The way our bus routes are set up means that any cross town destinations include a transfer at the central hub. I can still ride my normal route to the hub, but now I need to take an additional route to the new location. I decided to do a test run since I was on my way down to help clear out the building and I used my Strida to get to my first bus. Other than it taking almost twice as long to get to work, the trip down went smoothly. (Note: I was impressed especially since the normal bus hub was destroyed by the flood and they are using a new location with tents as a building right now.)
What prompted me to write this post happened on the way home. I rode the first route back to the transfer point and caught the second leg of my journey. There was one other guy already on the bus. I sat down and held the Strida right in front of me as usual and then the bus driver said something about it. I didn't quite hear him and figured it was a typical "what is that?" or "that's interesting/cool/weird." comment, but I asked him to repeat. He asked if it was something that I still didn't catch and I responded with "It's a folding bike." Then came the comment... "Well you can't have bikes on the bus." Ok, I understand that, but this is a folding bike, and I'm moving to the front of the bus because you just prompted an in depth discussion.
A polite verbal discussion ensued, and below I have a few of his points and my responses:
| Driver | Me |
| The rules say no bicycles on the bus. | Hmm, first driver to tell my I can't bring this on. I'm surprised it hasn't come up before. As I understand it, the rule is meant for full size bikes because they take up so much space. Mine is folded and compact, and in the same space as my feet. No one could be where it is unless they wanted to sit on my lap. |
| If everyone can't do it, no one can. If everyone brought their folding bike on the bus, there wouldn't be enough room and they would have to wait for the next bus. | If everyone one brought their child in a stroller, there wouldn't be enough room. Cedar Rapids would be so lucky to have that problem. If enough people have to wait for the next bus because they are full, maybe buses should run more frequently, again we would be so lucky... |
| If everyone brought their stroller, the transit directors would make a rule that strollers couldn't come on either. I have a unicycle, should I be able to bring that on the bus? | Yes you should be able to bring your unicycle on the bus as long as you can keep it out of the way. |
Other tidbits:
We talked about the buses getting bike racks and he shared that he has worked in large metropolitan transit organizations (no specifics) where people have taken another passenger's bike off the rack if it was nicer than theirs. I don't imagine this to be a huge problem in CR, but I could be surprised. He also said several times that he personally didn't care if I had the folding bike on the bus, but "the rules say...". Apparently he is a runner and bikes himself, so he is very excited that he can ride his bike to work, put it on the bus he's driving, and then take it off to go home. I don't agree with him taking up a space that actual transit riders would use, but I didn't mention it because we had reached my stop.
So for anyone who might read this, what do you think about folding bikes, or compact transportation in general, being allowed or not on public transit? I know large cities handle it, but I don't have personal experience there. Am I at fault because bicycles are not allowed, or should rules be bent or updated to handle alternative transportation that is reasonable?
