Bus bike racks

[Two-lane 189]

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/article.cfm?id=59177&headline=Claims bike racks were trialled but weren't deemed safe&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2020&cat=Transport

Some time ago I heard that they were thinking of bolting bike racks onto the front of the buses. That seemed to me to be unsafe - pedestrians getting hit and arms, legs, getting tangled up with bits of metalwork and so on.

This document is definitely relevant:

https://trl.co.uk/uploads/trl/documents/TRL592.pdf

And it states what you would expect - in a collision with a pedestrian, bike handlebars going through children's heads etc.

But it was only published a mere 16 years ago. How could a transport expert like Longworth be expected to know about this kind of stuff?

Or maybe they did know about it, but just didn't care - and the newspaper report doesn't say why they got binned.

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by Two-lane

[TheTeapot 9,581]

Sigh. Some bollocks comes out of bus vannin. It seems like every week there is some nonsense.

[Declan 7,173]

It would be nice to have. I can't physically cycle to Douglas but there are times it would be nice bring the bike in and cycle around Douglas.  I can't see it being something I would do often or it being something the lycra crowd would need so whether it could ever be cost-effective is dubious.

From a safety point of view. Why buy a load in to test? Couldn't the workshop have knocked up a prototype and tried it on one bus?

[Scotty 495]

3 minutes ago, Declan said:

It would be nice to have. I can't physically cycle to Douglas but there are times it would be nice bring the bike in and cycle around Douglas.  I can't see it being something I would do often or it being something the lycra crowd would need so whether it could ever be cost-effective is dubious.

From a safety point of view. Why buy a load in to test? Couldn't the workshop have knocked up a prototype and tried it on one bus?

They only bought three and despite the fact they are not suitable or safe, the bought ones must have had to pass some standard or other, like construction and use. BV would not be allowed to just knock one up and use. 

[x-in-man 2,236]

What happened to the Horse Tram Nappy idea?

Bubblegum Machine?

 

 

 

[mojomonkey 3,375]

Not sure there really would be the demand in the island, arguably there is nowhere far enough away not just to ride to, but I've seen bike carriers on buses in loads places around the world.

[PaulJ 357]

Problem solved

[Chris C 412]

On 11/22/2020 at 12:02 PM, Scotty said:

They only bought three and despite the fact they are not suitable or safe, the bought ones must have had to pass some standard or other, like construction and use. BV would not be allowed to just knock one up and use. 

Three at a cost of £930 each! Which are now in a skip!

The article says that changes to legislation would have been necessary to use the bought ones,  why not change or amend the legislation (if there is any) that says BV is not "allowed" to knock one up and save the taxpayer a few grand at the same time?

[Two-lane 189]

38 minutes ago, Chris C said:

  why not change or amend the legislation (if there is any) that says BV is not "allowed" to knock one up and save the taxpayer a few grand at the same time?

The reason is in the link I gave in the first post in this thread - the safety of pedestrians involved in a collision. Things like the straight handlebars of a touring bike going through a child's head (and the bus continuing up promenade with a dead child hanging from the frame - like a Mad Max film).

When Bus Vannin found that they could not find a manufacturer in the UK they should have suspected that something was up. They didn't, but I would assume that UK transport managers are aware of the TRL safety report - hence no bike racks on the front of buses and no UK manufacturers.

 

[Boris Johnson 585]

How about being really radical and putting the racks at the back?

Seems to work the world over with cars and vans.

If it is to do with the driver not being able to see the passenger getting their bike on or off they can use cameras.

Where is my £20k consultancy fee Mr Longnoworth?

[Roger Mexico 9,267]

1 hour ago, Boris Johnson said:

How about being really radical and putting the racks at the back?

Don't be ridiculous - if they're not at the front they won't help keep the kangaroos off!

The depressing thing is that @Two-lane probably did more research in writing the initial comment than all of the DoI managed through the whole of this fiasco.  Presumably someone went on holiday to Oz, thought "That looks cool!" and bought them without thinking if they were necessary or safe or suitable.

2 hours ago, Chris C said:

The article says that changes to legislation would have been necessary to use the bought ones,  why not change or amend the legislation (if there is any) that says BV is not "allowed" to knock one up and save the taxpayer a few grand at the same time?

Apart from the 'disaster waiting to happen' aspects of this, we know from the ongoing Cabbage mess-up that there is no one in the DoI management who would be capable of designing even the simplest bit of such equipment or making sure that it was made and fitted correctly.  Their sole aptitude is for making payments for off-the-shelf items (needed or not) paid with taxpayers money.

[Scotty 495]

5 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Don't be ridiculous - if they're not at the front they won't help keep the kangaroos off!

The depressing thing is that @Two-lane probably did more research in writing the initial comment than all of the DoI managed through the whole of this fiasco.  Presumably someone went on holiday to Oz, thought "That looks cool!" and bought them without thinking if they were necessary or safe or suitable.

Apart from the 'disaster waiting to happen' aspects of this, we know from the ongoing Cabbage mess-up that there is no one in the DoI management who would be capable of designing even the simplest bit of such equipment or making sure that it was made and fitted correctly.  Their sole aptitude is for making payments for off-the-shelf items (needed or not) paid with taxpayers money.

A tad unfair there Roger. What they buy is usually needed. Whether we can afford these things is a different matter. Maybe throwing bikes in skips would have been a better exercise though.

[yootalkin2me 917]

When the f@#k is that c@#t Longtail actually going to f@#k off, surely to Christ he should have been well gone by now? Has he got incriminating photos or videos of other 'top brass' that keep him in the position he's in but no one on this island wants him in. He must surely be over the retirement age therefore why on Earth would he be kept on?

Edited November 29, 2020 by yootalkin2me

[finlo 4,704]

14 minutes ago, Scotty said:

A tad unfair there Roger. What they buy is usually needed. Whether we can afford these things is a different matter. Maybe throwing bikes in skips would have been a better exercise though.

Explain the cabbage then? Ah you can't.

[Scotty 495]

10 minutes ago, finlo said:

Explain the cabbage then? Ah you can't.

A diesel loco was definitely needed to act as rescue vehicle and to be a cheap loco to pull the dining cars etc..No need to fire up the boiler of one of the vintage engines just to pull a few carriages a couple of miles for the events . I can never understand the hatred shown to Ian L for just doing what he was paid to do.

I still think he has done a great job and improved both the bus and rail services. Some just to jump on the hate bandwagon to look clever. They aren’t though.