An open letter on bus bike racks

You would have looked tre cool standing at a bus stop wearing Lycra holding a bike, you lazy git – ride all the way to work next time.

damien haas said :

ACTION wont be able to schedule buses with bike racks on specific routes at specific times, because seniority of drivers determines who gets what run, and drivers can also choose what bus they want to drive.

That’s only partially right Damian. Runs have designated bus types, ie midi, standard rigid, wheel chair rigid, long, artic etc and drivers can, within reason choose within that type but unless there are none available cannot choose a bus in another class. Ie if the run is a rigid they cannot take an articulated or long bus out.

As bike racks are fitted to all the midi, standard rigid buses, wheel chair rigids, with just the long Scania’s and the articulated buses not having them fitted due to length it wouldn’t be hard to identify what bus type is doing what run and they wouldn’t change.

Crazy idea…did you ever consider riding the bike? I have no idea where you work, but you could ride the length of Canberra in under 2 hours.

Why not allocate the buses that have bike racks to different routes at set times? Then on the timetable you could have a little bike symbol next to those times that a bus with a rack will turn up. Or is that all too hard for someone to work out?

Seems to work overseas with trains that take bikes.

KB1971 said :

I am not so sure about this. Take the 318 & 319 for EG.

I regularly see the 319 as a tag steer jobbie, even at off peak times (2pm one day in Civic trying to get home with a bike, ended up just riding from Tuggeranong) and the 318 as just a 12m jobbie. Both of them start & finish at Lanyon, they just do different sides of the valley.

It seems that they have not divided them evenly between all 300 routes. This is a PITA for me as I rely on the 319, I have had the supervisors say to me “just get on another one” which wont get me home all the way.

BUT the Expresso buses seem to have more racks on them now so I can rely on them (except for the bloke who drives the long 785 in the afternoon…..).

Ha, the 318 / 319 are buses I use as well, but on the other end heading to Kippax – and I rarely if ever see a standard bus doing either route! I had hopes that these services extending to Kippax would give me more options, but the number of them that are steer tag makes it a lottery (and the odds are weighed against me about as much as the lottery too!)

I sure as hell can’t complain though…if I have my bike, there are 5 different buses that can get me near to home in the afternoon. Even with all that choice though, sometimes things can go wrong – like the afternoon I was waiting for the 43 at Belco – which always has a rack – but when it showed up it was an old articulated bus, apparently the only bus left in the depot!

Pork Hunt said :

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :

The only way actions crappy service can be fixed is to get rid of action and a bunch of actions *drivers*

You are one of the great thinkers of our times. You have the simplest answers to the most complex issues.

I know, right. Exactly why I should be mayor here, or at least prime minister of the entire country.

The “open letter” concept has always struck me as being both pompous and internally inconsistent. “I’m going to write a private correspondence that I actually intend all the world to see” just doesn’t sit right with me somehow.

Be that as it may, my advice to the good doctor would be to forget the buses, get on his bike and ride to work. Then, in the afternoon, get on his bike and ride home again.

I work with people who live in Belco and ride to Fyshwick, and I’d do it myself if my knees weren’t buggered.

For someone with a PhD, doesn’t seem too bright. Who waits for a bus with air conditioning whilst wearing a winter jacket in summer? Who orders wood fired pizza from the opposite end of Canberra expecting it to arrive crisp[y and fresh?
Why do people catch a bus with a bicycle instead of riding it and then complain about how long it takes?? Just get a motorbike and enjoy the thrill of the ride.

zorro29 said :

i don’t ride buses but it seems you’d need to expect that you’re not always going to get the bike racks if you’re not on the routes/bus numbers that promise them

That’s the thing, no routes have a %100 promise for a bike rack, which seems rather pointless, if you have a bike and want to catch a route you won’t try unless you know there will be a rack and if you don’t think tehre will be rack you won’t arrive on your bike, so if one does happen to show up you don’t have your bike with you anyway. The 300 series is basically “yeah you might get a rack but if you don’t we aren’t responsible” route.

Although many of you don’t seem to understand using bike in conjunction with a frequent bus service is actually very useful, when I was at the ANU I could ride from weston creek to woden, catch the bus to civic and then ride into university. If I went all buses and used the 27 then that would cut down the number of time a day I could leave and lengthen my journey at the end (and I could beat the 27 on my bike). So for areas where there is no connecting bus route at either end of a frequent route it is a great option. Although the way it has been implement its typically half-assed.

Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :

The only way actions crappy service can be fixed is to get rid of action and a bunch of actions *drivers*

You are one of the great thinkers of our times. You have the simplest answers to the most complex issues.

The only way actions crappy service can be fixed is to get rid of action and a bunch of actions *drivers*

First world problems …

Woooaaah!!! Hold on a second here, Dr Murray …. You have a bus service that visits your suburb more frequently than every half hour? And the bus takes less time to get to your destination than cycling all the way? This sounds too good to be true

Are you sure you actually live in Canberra?

I bow down and praise and thank the powers that be if my infrequent, circuitous bus actually turns up and gets me to my destination in less than an eternity. And the govt wonders why public transport use in canberra is low and declining ….

