Poll On The Decision To Not Have Bike-N-Ride In St. Clair County IL
Monday I posted about how the Chair of the St. Clair County Transit board, Delores Lysakowski, doesn’t allow bike racks on the buses serving 15 municipalities in that county. On Thursday the St. Louis Beacon looked into the story with more, although somewhat conflicting, reasons why an entire county in our region doesn’t have bike bike racks on the front of their buses:
Delores Lysakowski, chairwoman of the St. Clair County Transit District, says the racks damage the buses when they go through the bus wash.
“When they go through the wash rack, they tear the heck out of the bus,” she said.
But Bill Grogan, managing director of St. Clair County Transit District, has a slightly different tack. He says the racks damage the bus wash brushes. “The washers don’t damage the racks, but the racks can damage the washers,” he said. “They get stuck in those spinning brushes.” (full story: Want to bike and ride on Metro buses in St. Clair County? Forget it)
So which is it? Do the racks damage the buses or the brushes? Both? Neither?
Neighboring Madison County, like Metro in Missouri, sees the benefits:
Madison County Transit (MCT) has equipped all of its buses with bike racks to provide accessible connections between the MCT bikeway and bus systems. Now people throughout Madison County can simply BIKE AND BUS for transportation and recreation. In fact, MCT carries an average of 800 bikes each month, which equal more than 12,000 bike and bus participants and growing since 2003. (source)
In the full story, linked above, writer Kathie Sutin goes to Metro to ask them about their experience with washing buses with bike racks. In short it takes some extra labor to wash around the racks, but it is worth it. Back in St. Clair County the attitude is they made the decision in the past not to have bike racks so it is not open for discussion. This whole thing doesn’t sit well with me but I want to get a sense on your thoughts so the poll this week (right sidebar) is on this subject.
Thanks to the St. Louis Beacon and writer Kathie Sutin for digging into this issue!
– Steve Patterson
Public boards don't just write off services because they costs money to do. The St. Clair County Transit Board has concluded the benefit of bike racks is small compared to the cost. St. Clair Transit users need to show the Board that the benefit far exceeds the cost or get board members that understand that.
Tail wagging the dog?