Bath could see integrated transport if new bus cycle racks adopted

This is significant for two reasons:
1) Bath's recently elected Tory MP sees the importance, whether from conviction or electability, of following in Don Foster's cycling-friendly path. So individual politicians can be persuaded to put in place pro-cycling measures, regardless of party policies, where local backing makes it worthwhile for them.
2) Bath and Bristol are national hubs of cycle publishing, ensuring lots of coverage and making it more likely the idea will spread.

I just got back from cycling in the Netherlands. Whilst there I was faced with the problem of trying to go North across the estuary from Terneuzen without a big detour. Unusualy for the Netherlands, the N62 only accommodates motor traffic, there's no bicycle crossing.

Asking around I was directed to the bus terminus where I was assured a bus could take me through the tunnel. I was sceptical, but the bus driver helped me load my recumbent, with touring panniers, onto the bus, and then off again at the other side. All done with a smile.

It can be done.

In 1996 I imported the first of these racks to the UK - with the Cycle Challenge we got TRL to review the legislation and safety aspects of front mounted bike racks - free download of TRL592 gives the final report.

The report concluded that
1) UK buses have highest pedestrian collision rates per vehicle per year than any other class of vehicle - similar for EU.
2) a random bike placed on a bike rack on the front of a bus will completely fail to comply with EU safety regulations for forward facing sharp edges.
3) parts of the bike on the rack present a particular hazard in any collision with a pedestrian.
4) TRL also tested buses with/without front mounted bike racks & bikes to ENCAP car safety standards - the ONLY safety tests to date of a large commercial vehicle. The results were not good.
From this it was concluded that no DfT/DVSA sign off for front mounted racks was likely in Europe, but these racks were mounted on the rear of buses in Cumbria, Wales, Bristol, Devon, Scotland, Sheffield.

Issues with security (fast load/unload makes this an easy target for thieves), water and road muck (on bikes and on remote electrical locking systems), driver's responsibility for vehicle and loads, dwell time delays and protocols at bus stops (a rear rack adds, as a minimum, 40 seconds per bike, to the dwell time at a bus stop, when typically passengers can normally board in 2-3 seconds per passenger).

Having had experience of taking bikes on buses and coaches regularly since 1986 - nearly 30 years, I've concluded that the best way to test a service is to do what we have been doing for at least a decade with low floor buses - take the bikes inside. With the current legislation aiming to have 100% of service buses of this type by 2020, we will have a UK-wide bus network which can be immediately used, with minimal additional cost for cycle carriage, as is a standard condition for all bus services in the Western Isles, and already delivered for Brighton - a hilly city not unlike Bath in certain respects.

Coaches are even better - with underfloor hold-space - reports indicate that young BMX and MTB riders can fill up to 10% of the seats on coaches operating on several Highland routes, with their bikes in the underfloor hold.

Even unofficially TfL London Buses has been carrying bikes, as this young lady makes use of the 73 to Stoke Newington from Euston around 23.30 one night, to get home. Both this and SYPTE photo were taken over 10 years ago.

Buses in Hawaii have these racks on the front. Works really well.

Crazy idea. Cyclists should just man up.

I thought the DVA was against this due to increased injury risks in collisions with pedestrians.

On my first trip to Vancouver (B.C., Canada) I was pleasantly surprised by the experience of being able to load our heavy mountain bikes onto the front of a bus, and then being driven up to the base of Mt. Fromme to start our adventure on the North Shore trails.

Adding bicycle mounting racks to buses really expands the range of cycling, and has been successfully done in other countries for some years.

I think for this to work effectively you would have to designate which stops can be used. In effect create transition nodes. If you allow a free for all at every stop then you would run the risk of alienating 'normal' bus users.

I can see this being an excellent way to enfranchise people living in rural areas who are off the bus routes. In effect people would cycle to their nearest node, be transported into the city centre and then cycle to their destination.

If you got this right then you could remove an awful lot of cars that are only there because their drivers have no realistic alternative.

I for one will be watching this with interest. Let's hope it comes to pass.

If you have a bike cycle. If you don't have a bike take the bus. Why would you want to take your bike on a bus? Surely Bath isn't so large that you can't cycle from one end to the other.

Standard practice on Swiss postal coaches (vertical racks on the rear). But then people never study Switzerland because they're too focused on the Dutch and Danish.