RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that the Commission receive this report for information, noting that a pilot project of bicycle racks on buses could be done in this way:

· Buses on a limited number of bus routes would be equipped with bicycle racks for a trial period; the most practical way of doing this would be to select one garage and, at that garage, install bicycle racks on specific buses which are already assigned to specific routes;

· The routes recommended for a pilot project are these, which operate out of Wilson Garage: 7 Bathurst, 29 Dufferin, 47 Lansdowne, 98 Willowdale-Senlac, 161 Rogers Rd, and 310 Bathurst;

· 98 Orion V and Orion VI buses are assigned to these six routes for accessibility purposes, and 110 bicycle racks would be purchased in order to equip these buses and allow for spare racks;

· Funds in the order of $155,000 would have to be allocated for this project; these funds are not included in the TTC’s 2005 budget;

· The key tasks required to initiate this pilot project would be purchasing the bicycle racks, installation, training of operators, obtaining the Ministry of Transportation permits that are required for use of bicycle racks on municipal buses in Ontario, and developing an educational/promotional campaign for the public; and

· The pilot project, if approved, would start in late June or July, 2005.

FUNDING

The pilot project would require an unbudgeted capital expenditure of up to $55,000 for purchase of the bicycle racks (including a contingency for spare parts), and an unbudgeted operating expenditure of up to $100,000 for installation, training, and marketing. There is no provision for these expenses in the 2005 operating or capital budgets.

BACKGROUND

At its meeting on November 17, 2004, the Commission, in discussing ways to encourage cyclists to use the TTC, approved a motion, …” that TTC staff be requested to report back to the February 2005 meeting of the Commission, after consultation with the City of Toronto Cycling Committee, on a Pilot Project for the installation of bike racks on a limited number of bus routes with a report back to include:

- operating issues and constraints;

- supporting educational promotional campaigns;

- capital and operating cost implications, including the possibility of including bike racks as part of the capital plan and all new RFP’s for buses”

This report responds to the Commission’s request.

DISCUSSION

Cyclists are now restricted from taking bicycles onto TTC vehicles during peak periods when it is too crowded to carry large objects. At other times, bicycles are allowed on transit vehicles if, in the judgement of the operator, there is enough room.

Bicycle racks can be mounted on the front of buses and can carry one or two bicycles (see Exhibit 1). Bicycle racks would allow cyclists to take their bike with them on a bus trip at any time and would make it more convenient to do so because it is easier to load or unload a bicycle from a rack on the front of a bus than to bring it into the bus and hold onto it for the duration of the trip.

Operating Issues and Constraints

Selection of Trial Routes

If a pilot project were to proceed, the project would be limited to buses operating out of a single bus garage to keep the cost reasonable and to ensure a timely implementation. Given the logistical difficulty of assigning specific buses to specific routes, the bicycle racks would be installed on the only type of buses which are currently assigned to specific routes, those being accessible buses.

All of the accessible routes in the system were reviewed and, in discussions with representatives of the Toronto Cycling Committee, it was agreed that the accessible routes operating out of Wilson Garage would be preferred for the pilot project. At Wilson Garage, there are 98 accessible buses (Orion V’s and Orion VI’s) that are assigned to the 7 Bathurst, 29 Dufferin, 47 Lansdowne, 98 Willowdale-Senlac, 161 Rogers Rd, and 310 Bathurst bus routes (see Exhibit 2). The advantages of these routes for this test are, among others, that they include a route which goes as far south as the lake and one which travels from downtown to the city limit (Steeles Avenue).

Potential Effects on Operations

If the pilot project proceeds, field tests would be done with a rack-equipped bus, to review the conditions on each of the trial routes and to check that there would be no problems in making turns, or entering/exiting on-street bus bays or bus platforms within stations.

The review would assess any effects on garage operations. Several potential garage issues have been identified by other transit agencies, including possible damage to wash rack systems, and the potential implications on garage capacity, because bicycle racks, even in the stowed position, increase the effective length of a bus. These issues would be resolved before the pilot project would begin.

