 The number of people using bikes to extend their bus trips (or vice versa) increased more than 47 percent jumping from 12,111 bike bus boardings in January 2013 to 17,859 in January this year, That's according to METRO figures which do not account for bikes taken onto light-rail trains.
At the METRO Downtown Transit Center you'll find a bustling bike-share station, and at bus stops and train stations bikes ready to be loaded onto bike racks.
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Cyclists converge on the downtown area on a recent Bike to Work Day. |
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"We are preparing for and trying to cultivate, these folks as repeat customers. We're doing that with bike racks on buses and at bike stands at bus stops. We've installed racks on our new trains and are working with the city to provide better infrastructure with bike lid storage at Park&Ride lots and B-Cycle facilities at our Downtown Transit Center," says METRO's Interim President & CEO Tom Lambert.
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Riders cross the Jackie Freeman hike and bike bridge at METRO's Kingsland Park & Ride. |
"The upward trend is gratifying. It's good exercise, gets cars off the road, relieves congestion and certainly cuts emissions that impact our air quality. We work with bus drivers to be more aware of cyclist needs and the rights of the road," Lambert continued.
 In October of 2013 METRO recorded, for the first time ever, more than 22,000 bike boardings on buses. That was 44 percent more than the previous year.
METRO has encouraged bike ridership through collaboration with area agencies - advancing what was a grant for a three-station bike share start-up program to the 29 stations and 227 bikes it has today. Houston B-Cycle has registered more than 55,650 checkouts since opening - which comes to about 1,200 per week since the program expanded in March 2013. One of the most popular bike rental stations is located at METRO headquarters at 1900 Main St.
METRO is also working on a Transit-Bike Connection study as well as partnering with Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) on a Bike and Ride Access Implementation plan. Meanwhile Rice University engineering students turned to METRO to work on their first project — the design of a rack to transport three bicycles at a time via bus. Their METRO-based project won this year’s Texas Department of Transportation’s College Challenge.
That team was one of three finalists asked to develop concepts to help Texas mobility, connectivity and transportation safety issues. Students were motivated by a recent H-GAC study anticipating growth. The three-rack solution is one of several by Houston Action Research Team (HART) undergrads.
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