On the Fremont Bridge during Sunday’s Bridge Pedal, PDOT wasn’t the only agency handing out something cool.
TriMet bike guy Kiran Limaye (photo) was proudly passing out this awesome new sticker to promote “multi-modalism.”
Kiran’s been up to all sorts of cool stuff to make TriMet more bikey. I hope to share more of them with you soon.
[*Update: If you want one of these stickers, send your address to bikes[at]trimet[dot]org.]
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Jon-
Is TriMet changing the design on the bike racks? Didn’t you report on a bike bouncing out and getting run over and then Trimet not paying up. If they aren’t changing their design, isn’t the sticker really misleading. Cool idea, just false advertising.
Shane
I don’t think I reported on that. Someone might have left it as a comment though. I did report on someone getting a bike stolen from the racks.
But as far as I know, the racks are secure (both from thieves and from unintended bouncing off).
Yes, you did. Here is the
link
The rack is very secure for 24″ to 27″ bikes but less secure for 20″ bmx bike. 16″ bike do not fit for the most part.
The liability of a bike coming off the rack should fall to the owner of the bike, as the owner of the bike is the one who put it on the rack. Bungee cords work wonders and are very compact.
thanks Qwendolyn. I stand corrected! I hope to meet with Kiran soon and I’ll ask him about this and report back.
How in the world is that sticker misleading? It shows a guy placing a bike in the rack. It doesn’t show it staying in there while the bus moves. Not saying that Trimet gets a free ride here, but we all do bear some responsibility with our personal effects. If a person feels the rack is not safe, a) don’t place a bike in the rack and b) write to Trimet explaining why and get the problem fixed.
You gotta put 16’s in backwards and put the hook over the seat! But that doesn’t really work with them banana seats, then you just have to sork hook the handlebars somehow and smile real big at the driver.
I don’t see how the sticker is misleading, either. It says “intelligent design”, not “flawless design”.
People frequently rip on Tri-Met, but compared to a lot of other transit agencies, they do pretty well. They’ve come a long ways in recent years from where they were, too. A few weeks ago, I was cut off by a Tri-Met bus and submitted a complaint (with details) via their website. Tri-Met disciplined and educated the driver involved, and responded to my complaint in a reasonably prompt and very professional manner.
Sorry, kind of ranted a bit there. Shane, the comments there aren’t directed at you, so please don’t take them personally.
I’d say a 1 in A Whole Lot of Trips chance of the bike coming off is pretty good. Probably a lot better than having you bike hit by a car over that distance.
Thanks for publishing the sticker. We thought it would be a fun way to introduce people who might not think of commuting to using transit + bikes to get around–the practice bike rack was up on the bridge as well. Since we do not require permits to use the rack, its important to have a way for people to practice them without feeling like they are holding up fellow bus riders. F
uture demos will be listed at trimet.org/bikes. Keep track of that site to learn about our proposed testing of racks that hold three bikes.
As a side note, TriMet’s mechanics check the bike racks on each bus every 7,000 miles (Buses& MAX collectively cover about 2.5 million miles every month).
If you find a problem, please let the operator know or report it the vehicle number to 503-238-RIDE (7433).
ZB style (bike hook on the seat) is the way to go for minis. 20 inch to 700c are fine as long as the wheels are not too wide.
thanks for posting this Jonathan! i love the sticker and requested one right away 🙂
My bike almost fell off a Tri-Met bus rack. The driver had to stop in the middle of 6th downtown and call me to the front of the bus to deal with it. The bike was rocking in the rack and if she hadn’t stopped, it would have fallen. (Big thank you to her for stopping.)
It was raining during the bus ride and after a few miles, the hook slipped down and off. (I may not be able to put the hook as high on top of the front tire because I have fenders, but it has only been a problem once.)
Maybe Skidmark’s bungee cord idea is the solution. Attaching the bike frame to the rack would certainly be more secure.
Between post #10 (where a TriMet employee uses the term “ZB Style”) and #10 on TriMet’s awesome guide to “10 Cycling adventures in Portland”*, I can’t help but love ZooBomb’s unofficial sponsor.
*http://trimet.org/pdfs/bikes/bikeadventures.pdf
(see page 9)
I hope Tri Met paid the guy that came up with the first half of that sticker.
The ape to bike transition sticker is old. I don’t know who drew it, but they aren’t gonna be happy..