Bike racks coming to city buses by summer

Imagine peddling your bicycle to work in the downtown from a distant neighborhood and not wanting to peddle back at night.

Or having to get several blocks to the city bus line, and not wanting to walk it.

This could be for you: Bike racks are coming to city buses.

Brad DeBrower, the city's transit manager, on Thursday said he is in the process of buying the bike racks and that they should be in place on buses this summer.

The racks, which are placed on the front of buses, will go on 16 of the city's low-floor buses and five of the larger city buses, DeBrower said.

Council member Tom Podzimek, an advocate of bicycling as a means of transportation as well as a means of recreation, on Thursday said people have been asking him about bike racks on buses for a couple years. In fact, the city has been considering the matter for that long, he said.

"Sometimes government travels like a bulldozer," Podzimek said.

He imagined someone living in the Bowman Woods or Cedar Hills who would jump on a city bus with their bike to get downtown to the city's trail system. Some people, too, might have an interest in biking one way to or from the downtown, but not both ways. The bus bike rack, he said, will take care of the problem.

"It just kind of facilitates public transportation if you're able to take the bicycle with you," he said.