Racine's transit system has just become the most enlightened in the region.

Installing bike racks on the front of buses was all it took.

Groups like the Bike Federation of Wisconsin have long argued for racks on busses as a sensible way to encourage bus ridership in Milwaukee County. But county transit officials have given the lame excuse that buses wouldn't fit in the garage as easily if they had bike rack, even though advances in the technology make them fold up nicely.

Racine paid $545 each for the racks and $99 a pop for installation for a grand total of $22,000. That was the cost to outfit the entire fleet of 33 buses, with two spares. Racine used a federal grant to cover $18,000 and the city and local bike club chipped in the rest.

Tough Political Lesson for the Attorney General: Politicians should know not to make campaign promises if they can't control the outcome. Wisconsin Attorney General JB Van Hollen learned that last week when the state abandoned plans to expand the Milwaukee crime lab by 31 DNA analysts.

Bids to remodel an office building to accommodate the added help came in too high and the Department of Administration, which handles all things concerning building construction by the state, dropped the bidding process.

Van Hollen made adding analysts a key issue of his campaign to unseat incumbent Peg Lautenschlager, who was defeated in the primary, anyway. He portrayed it as an issue of mismanagement. Guess he didn't understand the complexities of trying to get things done on a state government level, a point made by Lautenschlager during the campaign.

Van Hollen did not issue a statement on the defeat, although his office pumped out press releases touting prosecutions for kiddie porn and sexual assault cases during the past two weeks.

The QT on Police OT: Milwaukee aldermen will get a taste of how the cost of police overtime has been managed for the second quarter of 2007. It seems that it took some time for the budget office to put together figures for the Common Council and a presentation this week will bring aldermen up to speed until mid-July of last year.

Through that time, police overtime was running at about $8.9 million, about $850,000 ahead of last year at the time.

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Recent Talkbacks ...

Posted by brunocarlson on Jan. 30, 2008 at 9:54 p.m. (report)

I too love the bike rack idea, but have you ever seen how some of the bus driver act? They (mainly the drivers in the downtown areas: Wisconsin Ave) will give you a proctal exam if they don't see your UPass clearly or they will have no personality at all (good or bad). Do you really think some of them will have the patience for you to load your Schwinn on their "Vehicle 'O Death?" Plus, the way they cut other drivers off or are oblivious to other people or cars on the roads/crosswalks, I am more afraid o the bus driver wrecking my wheels."

Posted by Hckyboy00 on Jan. 30, 2008 at 2:35 p.m. (report)

If people can find $80,000 to build a bronze Fonz, and $20 million a year for police overtime, i think we might be able to trim a little fat and put some racks on buses. Not to mention it's incredibly low risk, as the racks have little maintance, and bus ridership would probably rise significantly due to racks. Secondly, pardon my ignorance on how bus routes work, but depending on the lenght of a route, there are probably 3-6 buses on any given route over the course of the day. Maybe you outfit evey other bus with a rack, so if you want to strap your bike on, maybe you have to wait for the next bus. You are now cutting your total in half. Also, any city buses which use the freeways, like the freeway flyers might be able to go without racks. At the very least it's worth an inital investment to begin introducing bike racks on the most requested routes, and if there is an increase in ridership, purchase more racks. MCTS has had a very aggressive negative stance against this idea for awhile for unknown reasons. "garage" issues is a lame excuse period. There are a number of ways to begin the process, through fund raising, donations, federal grants, but MCTS has said no to every possible answer so far.

Posted by Murphy on Jan. 30, 2008 at 10:19 a.m. (report)

Good post mathfan. The funding for these racks typically comes from the Feds (CMAQ) and is usually 80-90% with a 10-20% local match. By your calculations the cost would be more in the neighborhood of $35-70K to the County (MCTS). As you mentioned MCTS has been directed to begin applying for grants for bike racks. I've heard the parking argument and I could see how this could be a factor if a new garage facility is needed. But come on, other large cities have managed to outfit their buses with racks, Seattle, Pace in Chicago, Charlotte, to name a few. I for one don't ride the bus but if there were bike racks I might be inclined.

Posted by mathfan on Jan. 30, 2008 at 7:23 a.m. (report)

First, let me state that I am 100% in favor of bike racks on buses. However, before the author of this article goes throwing around smack-talking adjectives like "lame," he should maybe do a little number-checking. Fact: Racine has 33 buses and bought a couple spare racks Fact: Milwaukee has almost 500 buses, and would also need spares, so let's use that "500" number for our little math problem shall we? Cost for Racine: ($545+$99)*33=~$22,000 -$18,000 grant =$4,000 to be covered by local bike club Cost for Milwaukee: ($545+$99)*500=$322,000 Even with an $18k grant, $304,000 is a little bit more for the local bike club to raise. Hissom should also have researched that at a September 2007 Milwaukee County Board meeting this issues moved slightly forward (http://www.county.milwaukee.gov/display/displayFile.aspx?docid=21939&filename=/Groups/cntySupervisors/cntybrd_standing_committees/TPWT/Tm091207_REVISED.pdf). Perhaps if Hissom has any ideas for funding the bike racks in Milwaukee he should propose those in his next article before calling the daunting task of finding a spare $500k (factor in maintenance costs) "lame."