National Academies Press: OpenBook

Integration of Bicycles and Transit (2005)

Chapter: Chapter One - Introduction

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Suggested Citation:"Chapter One - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Integration of Bicycles and Transit. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13554.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter One - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Integration of Bicycles and Transit. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13554.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter One - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Integration of Bicycles and Transit. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13554.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter One - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Integration of Bicycles and Transit. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13554.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter One - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Integration of Bicycles and Transit. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13554.
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Suggested Citation:"Chapter One - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Integration of Bicycles and Transit. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13554.
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5BACKGROUND Brief History of Bicycle and Transit Integration The first formalized bicycle and transit integration programs were bike-on-ferry services established in the 1940s and 1950s. A few transit systems began to experiment with bike- on-bus services (see Figure 1) in the 1970s and with bike-on- rail services in the 1980s. Most of these bicycle services were local initiatives that were not originally duplicated by other transit agencies. Significant growth in bicycle and transit integration ser- vices began in the early 1990s. In 1991, the U.S. Congress passed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), which emphasized a multimodal approach to improve the efficiency of the transportation system (1). This legislation increased the amount of funding available for bicycle and pedestrian facilities and transit systems. ISTEA was followed in 1997 by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), which continued to support the development of multimodal transportation systems (2). This federal legislation has helped to create funding for bicycle and transit programs, including bicycle projects, under the eligibility for both highway and transit programs. State depart- ments of transportation (DOTs), counties, and municipalities are all participants in bicycle programs (e.g., California, Delaware, and Washington State DOTs lead their states’ efforts); however, this synthesis is focused primarily on tran- sit programs. In that context, local transit agencies spent approximately $28 million of federal transportation funding for bicycle-related projects between fiscal years 1999 and 2004 (3). Funding for these projects did not all come from transit programs, but also included Highway Surface Trans- portation Program and Congestion Mitigation and Air Qual- ity (CMAQ) funds transferred for transit use. Note that this synthesis does not capture the additional funds used for bicy- cle programs from the federal highway enhancements pro- gram, or state, county, or municipal sources not related to transit. The Transportation Association of Canada published A New Vision for Urban Transportation in 1993, which was reprinted in 1998 (4). One of its specific principles was to provide “storage facilities at transit stations and on transit vehicles to encourage bike and ride.” Transport Canada pre- pared Sustainable Development Strategy documents in 1997, 2001, and 2003. These strategies promote a multimodal trans- portation system and emphasize reducing the transportation system’s negative impacts on the environment. The 2003 Strategy mentions both bicycling and public transportation sustainable transportation choices. It also promotes invest- ment in planning and infrastructure for sustainable trans- portation facilities (5). However, local funds are typically used for the integration of bicycles and transit in Canada; very limited federal funds are available. During the past 15 years, bicycle and transit services have continued to expand and diversify. Emerging types of bicy- cle and transit integration include bike-on-vanpool services, new ways to store bicycles on rail cars, high-capacity bus bicycle racks, high-capacity bike parking at transit stations, and staffed bicycle parking. Transit agencies have learned from the experiences of agencies that pioneered bicycle ser- vices and have been able to develop successful bicycle pro- grams in their own communities. TCRP Synthesis of Transit Practice 4 The publication of TCRP Synthesis of Transit Practice 4: Integration of Bicycles and Transit in 1994 provided one of the first comprehensive reports on bicycle and transit inte- gration in North America (6). It covered bicycle-on-bus, bicycle-on-rail, bicycle-on-ferry, and bicycle parking and access programs. The 1994 synthesis described different bicycle services and discussed issues such as procedures and regulations, safety, staffing, training, marketing, and procure- ment of equipment. Recent Research on Integration of Bicycles and Transit Since the publication of TCRP Synthesis of Transit Practice 4, the literature on bicycle and transit integration has primar- ily focused on services provided by individual agencies. Studies have summarized and evaluated bicycle-on-bus, bicycle-on-rail, and bicycle parking programs. Studies of bicycle-on-bus services have been done in com- munities such as Miami–Dade County, Florida (7); Bremen, Germany (8); and Phoenix, Arizona (9). Bicycle-on-rail services have been studied in Stuttgart, Germany (10) and Santa Clara Valley, California (11). General studies have CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

