Media Advisory: TTC Future Bus Purchases to Include Bike Racks

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - Sept. 20, 2006) - At its meeting today, the Toronto Transit Commission approved the addition of bike racks to all its future bus orders. The current TTC bus fleet includes about 1,500 buses.

"This is a great step forward for bike riders in Toronto - I look forward to joining the thousands of bike and transit riders who will be able to bike and bus from Scarborough to Etobicoke in the future," said TTC Vice Chair Adam Giambrone. "I've worked with the Toronto Cycling Committee to introduce bike racks to the whole TTC bus fleet and, with the support of the rest of the Commission today, we have done it. The future looks bright."

Currently, bike racks are available on the following six bus routes: 7 Bathurst, 29 Dufferin; 47 Lansdowne; 98 Willowdale-Senlac, 161 Rogers and 310 Bathurst. A one-year pilot project was launched on these routes in June 2005 and was extended through the summer of 2006.

Vice Chair Giambrone commented on some of the random survey findings:

"When asked about their support for the bike rack pilot project, of those who had used the racks - 81 per cent were strongly in favour of the bike rack project and, of those who had never used the racks, 47 per cent were strongly in favour and 28 per cent were somewhat in favour.

"For a pilot project that had just been in service for a couple of months at the time of the survey, these findings indicate strong support, support that will build as the whole bus fleet becomes bike friendly."

As bus routes become equipped with bike rack buses, they will be announced to the public.

"Ultimately, the entire bus route network will be equipped with buses with bike racks," said the Vice Chair.