Dear Dr Murray,
ACTION has well advertised that articulated and steer tag buses will never have bike racks attached to them because it is not, and will never be, legal to do so due to safety issues with the length of the bus. To any reasonable person, this would be an acceptable reason. Being an idiot and writing useless letters like this only makes yourself look more of a tool.

I note that you have a bicycle and there is nothing in your letter to indicate that you are anything other than able bodied adult, although with somewhat deminished mind capacity (I have concerns about you being a Doctor). On this basis, have you considered making greater use of your bicycle to actually ride all the way to work, or to another location that may offer a smaller bus that could accommodate your bicycle, rather than throwing yourself on the floor and having a temper tantrum because it’s all so very unfair that you don’t get everything the way you wanted.

Suck it up princess.

Sincerely,
bd84.

damien haas said :

ACTION wont be able to schedule buses with bike racks on specific routes at specific times, because seniority of drivers determines who gets what run, and drivers can also choose what bus they want to drive.

It’s like they sit around thinking up clever new ways to make the bus service as inconvenient as possible for as many people as possible. RMIT study, fare hike, bike rack randomness …
… all whilst maintaining the charade of encouraging the populace to use them.

Well played, pillocks.

schmeah said :

ACTION failing again to meet expectations despite repeated price rises and promises of improvements and bike rakes on 80% of buses.

I second the suggestion that the online service indicate whether any given bus will have bike racks, though nothing will help if a bus is replaced at the last minute .. or just fails to turn up.

Do ACTION supply onboard meals? Because if they dont, by golly they should for the price… No less than a caviar sandwich with only the finest glass of french champagne to wash them little fish eggs down your throat!

ACTION failing again to meet expectations despite repeated price rises and promises of improvements and bike rakes on 80% of buses.

I second the suggestion that the online service indicate whether any given bus will have bike racks, though nothing will help if a bus is replaced at the last minute .. or just fails to turn up.

thatsnotme said :

The one thing I wish ACTION would do, and that I suggested to them a while back (and didn’t ever receive a response to) is mark which buses are expected to have racks on their timetables. They manage to do this with wheelchair accessible buses, so I can’t see why they couldn’t do it with bike racks. They’d certainly better have something like this once their real time system is in place.

Sounds like a plan. Hopefully Doc would be able to articulate it and send it off to ACTION.

How this person got through university when they can’t even write a few paragraphs correctly is beyond me.
In regards to bike racks, if there was only one bus in canberra without a bike rack they would still get complaints.

Who cares…. You could have ridden to work. What about people in wheelchairs – Not all the busses are equipped for them either yet.

Pitchka said :

Jesus..
We have the right to ride on the road, hog a full lane, ride through an intersection even if there is a red light, fail to give way at intersections, fail to give hand signals to indicate which way we are turning, and now, AND NOW, there dont seem to be enough bike racks on buses!!!

FOR GODS SAKE KATIE, WHEN WILL YOU GIVE IN TO OUR DEMANDS, DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND US BIKE RIDERS ARE A SPECIAL SPECIES, WITH SPECIAL NEEDS?

AND YOU DON’T EVEN PAY REGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As has been pointed out, it’s a well known and openly advertised fact that not all buses have bike racks fitted, and even if they do, they can only carry a couple of bikes. Relying on them for time-critical transport is therefore a fairly daft thing to do.

A more reliable option for you might be to either (1) simply ride all the way to work, or (2) do a park’n’ride maneuver (i.e. ride as far as you are happy or able to, preferably to an interchange, then lock up your bike and take the bus the rest of the way).

Additionally, if you’re writing a letter to a government organisation, and indeed publishing it openly, one might consider it prudent to pay slightly more attention to spelling and grammar, particularly if your name is preceded by the term “Dr”. Just sayin’… 😉

thatsnotme said :

It’s not about scoring a bad run – ACTION actually plan it so that there’s a very good chance you won’t be able to travel with a bike if you’re trying to catch a 300 series bus, especially if you’re trying to go to or from work.

These routes, especially in peak times, use the larger buses that don’t have racks – which makes sense, because they can fit more people on them. So that 20% without racks are probably 60-70% of the buses running at that time.

I ride the 703 often, and most of them in the morning peak are articulated buses – and they’ve never had racks, whether new or old.

I understand the Dr’s frustration, and I’ve been in the same position, but it just takes a bit of planning to work around.
.

I am not so sure about this. Take the 318 & 319 for EG.

I regularly see the 319 as a tag steer jobbie, even at off peak times (2pm one day in Civic trying to get home with a bike, ended up just riding from Tuggeranong) and the 318 as just a 12m jobbie. Both of them start & finish at Lanyon, they just do different sides of the valley.

It seems that they have not divided them evenly between all 300 routes. This is a PITA for me as I rely on the 319, I have had the supervisors say to me “just get on another one” which wont get me home all the way.

BUT the Expresso buses seem to have more racks on them now so I can rely on them (except for the bloke who drives the long 785 in the afternoon…..).

