander Dennis Enviro 500s with bike racks in front

Amirani

I don't think I'd be comfortable putting my fairly decent bike there.

Jamie2k9

I don't think I'd be comfortable putting my fairly decent bike there.

Same and its Dublin we are talking about, it would probably get robbed..

Cookie_Monster

To a certain extent putting these on city buses is pointless / self defeating, any journey undertaken on a DB can usually be done quicker by bike. It's intercity coaches and trains that need more bike space, not city buses. There will be times where they are useful, late at night or after a few beers or if its lashing down and you've no waterproof gear but on the whole I don't think the money put into them is money well spent in comparison to other things that could be done.

They are trialling one here in New Plymouth currently and I've never seen it used and I'm guessing it's for exactly that reason. Anywhere you'd get the bus to is within easy cycling distance.

Victor

Not very pedestrian friendly.

AngryLips

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

To a certain extent putting these on city buses is pointless / self defeating, any journey undertaken on a DB can usually be done quicker by bike. It's intercity coaches and trains that need more bike space, not city buses.

intercity busses can already accommodate bicycles in the luggage hold.

loyatemu

Victor wrote: »

Not very pedestrian friendly.

is the front of any bus pedestrian-friendly?

AngryLips wrote:

intercity busses can already accommodate bicycles in the luggage hold.

last time I put my bike into the hold of a bus it came out with a broken axle.

In the case of Dublin Bus anything that increases the already terrible dwell time at stops is probably a bad idea.

Dravokivich

loyatemu wrote: »

is the front of any bus pedestrian-friendly?

I think he means that a lot of paths are narrow enough as is, or have a lot of people crammed together trying to get through and to have someone with a bike queueing for a bus, kind of gets in the way as well as defeats the purpose of having the bike in the first place.

dowlingm

These particular buses are intended for 10-50km journeys (long distance DB or commuter BE) either direct to destination or to a suburban rail station but Toronto local buses have them too - and bikes do get stolen here by the way but not from racks that I've heard.

bk

Well I'd imagine they would be unlikely to be stolen.

They are secured in such a way that you can't just yank them off, it takes a good few seconds to unlock them. You would have to be a particularly dumb thief to try an steal a bike with the driver right there in front of you + forward mounted CCTV + the cyclist probably keeping an eye on the bike.

However I agree that it wouldn't make sense to have them on DB. Perhaps BE commuter services.

My big wish is that bikes be left on the Luas at the same times as the DART. Bikes on the DART is a fantastic service and I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be the same on LUAS off peak.

dowlingm

It might work well on targeted services, like to university campuses which these days can be quite sprawling and little account taken in the timetable of how long it takes to get from one building to another. Get the bus in then ride your bike around campus, then at end of the day stick it on the bus and take a seat.

Tricky part though is that then you have a subfleet of buses, and if some spare fitted buses are deployed on other routes not designated for bike carriage there might be a barney with a driver about whether you could or couldn't mount your bike.

monument

dowlingm wrote: »

GO Transit in Toronto just took delivery of the first of their Alexander Dennis Enviro 500s with bike racks in front

How's that possible! Surely these racks only fit on US-style buses! :rolleyes:

The national cycle policy calls for a trial with DB, but nothing happening on that front as far as I've heard.

Cookie_Monster

monument wrote: »

How's that possible! Surely these racks only fit on US-style buses! :rolleyes:

Euro style bus that has it here, sorry for the crappy pic


I've definitely seen them somewhere else before on a UK/ Euro style bus but can't remember where

monument

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

There will be times where they are useful, late at night or after a few beers or if its lashing down and you've no waterproof gear but on the whole I don't think the money put into them is money well spent in comparison to other things that could be done.

And there will be loads of daily / weekly / ocassional trips where having your bike a both ends is useful.

And while a bike is often faster than a bus and more often for fit people, I can also think a more than a few DB trips where the bus would be quicker than most people cycling.

bk wrote: »

However I agree that it wouldn't make sense to have them on DB.

Why not when so many US cities have them on DB-like services?

Victor wrote: »

Not very pedestrian friendly.

The leading (only?) maker of these racks have claim the bus products are used by 500 transport agencies -- some of those will be in the same cities.

I could find little on the subject bar this old report: http://mpainesyd.com/filechute/Paine_BIKERACK.pdf ...which says::

"The use of bike racks on the front of buses is likely to result in a slight increase in the risk of injury to pedestrians in the event that they are hit by the front of a bus. However, incidents of pedestrians being hit by the front of a bus are apparently very rare - a Federal study found that 2.3% of pedestrian fatalities recorded in Australia during 1992 involved a bus and it is likely that not all of these involved the pedestrian being hit by the front of the bus. In other words, there may be a slight increase in the risk of injury during a very rare event and the overall effects on road safety are considered to be negligible."

"There are several environmental, economic and health benefits to the community arising from the encouragement of cycling and/or commuting by bus. These include possible road safety benefits (arising mainly from reduced use of cars) which could more than offset the extra risk to pedestrians."

It also says in rare cases a rack with a bike on it could cushion somebody but rare within rare.

68 lost souls

Problem here is an insurance issue. I had a friend look into this business a few years ago and had the all clear from CIE to start bringing them on board but couldn't get insurance or perhaps the right priced insurance to cover it so it was a non runner.

The town I lived in last year in America had buses like that and seemed to work but again was short journeys with a really low crime rate.

Cookie_Monster

CIE self insure so it would hardly be an issue

ITV2

I know in Canberra they use them too.

AlekSmart

I'm not sure I actually get all this Bicycle and Bus interaction at all,at least not in our Dublin scenario,for me it's either or rather than attempting to satisfy yet more minority sectors.

However over the water,it looks like there's a bit of trouble funding it also...

http://www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk/North-Devon-surf-bus-reaches-end-road/story-18587209-detail/story.html

Sexy for sure,but expensive to provide.

Some operators continue to provide a level of service though..

http://www.cyclebreconbeacons.com/related-information/bike-bus

markpb

I love these threads - there should be a stickied template for them. It would go something like this -

1. OP proposes an idea which is in use all over the world
2. Everyone else explains why it wouldn't work because Ireland/Dublin is different.

It doesn't matter if it's bike racks, using all the doors on a bus, integrated ticketing or night buses, everything can be explained away because we're different.

the groutch

was the whole DublinBikes scheme not designed to remove the need for this kinda thing?
also have people never heard of fold-up bikes?

markpb

the groutch wrote: »

was the whole DublinBikes scheme not designed to remove the need for this kinda thing?

Dublin Bikes are city centre focused - what about trips to/from a Dublin Bus stop elsewhere?

OssianSmyth

how to put a bike on a bus in the US:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2rQCvoBVjk

Bike loading on a tram in France (same model as Luas)

bk

I'm not sure if it should be on DB. But yes they should definitely be allowed on Luas off peak just like the DART.

For a long time, people use to carry bikes on the Luas, but around the same time that Irish Rail introduced bikes allowed on the DART off peak, Luas specifically banned bikes on LUAS!!

The NTA/DoT should really force Luas to carry bikes off peak. There is plenty of space for it off peak.