Update 6/30 12:11:35 pm:
Rack repairs on all of the North Base buses, which include those serving the SR 522 corridor (Bothell Way), are expected to be completed by this Saturday (7/2). Rack repairs on the East Base and Bellevue Base buses, which serve the SR 520 corridor, are expected to be completed by Monday (7/4). We’ll post an update next week to report back on progress.
This just in from King County Metro about the bus bike racks:
Temporary Shortage of Bike Slots on Buses
In response to recent problems with some of King County Metro’s bus bicycle racks, Metro’s Vehicle Maintenance staff have inspected all of the bike racks and determined that many of the support arms, especially those on the outside bike rack position, are wearing out much faster than the manufacturer expected. Fortunately, most of the bike racks are still under warranty, and our vendor is already shipping necessary replacement parts. The first repairs will be completed by the first weekend of July on North, East and Bellevue Base buses, which operate most of the service on SR 522 and SR 520. Repairs on the rest of the Metro system will take a bit longer, but should be completed by mid-July.
All of the bike rack slots currently on the buses have been inspected and determined to work correctly. However, approximately 15% of the slots have been taken out of service because of non-working support arms. Metro apologizes for the inconvenience to the cycling community and is working as quickly as possible to replace support arms that are experiencing problems. While the repairs are being done, most buses will continue to have at least two bike rack spaces available.
The “new” three capacity bike carriers which Metro installed to replace the two capacity carriers are a big failure and have been from the outset of their replacing the older carriers. Not only are the racks much more difficult to operate than the older two bicycle carriers were but bikes do not seem as secure as the older two capacity carriers. I’ve been on literally dozens of buses where the front bike wheelover clamp is damaged sometimes beyond the ability to work. I was on a bus today where the wheelover clamp was just gone… not even there. The manufacturer Sportworks needs to seriously re-design these carriers. They are difficult to use and don’t hold bicycles securely.
complain complain complain.
i use the bike racks a lot, and the three-slot are a vast improvement. yeah, maybe theres a few bugs to work out, but the answer is not to forgo a 50% increase in capacity just because someone finds it not as perfect as he likes.
Update from Metro:
All East Base buses are complete
All but seven North Base buses are complete. The work on the remaining seven will be done tonight.
Bellevue Base buses have 11 that will be repaired tonight. Routes on the 522 and 520 should be complete by tomorrow.