Anyway, as a cyclist the buses are less reliable for me but I can still make them work if I plan for it. I had my routine down pat, ride in one day bus home, ride both ways another & then bus the next. It was working well until the tag steers turned up (which BTW the one at 7:10 I normally pick up is rarely full).

Hopefully with the new live tracking thingy they are planning they may have a notification on if a bus is cyclist friendly.

ACTION wont be able to schedule buses with bike racks on specific routes at specific times, because seniority of drivers determines who gets what run, and drivers can also choose what bus they want to drive.

Going by the OP’s story it is pretty safe to assume that he lives in new MacGregor and works in the city (or Barton). If that is the case, you could argue that there is no need to lug the bike to his destination and it could have been locked up at the bus stop before boarding the 703.

Given the intended purpose of the 700 series buses (and the high patronage of the 703 in particular) I can understand why they’d be more likely to be serviced by articulated buses that lack bike racks. Not totally excusable, but reasonable in my opinion.

In any case, is the issue really worthy of an open letter?

AFAIK, the newest buses that Action have been purchasing can’t have the current racks installed. This isn’t going to get any better for those who are looking to utilise the service.

As I’ve said from the start (to my bus-driving mate): Unless every bus has racks, they can’t be relied-on for time-critical transport (I do wish we could).

As it is, the best they can be used for is serendipitous joy-riding.

Also: If you’re in a situation where you’re displeased with the lack of racks on a bus, please don’t take it up with the driver – They don’t get any say in the matter and similarly aren’t involved in customer feedback.

Jivrashia said :

…And immediately below this article, in the “Related Content” section, is the link to the article promising that 80% of the ACTION buses will have bike racks fitted by June 2012.

Sorry Doc, but unless Katie was spinning tales you somehow managed to score a bad run of the 20% of the rack-less buses. I’m assuming the models you’ve mentioned ARE the ones for which racks cannot be fitted due to their size?

It’s not about scoring a bad run – ACTION actually plan it so that there’s a very good chance you won’t be able to travel with a bike if you’re trying to catch a 300 series bus, especially if you’re trying to go to or from work.

These routes, especially in peak times, use the larger buses that don’t have racks – which makes sense, because they can fit more people on them. So that 20% without racks are probably 60-70% of the buses running at that time.

I ride the 703 often, and most of them in the morning peak are articulated buses – and they’ve never had racks, whether new or old.

I understand the Dr’s frustration, and I’ve been in the same position, but it just takes a bit of planning to work around.

The one thing I wish ACTION would do, and that I suggested to them a while back (and didn’t ever receive a response to) is mark which buses are expected to have racks on their timetables. They manage to do this with wheelchair accessible buses, so I can’t see why they couldn’t do it with bike racks. They’d certainly better have something like this once their real time system is in place.

lol @ #4…i am a cyclist and even i giggled too much at that

as an aside i was once in a bad mood after leaving work close to 8pm and decided to go through a red light to expedite my trip (as there was no one coming in other directions and we were about to get a green)…and just my luck i get pulled over by the cops!! had to do a little talking not to get a fine…oh the humanity. meanwhile every second bogan car sounds like gunshots and nothing is done about that

go indignant and cranky cyclist solidarity 🙂

Pitchka said :

Jesus..
We have the right to ride on the road, hog a full lane, ride through an intersection even if there is a red light, fail to give way at intersections, fail to give hand signals to indicate which way we are turning, and now, AND NOW, there dont seem to be enough bike racks on buses!!!

FOR GODS SAKE KATIE, WHEN WILL YOU GIVE IN TO OUR DEMANDS, DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND US BIKE RIDERS ARE A SPECIAL SPECIES, WITH SPECIAL NEEDS?

Katie G is the second coming?!

Jesus..
We have the right to ride on the road, hog a full lane, ride through an intersection even if there is a red light, fail to give way at intersections, fail to give hand signals to indicate which way we are turning, and now, AND NOW, there dont seem to be enough bike racks on buses!!!

FOR GODS SAKE KATIE, WHEN WILL YOU GIVE IN TO OUR DEMANDS, DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND US BIKE RIDERS ARE A SPECIAL SPECIES, WITH SPECIAL NEEDS?

Dear Dr Murray,

Even if every ACTION bus had bike racks you still can’t rely on using them. There is only space for two bikes so you are betting on the fact that no one else will be using them. My suggestion: invest in a e-bike and just ride to work, you can get a long way in 2 hours.

Regards,

Random dude on the internet.

but the Action website doesn’t promise that every bus going to every suburb will have bike racks…quite the opposite actually.

i don’t ride buses but it seems you’d need to expect that you’re not always going to get the bike racks if you’re not on the routes/bus numbers that promise them

…And immediately below this article, in the “Related Content” section, is the link to the article promising that 80% of the ACTION buses will have bike racks fitted by June 2012.

Sorry Doc, but unless Katie was spinning tales you somehow managed to score a bad run of the 20% of the rack-less buses. I’m assuming the models you’ve mentioned ARE the ones for which racks cannot be fitted due to their size?