Mass Transit + Folding Bikes

Combining Use Of A Folding Bike With Mass Transit

by Larry Lagarde

Bicycles can be a great means of transportation; however, getting to some places by bicycle alone can be quite difficult. In such cases, a multi-modal approach using mass transit as a bridge can be an excellent solution.

Recently, I met with the general manager and key staff at the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (NORTA) about bringing folding bikes aboard their buses and streetcars. Like many mass transit authorities, NORTA has bike racks on the front of their buses; however, those bike racks only accommodate a total of 2 bikes per bus. Moreover, NORTA's iconic electric trolleys (streetcars) don't even have bike racks...

To demonstrate how NORTA could accommodate more cyclists with bicycles, I brought 3 folding bike models to the meeting - a CarryMe DS, a Strida 5.0 and a Kent Compact Nexus 3. I showed that folding bikes can fold so compactly that they can take up nominal space inside any mass transit vehicle.

As with most instances when I show someone a folding bike for the first time, it was great fun watching their looks of amazement as I demonstrated folding, unfolding and rolling the bikes along when folded (CarryMe and Strida). More importantly though, 3 advantages of folding bikes appealed to them.

First, the folded bikes each fit into carrybags that shielded transit riders, other transit users, etc. from the sharp edges that an unbagged bike would present. Second, folding bikes can be carried in their transit vehicles now with no need for purchasing special equipment to do so. Lastly, folding bikes make mass transit more appealing because more riders can get to transit stops and into the transit cars faster on a bike that folds.

As a result of our meeting, NORTA appears close to issuing a written policy about riders carrying folding bikes on the transit buses and streetcars. My gut feeling is that they'll want the folding bikes to be bagged before going onboard. Though that may be a little inconvenient, at least cyclists will know in advance what's needed to take their folding bikes with them when using NORTA.