BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE BILL NO: ab 206
SENATOR MARK DESAULNIER, CHAIRMAN AUTHOR: dickinson
VERSION: 4/1/13
Analysis by: Carrie Cornwell FISCAL: NO
Hearing date: June 4, 2013
SUBJECT:
Bus length limits
DESCRIPTION:
This bill allows the Sacramento Regional Transit District to
install larger bike racks on its buses.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law limits the length of a bus to 45 feet. A public
transit operator may equip its buses of any length with bike
racks that extend up to 36 inches out from the front of its
buses and which may be loaded such that the bike handle bars
extend up to 42 inches in front of the bus. In no case,
however, can the total length of the bus, the bike rack, and
bikes total a length greater than 48.5 feet.
In order for a transit agency to operate its 45-foot buses with
bike racks (but not buses less than 45 feet), it must establish
a route review committee that conducts a field review of routes
where these buses would travel and consults traffic engineers
from public agencies with jurisdiction over roads that the bus
routes follow. Only when a route review committee by unanimous
vote determines that 45-foot buses with front bike racks can
operate safely on the selected routes may the public transit
agency then operate such buses on those routes. The route
review committee is comprised of:
A representative of the transit agency appointed by the
general manager of that agency;
A traffic engineer from the public agency that has
jurisdiction over the largest proportion of the transit
agency's bus routes; and
A representative of the bus drivers chosen by the labor
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organization representing the bus drivers.
Existing law permits the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District
(AC Transit) and the Gold Coast Transit District both to install
on their buses bike racks that extend up to 40 inches in front
of the bus (i.e., an additional four inches), provided that the
handle bars of the bikes loaded extend no more than 46 inches
and subject to a specified review for 45-foot buses. The review
is similar to that described above for installing bike racks on
45-foot buses generally, except that the route review committee
also must include a member of the bicycling community who is
appointed by the transit district's governing board, but who
cannot vote. In addition, before the Gold Coast Transit
District's (GCT's) route review committee votes to approve a
route for these larger bike racks, it must receive certification
from a licensed traffic engineer stating that all proposed
routes are safe for travel for 45-foot buses equipped with
40-inch bike racks.
Both of these districts must report to the Assembly
Transportation Committee and this committee on any traffic
incidents or accidents where the size of the bike rack was a
factor, as well as a summary of the mobility improvements the
bike racks provided. AC Transit's report is due on December 31,
2014, and GCT's report is due on December 31, 2017.
This bill permits the Sacramento Regional Transit District (RT)
also to install bike racks of up to 40 inches on its buses
subject to the same requirements as for the Alameda-Contra Costa
Transit and Gold Coast Transit districts, including the
requirement that a traffic engineer certify that all proposed
routes are safe for these 40-inch bike racks on 45-foot buses.
RT's report to the Assembly Transportation Committee and this
committee is due December 31, 2018.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose . The author states that the number of bicyclists
using transit in Sacramento has increased to the point that RT
cannot accommodate many bicyclists who wish to ride RT's buses
with their existing two-bike racks. He introduced this bill
at the request of RT so it can run buses with bike racks that
can hold three bikes when the route is safe for the required
extra length.
RT reports that it is eligible for a federal grant to provide
AB 206 (DICKINSON) Page 3
three-bike racks. Because these racks when added to RT's
buses extend four inches beyond what existing state law
permits, RT has not applied for the grant.
This bill should result in added assurance for bicyclists that
there will be room for their bikes when they board the bus.
Proponents note that increasing bicyclists' access to bus
transit service extends the range from which transit users
travel to and from the bus and will make RT transit service
more attractive.
2.Previous legislation .
AB 652 (Skinner), Chapter 369, Statutes of 2009,
gave AC Transit authority to install
40-inch bike racks on its buses, including on its 45-foot
buses but only pursuant to a vote of a route review
committee. AC Transit reports that it never installed
racks on any of its 45-foot buses but has installed 40-inch
racks on about 50 of its 40-foot buses. It is tracking
incidents and will be prepared to report on the racks on
schedule next year.
AB 652 served as a model for AB 2488 (Williams), Chapter
376, Statutes of 2012, which gave the same authority to
Gold Coast Transit in Ventura County. This spring Gold
Coast Transit installed three larger bike racks on its
buses but none on 45-foot buses as it only owns 35- and
40-foot buses.
1.Another authorization for one district . This bill provides a
third transit district with the authority to install 40-inch
bus racks on its buses. It seems likely, however, that
transit districts throughout the state are facing similar
issues with more demand from bicyclists to board buses than
supply of space in their bus bike racks. To some extent,
design evolutions will address this issue as there are now
available bike racks of under 36 inches that can accommodate
three bikes. In addition, next year the Legislature will
receive AC Transit's report on accidents related to and
mobility improvements resulting from these bike racks. That
report, however, will not include information on including
larger bike racks on 45-foot buses nor will the Gold Coast
Transit report due in 2017. By giving RT authority, this bill
may result in the Legislature receiving information on the use
of 40-inch bike racks on 45-foot buses.
AB 206 (DICKINSON) Page 4
Assembly Votes:
Floor: 76-0
Trans: 16-0
POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on
Wednesday, May 29,
2013.)
SUPPORT: Sacramento Regional Transit (sponsor)
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
Sierra Club California
OPPOSED: None received.