Bike Racks Aid Bicycle Commuting

Biking to work in Greater Hartford will be easier to do this fall.

By Thanksgiving every CTTransit bus will be equipped with bike racks. Bike racks are already in use in the New Haven and Stamford area. Last year these racks were used 27,000 times and this number is growing.

Sandy Fry, a principal transportation planner for the Capitol Region Council of Governments (CRCOG), thinks having bike racks on all CTTransit buses will increase the number of people who will commute to work by bicycle.

It will open up a new way of commuting for people who live or work too far from a bus stop. These people will be able to bike to and from the bus stop and then put their bike onto the rack and ride the bus. 

Bike racks will also provide peace of mind to people who would like to ride their bike to work but feel they can’t because they have to work after dark or bad weather is forecast for when they’d be pedaling home. For these commuters, having bike racks on CTTransit buses will provide them more choice.

Sandy tries to commute to work from her home to CRCOG’s downtown Hartford office once or twice a week. “I feel so much better when I do,” Sandy says.

Improved health was only one of the benefits cited in CRCOG’s 2000 Regional Bicycle Plan. The plan recognized the need to develop better bicycle facilities in the region because bicycling is a “low cost transportation alternative that is non-polluting and energy efficient.”

To promote commuting by bicycle CRCOG established a “Bike to Work Program” that is now sponsored by the Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance (CCBA) and the Department of Environmental Protection. From April to October the last Friday of every month bikers are treated to breakfast from 7 to 9 a.m. at the Old State House in downtown Hartford.  Besides taking in free carbs, the cyclists share stories and build friendships.

According to Fry, CRCOG started the Bike to Work Program to “shine the light on those who were using bikes for transportation to work and to encourage others to consider it.”  Bike to Work events are held less frequently in other locations in the region, check the CCBA website, www.wecyclect.org, for details.

Cyclists from the Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance were on hand to test out the bike racks in August when Governor M. Jodi Rell announced the Greater Hartford program along with Transportation Commissioner Ralph J. Carpenter and Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Gina McCarthy.

The racks got the thumbs up because they are quick, simple and easy to use.

CTTransit General Manager David A. Lee predicts bike racks will be in use year round, even in our harsh New England winters. Certainly that has been the case in New Haven and Stamford. Mr. Lee said, “At a time when environmental protection and energy independence are national priorities, it simply makes good sense to encourage bicycle users in the public transit system.”

Funding for the bicycle racks, estimated at $1,000 per rack, is being provided by the Federal Transit Administration and the Connecticut Department of Transportation.