be interesting to hear what people have to say about this… I know its always been an issue with unicycles. I live in Vancouver and to get out to any decent riding ive gotta take a bus.
I do have a bike to get around on but im generally worried for my bicycle when its on the bus now ( like when im headed back to the island to visit family). Im hoping to buy another scooter soon so i can just bungie my uni to the back like the good 'ol days
anyways, any good solutions out there? theres some good ones in the comments portion of the article, i especially liked the idea of the designated standing or seating area to watch the bikes on the front.
I didn’t read the comments, but I would think you could at least get away with putting a belt or even a lock through the rear wheel and frame before you load it. Then, if someone does try to steal it, they won’t be able to go very fast, assuming they don’t have a truck waiting for them to throw the bike in.
That sucks. I have never taken a bike on a bus and am not likely to do so given that you can’t lock it up. I don’t leave my bikes unlocked, especially around a major city like Portland, Seattle, or Vancouver. It is absolutely daft to have a policy that you can’t lock a bike on a rack in an urban area known for bike theft.
One form of action would be to contact Sportworks and ask them if they have any solutions for locking bikes on the racks used for buses. Sportworks makes the bike racks that transit companies put on buses. Find out if they have any transit racks that allow for quick and easy locking of the bikes. Find out if they have any suggestions or ideas. Ask them if they’re willing to put their own $1000 bike unlocked on a bus rack driving around Seattle or Vancouver.
If the bus driver is indeed that disinterested in what’s going on with the rack, go ahead and lock your bike to it.
Or lock the bike to itself, as mentioned above. A thief will probably drop it if it’s not rideable, but if you don’t notice where this happened, or if the bus already drove away, the thief can just continue to carry it.
Do something short of locking, that otherwise tethers the bike to the bus where a casual thief can’t get it off quickly.
Use a crappier bike
Don’t take the bus if they won’t either watch your bike or let you watch it.
I imagine the reasons they don’t want you locking your bike are several:
Some (many) people will take too long, making the bus late
People who screw up won’t be able to get their bikes off, and hold up the bus even more
Locked bikes that fall off the rack will get dragged, and could cause damage to the bus
No clue of my local transport companies laws on bikes. All I ever took on it was skimboards and unicycles and we just took those to the back of the bus with us.
I really hope a change is made.
Vespa’s are sooo wicked, I want one really badly.