Purchase of Bicycle Racks

A bicycle rack was purchased from each of the two companies which manufacture them, in order to allow technical testing of the racks.

A competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued to 9 companies in addition to an advertisement on the TTC’s website for 110 approved bicycle racks. The RFP closed on February 11, 2005 and three proposals were received. The commercial analysis recommends the award of the contract to Sportworks Northwest Inc., on the basis of lowest proposal received (approximately $45,000). If the Commission decides to proceed with the pilot project, the purchase of these racks would be processed and the deliveries expedited.

MTO Authorization

Ministry of Transportation (MTO) authorization is required for use of bicycle racks on buses in Ontario. Staff would obtain the appropriate permits from MTO before the pilot project.

Training

Guidelines would be developed related to the use of bicycle racks, and operation of a bus equipped with a bicycle rack. A training program would be developed for all operators at Wilson Division so that they would be familiar with operating a bus with a bicycle rack, could answer customers’ questions about the use of the racks, and could recognize when a customer has not loaded a bicycle properly.

Potential Effects on Route Running Times

Early information from Phoenix had indicated average loading and unloading times of 50 to 90 seconds. However, more-recent Ottawa (OC Transpo) experience suggests that loading and unloading times for current bicycle rack designs are much shorter. OC Transpo reported that cyclists can usually load or unload bicycles while other customers are boarding and alighting buses; that overall use of bicycle racks is relatively low; and that use of bicycle racks does not significantly affect route running times. TTC staff would assess the effects of bicycle racks on the operation of the test routes.

Supporting Educational/Promotional Campaign

An educational and promotional campaign about the test routes and proper use of the racks would be developed in co-operation with City Transportation and the Toronto Cycling Committee. Such a campaign might include the TTC web site, reference to the web site in What’s On, on-vehicle brochures (on affected buses), stop pole cards (on affected routes), posters (at affected subway stations), advertisements in the Metro newspaper, and a media launch.

Costs of Pilot Project

Based on the commercial analysis of the proposals, the capital cost of the 110 bicycle racks, including a contingency for spare parts, is estimated to be $55,000.

The estimated operating costs of the pilot project is $100,000, which includes installation and maintenance of the racks, training of all Wilson Division operators, the educational and promotional campaign, and MTO permits.

There is no provision for bicycle racks in the 2005 capital or operating budgets.

Potential Customer Use of Bicycle Racks

Customers’ use of bicycle racks on buses varies from city to city, depending on year-round weather conditions, demographics, topography, and associated bicycling infrastructure and facilities. Ottawa has weather which is comparable to Toronto and has an extensive network of bicycle routes. In Ottawa, OC Transpo found that, on their eight rack-equipped bus routes, an average of 3 out of every 1,000 customers used the bicycle racks (approximately 3.5 customers per bus per day). The highest usage (5 out of 1,000 customers) was on the high-speed, high-frequency bus routes that operate mostly on Ottawa’s physically-separated and grade-separated transitways. Among the regular, local mixed-traffic bus routes, the use of the racks was much lower: 1 out of every 1,000 customers. Due to a very small number of surveys returned from users of the racks in Ottawa, it is not possible to accurately estimate the number of new trips that were attracted to transit specifically by the bicycle racks.

In the City of Toronto 1999 Cycling Study, 1001 telephone interviews were conducted of Toronto residents. When asked which of 11 factors would improve cycling in Toronto a great deal, "bicycle racks on city buses" scored lowest of all the factors for recreational cyclists and second lowest for utilitarian cyclists.

A monitoring program would be developed to measure actual usage on the TTC. In consultation and co-operation with the Toronto Cycling Committee and the City of Toronto, surveys would be conducted to solicit feedback from customers and to determine how many new transit trips could be attributed to bicycle racks on buses.

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March 22, 2005

11-55-58

Attachments: Exhibits 1 and 2