Bus Bicycle Rack - HowTo in Honolulu

For the first of many to come in this HowTo In Honolulu series, we'll demonstrate how to take your bicycle on TheBus.

I'm starting this chronicle literally right now. I did a search for any How-to videos, hoping to show my brother how to bring his the bicycle on TheBus. Here in Honolulu, between a bicycle and TheBus, its way too easy to get around the island. I ended up coming across the video below, which is actually from San Francisco's MUNI bus. The bicycle mounting workflow is exactly the same as the racks used by TheBus here in Honolulu.

IMPORTANT NOTE

You'll notice that they demonstrate how to first lower the rack by releasing the lever, then fold down. Then the subject proceeds to put the bike on the rack and hooks on to the wheel. I wanted to point out two important factors that will aid you in your speed of mount/dismount:

1) Notice that the subject spins her bike when first approaching the bus, then releases the lever. The reason that she spins the bicycle around is because the front wheel is what requires the hook - only one side has the hook. This leads to, 2) when you lower the rack, you will see a note on the bars that indicate which side is the front wheel. What I like to do is to lift my bike onto my shoulder as the bus is approaching the curb, then use my open hand to lower the rack. In the case of the video, I'd use my right side to hold the bike, left to lower the rack, then immediately place to bike on the rack and hook in.

When you get off the bus, dismount the same way. Continuing with the video below, use your right arm to hold the bike as you use the left to raise and lock the rack back into the folded position...I think I should just make my own video.

I'm also going to add a page that has Honolulu specific information. Update:  I put the HowTo in Honolulu page up and will be adding to it as these types of posts come up.