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How to load bikes onto buses

Updated: Apr 24, 2021

We recently shared a post about CTA's mock bus/bike rack. The demo rack allows folks the ability to practice loading bikes onto a bus without the fear of delaying a bus full of commuters. The post was viewed over 100,000 times, in less than a week - on Twitter alone! So many of you reached out and shared your own fears and experiences doing this for the first time. To help make the experience a bit more approachable, we've decided to record a few videos demonstrating how to do it. Our first video is English and the rest of the videos will be bilingual.



Cities without demo racks

After seeing this post, many of you tagged transit providers across the country requesting a similar mock bike rack be installed in your city. Some transit providers have already expressed an interest in making something similar for their city!


If your city doesn’t have one of these, cyclists have had success asking bus drivers to practice loading and unloading their bike while the bus is stopped for scheduled breaks.


 


English: How to load a bike onto a bus

Demo location: Jefferson & Lake Chicago


 


Mandarin: How to load a bike onto a bus

Demo location: Jefferson & Lake Chicago


 

Spanish: How to load a bike onto a bus

Demo location: Jefferson & Lake Chicago


 

More bilingual videos ?

Do you speak a language that isn't listed?

Volunteer to record a demonstration: Contact us


 


Try it out for yourself

Location: Corner of Jefferson & Lake (next to Wishbone)

It's one thing to watch videos about loading bikes onto buses, and it's another to try it in real life. Our volunteers in the videos had never done this until the day of the recording. It took them a few tries before they felt comfortable. Another good reason to test your bike out - not all bikes fit on bus racks ;-( Front fenders have specifically been identified as causing problems. We also noticed current CTA bus racks are a little bit different than the demo. The hooks on current CTA buses appear to be simplified and grey versus the yellow plastic ones used on the demo. Give it a try and tell us how it goes. You got this! You're going to do great!

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