Friday Reads – 13 April 2018

On By In Friday Reads, Maps, New York

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14 comments

  1. Anyone know what the wierd “grid” is on the front of the Dennis bus shown in the Vancouver article, please?

  2. @Greg

    It’s a foldup bike rack, that can hold two bikes. Increasingly fitted to North American buses and a great way to increase cycle mobility.

  3. @LBM seems a strange place to have a bike rack – doesn’t it obscure the driver’s view?

  4. @Peewee

    Not at all, the driver is almost right above it, and whilst it sticks out about 2 feet when extended, the driver can easily see past the frame and bike(s). Loading and unloading bikes onto the frame is easy (as long as the cyclist can lift the bike), with a simple clamp folding down to secure the bike.

  6. Might be worth adding that drivers of large vehicles being positioned some way back from the front is much more common in North America than in Europe – slacker constraints on vehicle lengths mean so-called normal-control trucks – with the engine in front of the driver – are much more widespread. So road junctions are typically laid out to provide satisfactory sighting for such a driving position.

    In Europe such bike racks would tend to cause the driver to have difficulty seeing properly to pull out at T junctions.

  7. I was as surprised as others when I was in America and saw buses carrying bikes on the front. At first I thought it was clearly dangerous, but I realised it was just my UK perception filters, and actually it works really well. In case others are interested in seeing such a rack in action, I took this photo a few years ago (moderators – hope it’s ok to post such links): https://flic.kr/p/nXLtU7

  9. @timbeau

    The advantage of the front bus racks is that the driver can see the cyclist at all times, whereas in the rear bike racks, one hopes there is a camera, so that the driver doesn’t pull away before the cyclist has loaded or unloaded their bike.

  10. “more “give” in a bike rack – loaded or otherwise – than in a bus front”
    Not sure about that. The projecting cycle would concentrate force into the projecting point – presumably a handlebar. In a low speed impact, the “flat” front of a regular bus spreads the impact force across the whole area of the person, whereas this concentrates all the energy into one place. I don’t think those large low bumpers would be allowed in Europe either – perfectly designed to break ankles. Obviously, I’m talking about potentially survivable low speed collisions – it’ll make no difference in a high energy crash.
    This concept was sadly demonstrated in the ski accident that Michael Schumacher had. He was wearing a helmet (which spreads impact force over the head), but a camera had been mounted on his helmet – the effect of which was to concentrate all the impact force through the camera mounting onto one part of his skull.

  11. Of course in London your bike would get nicked if the rack was on the back…

    I was quite stunned by the “please slow down signs working, so we’ll remove them” article. The mindboggles!

  12. In the LIRR bar car article I was amazed to read the claim that even drinking from an open water bottle was banned on the NY subway. I looked it up on the MTA website and that’s nonsense. The rule states:

    Section 1050.6 – Use of the transit system
    (f) No person shall bring or carry onto a conveyance any liquid in an open container.

    Note alcohol is treated very different and the rule is much more strictly:

    Section 1050.7 – Disorderly conduct
    No person on or in any facility or conveyance shall:
    (g) drink any alcoholic beverage or possess any opened or unsealed container of alcoholic beverage, except on premises duly licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages, such as bars and restaurants

    In Section 1050.6 – Use of the transit system there was another rule that struck me as somewhat archaic in the modern world of mobile devices:

    (5) No person shall use media devices such as films, slides or videotapes.

    I assume that was originally written to prevent someone setting up a free public showing or art installation using 1980s technology in a subway car!

    http://web.mta.info/nyct/rules/rules.htm

  13. @Mark Townend

    There were plans in 2005 to change the wording of 1050.6 (f) to “No person, while on a conveyance, shall possess any liquid in or consume any liquid from an open container” and they viewed it as a clarification, not a tightening of the rule.

    In the end, they didn’t reword the rule, after a backlash, and said that while you could still be ticketed for drinking water on the Subway, bottled water might be acceptable if you promptly reseal the bottle after taking it away from your mouth. Of course, the NYPD don’t have time to ticket you for merely drinking water and not being a nuisance/danger to others while doing it (if your drink is hot/sticky and likely to spill, then they will ticket), but the MTA are pretty clear that they don’t really view drinking on the subway as something within the rules.

    Note also that the NYC subway is one of the few US urban transit systems where you aren’t explicitly forbidden to eat or drink.

  14. @Si – Thanks for that. Perhaps the writer was referencing that 2005 controversy, if a bit sensationally. I note also that the wording only limits activity ‘on a conveyance’ so presumably you can drink your latte on the station platform before stepping aboard.

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