BILL ANALYSIS �
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 206|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 206
Author: Dickinson (D)
Amended: 4/1/13 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 10-0, 6/4/13
AYES: DeSaulnier, Gaines, Beall, Cannella, Galgiani, Hueso,
Lara, Liu, Roth, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Pavley
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 4/15/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Bus length limits
SOURCE : Sacramento Regional Transit District
DIGEST : This bill allows the Sacramento Regional Transit
District (RT) 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
CONTINUED
AB 206
Page
2
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. A representative of the transit agency appointed by the
general manager of that agency;
B. A traffic engineer from the public agency that has
jurisdiction over the largest proportion of the transit
agency's bus routes; and
C. A representative of the bus drivers chosen by the labor
organization representing the bus drivers.
Existing law permits the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District
(AC Transit) and the Gold Coast Transit District (GCT) 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 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 Senate Transportation
and Housing Committee and Assembly Transportation 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 RT also to install bike racks of up to 40
inches on its buses subject to the same requirements as AC
AB 206
Page
3
Transit and GCT 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
Senate Transportation and Housing Committee and the Assembly
Transportation Committee is due December 31, 2018.
Comments
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 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.
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 GCT in
Ventura County. This spring GCT installed three larger bike
racks on its buses but none on 45-foot buses as it only owns 35-
AB 206
Page
4
and 40-foot buses.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/5/13)
Sacramento Regional Transit District (source)
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
Sacramento Metropolitan Quality Management District
Sierra Club California
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 4/15/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell,
Gray, Hagman, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor,
Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,
Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel
P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,
Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Grove, Harkey, Lowenthal, Vacancy
JA:ej 6/3/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****