6also addressed the safety of bicyclists on light rapid transit (12). Bicycle parking has been researched in Miami–Dade County, Florida (13); Berkeley, California (14); Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver, Canada (15); the Nether- lands (16); and in other general assessments of bicycle and transit integration (12), guidebooks of bicycle improvement strategies (17), and studies of factors that can increase the use of both transit and bicycles (18). Although these studies have evaluated individual pro- grams, few have taken a comprehensive view and presented a detailed analysis of the wide variety of bicycle and transit inte- gration services available in North America. One text includes a chapter on bicycle integration with park-and-ride facili- ties, metropolitan rail, intercity bus, intercity rail, ferry, and air travel systems (19). The FTA has developed a brochure describing how communities have established bicycle–transit partnerships (20). This brochure also explains funding that can be used to improve bicycle and transit integration. Two websites currently provide information on bicycles and transit in North American transit agencies. Spindler and Boyle present a map of many of the transit agencies in the United States that allow bikes on transit, pictures of many types of bicycle and transit integration, and a table of the average number of monthly bicycle boardings and other sta- tistics for 83 transit agencies on Bikemap.com (21). Loutzen- heiser provides a summary of bicycle-on-rail policies for U.S. transit systems on the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition website (22). Reasons for Updating TCRP Synthesis of Transit Practice 4 In the decade since the publication of TCRP Synthesis of Transit Practice 4 there has been significant growth in bicy- cle and transit services. Forty-five (80%) of the 56 North American transit agencies that responded to a survey for this report started some of their bicycle services after 1994. Of the 121 total bicycle services cited by the participating agen- cies, 91 (75%) were established after 1994. This synthesis update will reflect additional knowledge that transit agencies have gained in the past 10 years about integrating bicycles and transit. Additional issues related to bicycle and transit integration need more detailed exploration. Some of these issues were raised as research needs in the 1994 synthesis report, and the others were suggested by the TCRP topic panel for this report. This synthesis addresses the following research issues: • Design and development of bicycle equipment and inter- modal facilities; • Cost and funding for bicycle services; • Bicycle parking and access to transit; • Bicycle policies and related standards; • Marketing programs and their effectiveness; • Training and education programs for users, operators, and staff; • Usage patterns and user demographics; • Methods used to evaluate and monitor bicycle and tran- sit services; and • Safety and security. PURPOSE The purpose of this synthesis is to share information about how bicycles are integrated with public transportation by many different types of transit agencies in the United States and Canada. As the number of bicycle services offered by transit agencies has increased, agencies have gained more experience and made improvements to their bicycle and tran- sit integration programs. The experiences that are docu- mented in this synthesis can help transit agencies improve their existing bicycle services and assist other communities with developing new bicycle and transit services. This synthesis is targeted to the following groups: • Transit agencies; • State, regional, and local transportation policymakers; • Elected officials; • Bicycle and transit planners; and • Bicycle and transit advocates. APPROACH AND ORGANIZATION Synthesis Process The primary source of information for this synthesis was an on-line survey of transit agencies in the United States and Canada that currently offer or are considering providing bicycle services. Potential survey participants were sug- gested by members of the Association of Pedestrian and FIGURE 1 Bike-on-bus service. (Source: Central Ohio Transit Agency.)

7Bicycle Professionals, identified by members of the project team, and selected from a list of agencies in the National Transit Database. An e-mail link to the online survey was sent to 118 potential participants in November 2004 asking them to complete the survey. Follow-up telephone interviews were done with 14 agen- cies to gather additional information about one or more of their bicycle services. This detailed information was used to develop the brief case studies featured in this report. An effort was made to invite as many transit agency con- tacts as possible to participate in the survey. The project team reviewed the initial contact list to make sure that agencies of all sizes and from different regions of the United States and Canada were invited to participate. However, a random sam- ple of agencies was not used, so it is not known whether par- ticipating agencies were more or less likely to have favorable opinions about bicycle services than agencies that were not invited to participate or chose not to respond. Still, the infor- mation provided by the participating agencies was useful for generating the main concepts and providing specific exam- ples throughout this synthesis. Characteristics of Transit Agencies Providing Information for This Report Fifty-six transit agencies from throughout North America responded to the online survey and provided input for this report. The agencies were located in 18 states and 4 provinces (see Figure 2). The survey respondents represent a wide range of agency sizes and offer a variety of types of bicycle services (see Table 1). Responding agencies have service areas ranging from 6 to 3,746 square miles and serve between 140,000 and 440,000,000 annual unlinked trips. Bicycle on local bus and bike parking at transit stops and stations were the most common services offered by the participating tran- sit agencies; however, each of the 11 types of bicycle ser- vices listed in the survey (including bike on paratransit/taxi, bike on vanpool, and staffed bicycle parking) were offered by at least 3 responding agencies). Organization of Report This report is organized into seven chapters. Following this introductory chapter, chapter two provides a summary of exist- FIGURE 2 Locations of transit agencies participating in the bicycle and transit survey.

8TABLE 1TRANSIT AGENCIES PARTICIPATING IN THE BICYCLE AND TRANSIT INTEGRATION SURVEY

9 TABLE 1 (Continued )

10 ing bicycle and transit programs. It includes a brief description of the most common bicycle services currently offered by transit agencies in North America and addresses issues that are common to many types of bicycle and transit integration, such as marketing, policies and standards, and monitoring performance. The next four chapters address the main types of bicycle and transit integration. • Chapter three—bicycle-on-bus services. • Chapter four—bicycle-on-rail services. • Chapter five—bicycle on other types of transit, such as vanpools and ferries. • Chapter six—bicycle parking. Each of these four chapters include detailed descriptions of the bicycle services and addresses issues such as cost, levels of use, maintenance, rules and restrictions, safety and secu- rity, training and education, and customer satisfaction. Inno- vative aspects of each bicycle service are also discussed. Case studies are used to illustrate key issues in each chapter. Chapter seven is a summary of findings and suggestions for further research.

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TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 62: Integration of Bicycles and Transit examines how transit agencies may improve their existing services and assist other communities in developing new bicycle and transit services. Synthesis 62 updates TCRP Synthesis 4: Integration of Bicycles and Transit (1994).

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