Posted June 27, 2008 at 8:24 a.m.

The CTA can be a saviour for bicycling riders.  They can enjoy the beauty of this Chicago summer (now that it finally showed up) on their bikes and, if they get weary, climb aboard the bus or trains -- during certain hours, in the latter case. 

Sweet deal, huh?

Not always, according to two-wheelers who have written to "Going Public" recently with two different camps of complaints  The first issue focuses on the bike racks situated on the fronts of buses, particularly those connected to Comcast ads. 

Quoth a cyclist about the arrangement which he initially found impressive:

"When you lower the bike rack, to actually use it for something other than advertising, those Comcast signs block one of the two  red braces for your front tire from moving. This means your bike has nothing to hold it in place.  Of the two spots available for bicycles on the front of each bus, only one of them is usable. To revue, 50 % of the bicycle carrying capacity has been eliminated because some inovative ad executive found  a new revenue stream. Genuises."

The final complaint, which a rider actually illustrated for me with the photo below, is not about the CTA, but about the lazy CTA cyclists who don't remove their bikes from station racks. This photo, the rider told me, came from the Noyes Street stop and describes, at least the one on the right, as "quite weathered." 

What are your beefs -- cyclists or non-cyclists-- about bikes on the CTA?

My beef is about the cyclists who drag their bikes on the blue line trains. Ack! The bikes take up way too much space, and often, the cyclists don't know how to politely and efficiently exit the train with the bikes. If it were up to me, I would not allow bikes on the trains. Period.

No Bikes. Some owners roll over my feet. Push me out of the way with the bike and most of all don't say excuse me.

If anyone is interested in having a bike lane on Broadway (north of Diversey), I'm trying to lobby the Department of Transportation to put it in their Bike 2015 plan.

https://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/a-bike-lane-on-broadway

All you need to do is send a letter when we reach 100 members. Please check it out and tell your friends!

There's a much better way to solve bike problems on the trains. In Germany, there are often cars that have seats in the only half the car, and are empty in the other half for cyclists. These cars generally are hitched on the end of a train. Cyclists can only travel in this car and people who need seats know not to get on at the end, and during rush hour, it allows for more commuters to stand in one train. There's no need to completely expel bikes from the trains; the CTA just needs to make some small changes to accomodate them. Less people would be annoyed and more people would travel by bike.

I don't usually have major complaints about the bus drivers, however last week I was riding the 134 Stockton/LaSalle Express to work in the morning and the bus driver had to ask another passenger which way she should be turning. I just found this absurd that the drivers don't have that type of training or a map before they are given a route!

Alex said: "There's a much better way to solve bike problems on the trains. In Germany, there are often cars that have seats in the only half the car, and are empty in the other half for cyclists. These cars generally are hitched on the end of a train. Cyclists can only travel in this car and people who need seats know not to get on at the end, and during rush hour, it allows for more commuters to stand in one train. There's no need to completely expel bikes from the trains; the CTA just needs to make some small changes to accomodate them. Less people would be annoyed and more people would travel by bike."

Yeah, that's all we need on the Red Line! When they are not used by people with bikes, it'll be a rolling sleeping car for the bums. A rolling urinal for Cubs fans. And I could just imagine what the ghetto thugs, hustlers, and gang bangers would be doing. Setting up "shop" selling drugs, squares, socks, body oil, and bootleg CDs & DVDs.

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