Busy stops are ideal for loading a bike onto the rack. Since there are so many people boarding, the cyclist has plenty of time to load up the bike as the other passengers load onto the bus first. But this can suck for the cyclist since all the seats get taken by the time he/she gets on.

Cyclists are very familiar with the simple process and if there are two or three people at a stop and a person waiting to load a bike here is what you see: bus pulls up, cyclist loads their bike, usually by the time those other people are done paying the cyclist walks right into the bus behind them. The time it takes is negligible or non-existent.

In Portland and other cities I have watched the same happen. It is one of the myths that stop some cities from considering adding bike racks to buses. We'll show it in action in our Streetfilm.

But I do agree, secure parking at outer borough bus and subway places is sorely needed and would help get inter-modal trips be more common.

Good question. In general Boulder is above and beyond all the surrounding cities and Denver. However, it sounds as if some good things are going on in Denver AND they are about to introduce Bus Rapid Transit in one corridor that will directly connect Boulder and Denver. That is great news and probably take lots of cars off the road.

Nathan:

I agree with some of what you said - anywhere there is good subway access, you don't really need bike racks. BUT in many areas of outer Queens, Bronx and Brooklyn not well served by subways, we should have bike racks on buses which would greatly increase the amount of inter-modal travel there I bet. AND I think EVERY bus in Staten Island should have racks.