I have never had use for the bike racks on our HSR buses, but every time I see a full bike rack on a bus I smile (this used to go for both of us--my partner and myself). I love the idea of multimodal transit! The best transit systems in the world recognize that cycling and mass transit are ideal partners. They not only share a common mission--getting people efficiently from one place to another, especially in urban environments, while reducing the number of cars on our streets--but are indeed best able to accomplish that mission when working seamlessly together; when cycling facilities/infrastructure and mass transit facilities/infrastructure are designed to allow people to cycle partway, continue on mass transit, then cycle to their destination. That way every leg of their trip is accomplished without the costs--personal (money, mood, physical health, loss of productivity) and collective (congestion, environment, infrastructure deterioration, unsafe streets, loss of productivity)--associated with the use of personal motorized vehicles. And there is, of course, an enormous economic cost borne collectively as well.
It appears both the City, given the space dedicated on it's website to cycling and transit issues, and the HSR, given that they have a page dedicated to describing their Bike N' Bus Program (there's even a PDF to download), recognize that cycling and mass transit make good partners. But not all the drivers seem to be on board with that. I don't care whether they personally believe that, though it would be lovely and ideal, but if there is an official program in place and there is policy about facilitating multimodal trips, then they had better behave as if they do--they had better get with the program, to use the common parlance.
Which brings me to my partner's experience yesterday evening on her way to Mohawk College to get some work done at the lab. She had already spent her day there at work and in class, had come home for a bit, then needed to head back. She loves cycling but has a prior injury that places some limitations on her exertion, so combining cycling and mass transit for her trip should be ideal.
At 8:03pm, having cycled from home to the bus stop at Bold and James, she was about to board the College 35 bus, bus #0613. Considering that it was dark and her panniers were loaded with books, it took her a few seconds longer than it might otherwise have to place her bike securely on the bike rack attached to the front of the bus. Upon boarding, the bus driver yelled at her: "Stop holding up the bus! I'm already running late." My partner responded that his running late was not her problem and that his bus was equipped with a bike rack and that she needed to use it.
The older male driver then told her he couldn't be held up any further and "if you don't like it you can either bike OR ride the bus!" "Excuse me," she replied, "you have a bike rack and I'm going to use it." Then, approaching Robinson, a block from where she had embarked, he slowed down and ordered her off the bus. Her reply was firm: "No. I have the right to use the bike rack and will not get off." Wouldn't getting her off the bus have wasted more of his precious time?
He told her he would call her in, to which she replied with his bus# and that she would call him in too. He then angrily called dispatch and continued driving. Close to Mohawk College, dispatch was overheard asking whether 'they were still there,' to which the driver responded 'yes, and it's not they--it's just one person.'
Upon arriving at her destination, the south entrance to Mohawk College, she got out the front door, as per HSR Bike N' Ride directions. The driver told her, as she exited, that he had reported her. She responded that he would be reported as well and asked for his name. He refused to provide it, saying 'You have the bus number; I don't need to provide my name." She replied that that was fine, and that they (the HSR) should hear both sides of the story. When she was already off the bus and headed to the bike rack at the front, he yelled "GET YOUR BIKE OFF MY BUS!"
Once she had removed her bike from the rack and was on the sidewalk, looking for her phone, the driver blared the horn for several seconds while pulling away. She looked up to see him staring at her very angrily. She waved. From Mohawk, she called the HSR and got directed to a voicemail, where she left a detailed message of the incident. She has not, as of this writing, heard back from them.
It may be that this particular driver had a bad day, but his behaviour not only went against the HSR's Bike N' Bus Program and the underlying principles, but was generally unprofessional and disrespectful. I also suspect that his behaviour came out of certain attitudes about both cyclists and mass transit users that are not uncommon. Both cycling and mass transit use are often regarded as modes of travel poor people resort to because they don't have a car. This notion seems especially prevalent and prominent in Hamilton. Likely by design and self-fulfilling prophecy, we mostly see certain demographics--people without cars, whether they are students or urban poor--using mass transit in our city. Rarely, in our experience, are urban professionals--certainly the kind who tend to dress a certain way, perhaps a suit and tie, when they go to work--seen on our buses. In other major cities around the world, mass transit is used by all, not just by people who can't afford a car.
We hope to hear an apology from the HSR and a reprimand for that driver (and others like him). If we want to emerge as a world-class city, the kind many of us are talking about and working towards--a city that is vibrant, healthy, safe, full of life--we must get over our silly notions of mass transit being for the poor or those who can't afford a car, as also the idea that people need to choose one mode over another. The most efficient people movement, as opposed to vehicle movement, something broached on these pages before, is through multimodal transportation.
We shouldn't ever need to choose a mode of transportation, as if they are mutually exclusive! We should only need to choose an efficient and convenient (maybe even fun) way to get from one place to another. And often, in well-designed urban environments, that choice is a multimodal one!
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