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Bike rack use increases on Milwaukee County buses

Posted by Tom Held of the Journal Sentinel on May 18, 2011

cycling

Recent blog posts about bikers on the Hoan Bridge and a cut in state money for bike and pedestrian projects generated several comments questioning the use of bike racks on Milwaukee County Transit System buses.

To a number of readers, the racks installed in 2009 remain a boondoggle: seldom-used and a waste of the $405,000 it cost to install them on more than 460 buses.

One reader asserted that “virtually no one” uses the racks.

I promised to produce figures to address that point, and here they are.

According to the Milwaukee County Transit System, bus drivers recorded 47,995 instances where bus passengers used the racks in 2010.

That fell short of the 100,000 projected by the transit system, and the 200,000 estimated by the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, during the debate that preceded the purchase of the racks.

Use has increased significantly so far in 2011.

Through the first four months of the year, MCTS drivers counted 12,695 bikes on buses.

That’s double the number – 6,184 - in the first four months of 2010. The monthly average so far in 2011 is 3,173, compared to 1,546 through April 2010.

In month-to-month comparisons, the usage this year has been roughly double the 2010 figures, a trend that could put the total for 2011 close to the 100,000 figure estimated by MCTS.

Last year, the usage peaked in August and September.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Mark Borkowski, a steadfast critic of the bike racks, remains skeptical.

“My cursory view of eyeballing buses throughout the days and every now and then I see a bike on a rack.” Borkowski said. “I guess I'm not driving in the right places. Maybe it's time for your paper to do a PolitiFact.”'

Jacqueline Janz, spokeswoman for MCTS, sent this statement:

"We have received a lot of positive feedback from customers who appreciate this program so it is not surprising to see the bike rack usage numbers doubling. This program extends MCTS's reach to additional customers at a time when gas prices are soaring, giving the community an economical alternative."

Janz also pointed out that the usage projection of 100,000 was based on annual bus ridership of 51 million. Ridership on MCTS routes dropped to about 37.5 million in 2010.

Janz also noted that the county used federal grants totaling $384,750 for the racks and MCTS contributed $20,250.

Here are the usage numbers from MCTS:

  2010 2011
January 869 2,180
February 889 1,804
March 1,746 3,419
April 2,680 5,292
Total 6,184 12,695

 

71 Comments for "Bike rack use increases on Milwaukee County buses"

  1. My cursory view of eyeballing buses throughout the days and every now and then I see a bike on a rack.” Borkowski said. “I guess I'm not driving in the right places. Maybe it's time for your paper to do a PolitiFact.”
    --------

    Can we still see a politifact rating? ;)

    mkemat May 18, 2011 11:37 AM

  2. Not even close to the 100,000 projected by mcts or the 200,00 by the bicycle Federatin. MCTS now trying to sell the idea that this year usage will be 100,000. How much you want to be it will still be far short. Not saying having the bike rakes are a bad thing, but once again the left overinflates there projections to push there agendas.

    Can you imagine how over inflated the numbers were for the train to Madison?

    alwaysrocking May 18, 2011 11:38 AM

  3. So every 1 out of every 4 days each of the buses had one bike on them. 48,000 / 460 / 365 = 0.2859 days. Wow thats alot of bikes per bus (sarcasm)!

    tbuck27 May 18, 2011 11:41 AM

  4. Those numbers are far from what we were sold on. Even worse, it seems it is up to the driver to record whether a rack is used or not. Thus we really can't verify the accuracy of the counts. I'm like the County Supervisor, I rarely see a rack being used.

    STB1 May 18, 2011 11:42 AM

  5. Thank you for providing these numbers, as you said you would Tom.

    TosaSteve May 18, 2011 11:43 AM

  6. So MCTS actually things there will be 100,000 users this year based on the 1st 4 months. The remaining 8 months would have to average 10,913 users. Basically there saying that during the summer months when more people ride bikes it would increase to 15,000 or more per month. Seems like a giant stretch to me and thats if the numbers are not already inflated.

    Once again I am not saying the bike racks are a bad things. Just pointing out the bill of goods we are being sold.

    alwaysrocking May 18, 2011 12:02 PM

  7. Graduateof MU

    I have seen your posts all over jsonline. You come off as a holier than thou person. That thinks there better then everyone else just because you graduated from Marquette.

    alwaysrocking May 18, 2011 12:05 PM

  8. In West Allis I dont think i have seen more than 6 people on a bus more less any bikes on it. Huge waste of tax dollars.

    dirtystallis1 May 18, 2011 12:07 PM

  9. I've seen many uses of the bike racks over the last year... Only thing is, it's the same 3 people using it 2 times a day to and from work.. And they probably make up a pretty big portion of the other uses counted at other times....
    It's good that use is up, but 2 years hardly makes a trend....

    dmichael1234 May 18, 2011 12:10 PM

  10. Complete waste of money.

    zonkey May 18, 2011 12:18 PM

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