(CT) Cyclists miss bus over bike racks

[Barry Drive]

From The Canberra Times online:

BY DAVID STOCKMAN
10 Jun, 2010 08:32 AM

The ACT Greens have criticised the Government for leaving some cyclists stranded at bus stops.

Greens MLA Amanda Bresnan said the Government had also failed to collect data on the impact of the Government's decision to abolish free travel on ACTION buses for cyclists.

At the peak of the bike-n-ride program, which ended in July last year, about 360 people were using the service each weekday.

Transport Minister Jon Stanhope has admitted data was not being collected on cyclists' patronage.

Despite the lack of data, ''from observation, bike rack usage does not seem to have decreased''. Only about 36 per cent of Canberra's buses are fitted with bike racks, and Ms Bresnan said some of those designated buses often did not show up.

She cited concerns from cycling group Pedal Power, which claimed about one in 10 appointed buses with racks did not show up.

Mr Stanhope said 195 buses would be fitted with racks by the end of the month.

[Sir Pompously]

Hows about using the bike, and riding

[Barry Drive]

At the peak of the bike-n-ride program, which ended in July last year, about 360 people were using the service each weekday.

If the bike-n-ride program "ended" then why are bike racks still on buses? What ended was giving cyclists a free ride.

She cited concerns from cycling group Pedal Power, which claimed about one in 10 appointed buses with racks did not show up.

One in ten! Oh noes!

[p_stampy]

Surely something like a wheel chair accessible bus not turning up is more of a problem than a bike rack bus not turning up 

It's not like it is a discriminative thing...! (that I am aware of)

[Buzz Killington]

Government not interested in increasing bike-n-ride patronage

The Government has abandoned its interest in attracting bike riders to use ACTION bus services, Greens Spokesperson on Transport, Amanda Bresnan, said today.

Last year the Government removed free bus travel for patrons using ACTION's bicycle racks, but promised to closely follow how the introduction of a charge would impact on patronage. Answers to Budget questions asked by the Greens have revealed that the Government has not even bothered to do this monitoring.

"This failure to measure the number of people taking their bikes onto buses is another frustrating example of the gulf between the Government's rhetoric and its actions on providing genuinely improved transport options" said Ms Bresnan.

"In last year's budget estimates hearings my colleague Caroline Le Couteur questioned Mr Stanhope about collecting the data on numbers of people taking their bikes onto buses. In reply, the Chief Minister said:

I might just say, Ms Le Couteur, that we are very aware of it. We would be more than happy to provide you with statistics. They are quite interesting....We will be watching that closely, Ms Le Couteur.

"Yet as soon as free travel was removed, the Government actually stopped recording the use of bike racks on buses. Now they have no data of the patronage of the Bike 'n' Ride service, and no data of how pricing impacts on patronage."

"Before the 2008 election, the Government also promised to equip all action buses with bike racks, yet only 36% of buses currently have the racks."

"To add insult to injury the Government admits that buses scheduled to have a rack sometimes arrive without one, leaving cyclists stranded  – why would cyclists consider bike-n-ride if they risk being unable get on the bus?"

"Because of the failure to collect patronage data, we question the Government's commitment to better transport generally and we fear it will fail on its promise to give people effective and flexible transport options." said Ms Bresnan

[Snorzac]

Just watched the win news story on this and it appears they now have 'File footage' from sometime in the last 12-18 months featuring footage of 385 and buses with network '08 destos, better than the old, dated footage that always included a bus on a 116.

[Barry Drive]

I noticed on WIN News, Amanda Bresnan seems to want free travel to be re-introduced for cyclists under the belief that it will attract more passengers. Which it would. Just not the passengers she thinks it would.

"Before the 2008 election, the Government also promised to equip all action buses with bike racks, yet only 36% of buses currently have the racks."

By my calculations, it's closer to 42% (179 buses out of 419 in service).

[Bus 400]

I wonder if when the My Way system is up & running, wether full time cycylists could register themselves as cyclists & whenever they board the bus, the system registers that a bike is on the bus?