May is National Bike Month and HART makes riding the bus with a bicycle a breeze. HART actively supports linking bicycles and transit by providing bus racks on buses and throughout our service area.
Also, HART permits folded bikes in carrying bags aboard all HART buses and HARTFlex vans. Users of bicycles with larger wheels should continue using the bicycle rack. Each HART bus and HARTFlex van accommodates two bicycles. Only single-seat, two-wheel bicycles are permitted on buses; no tandems or three wheelers. Plus, the HART Bikes on Buses program enables riders to take their bikes with them and transfer from a HART bus to a PSTA bus without a special permit.
Here are some quick HART Bikes on Buses program facts:
- Within the past two years HART customers have boarded buses and HARTFlex vans with bikes more than 440,000 times. May kicks off the busiest cycling season, and between now and October HART will average 20,000 bike boardings per month.
- By combining two modes of carbon-reducing transportation it is possible to reduce the impact on the shared environment while also greatly increasing one's range of travel. Avoid the expense of parking a vehicle while getting more healthy exercise, and leave the driving to HART while bringing bicycles along for the ride.
- To promote bicycle transportation and remove barriers to riding, HART partners with local cycling groups to support this bicycle-transit integration. In addition, the HART lost and found program also donates unclaimed bikes to local charity, God's Pedal Power (GPP) so they can be refurbished and provided to children and people in need within our community. Over the past 12 years HART has contributed approximately 2,000 bicycles.
- There are dozens of free bike racks throughout the HART transit system, too, conveniently located at many of its bus shelters as well as at some of its Park-n-Ride facilities.
HART works hard to promote the growth in cycling around Tampa and seek proactive, long-term solutions to accommodate a growing market of transit users who travel by bike. Bicycle friendly transit provides cyclists with increased options to travel, and it also expands transit ridership.
Meanwhile, HART strives to ensure safe biking by educating the public with tips about how to protect themselves while cycling and also securely store their bikes. The HART Bikes on Buses is another way the agency is committed to link people with the communities we serve.
