Readers Think St. Clair County Transit Needs Bike Racks On Buses
Response to this poll was low but the results are clear, those who voted think St. Clair County Transit needs to add bike racks to their buses.
Q:Â St. Clair County (IL) Transit District doesn’t have bike racks on their buses, they 1) damage buses 2) damage wash brushes 3) take extra labor. Your thoughts?
- Madison County Transit finds a way, so should St. Clair County Transit. 36 [37.5%]
- So what if it takes more labor to wash the buses, they need to find a way to pay for it and get racks on their buses 29 [30.21%]
- No bus in the region should have bike racks 15 [15.63%]
- Other answer… 7 [7.29%]
- Unsure/no opinion 6 [6.25%]
- If it takes more labor saving money is more important than providing bike racks 3 [3.13%]
I thought #6 above would be the primary against answer so the 15 votes that “No bus in the region should have bike racks” was shocking.
The seven other answers were:
- SCCT should get over themselves and get with the program!
- Its up to the residents of st. clair county to want bike racks
- Why do the buses need to be washed, and how much money was spent on that?
- modify the bus wash to work with racks, like other transit systems do!
- Lame excuses
- there needs to be a balance between cost/benefit to the region of the bike racks
- If MCT, Metro and tons of other transit authorities can, St. Clair should too.
I’m going to stay on this issue until the day you can bike-n-ride in St. Clair County.
– Steve Patterson
This is classic tail-wagging-the-dog stuff. Yeah, somebody in the garage probably said, correctly, that it's harder to wash the buses when they have racks on them. The answer should've been “so what? make it work!”, not “ok.” The guy in the gargae probably had the same response to wheelchair lifts, that they make his life harder, too. It's this “it's the way we've always done things” attitude that is holding back the entire region. But, unfortunately, the decisions ultimately rest with the board of directors, and if their views can't be changed, nothing much will happen until one or more are replaced . . . .
Wow, what a surprise, a bunch of liberal urbanists think that St. Clair County should have bike racks (I'm one of them). Shouldn't we ask the people of St. Clair County what they think? Isn't that ultimately whom the powers-that-be will listen to?
Yes and no, we are all part of the same region. If we are ever going to get past our high level of fragmentation we must think and act on a regional level.