To sign the petition on campus students can stop by the Woman’s Resource Center located in the Union, Room WG93.

With the addition of miles of bike paths and bike lanes along busy streets, Milwaukee has become more and more bike friendly over the past decade.

There is one accommodating feature, however, that Milwaukee has not offered: bike racks on city buses.

This system would allow bikers to place their bicycles on a two-bike rack located in the front of the bus. The idea behind the racks is to give bikers the opportunity to make longer trips and accommodate for darkness, bad weather or fatigue. Ideally the system could potentially decrease toxic emissions from automobiles by promoting bike use.

Bike racks have been added in seven Wisconsin cities such as Madison, La Crosse, Eau Claire and Steven’s Point with much success. Still, their successes may be due in part to their much smaller systems.

Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) owns 485 buses, which is more than double that of any other system in the state.

In La Crosse’s case, a system of only 21 buses needed to be updated in 1999 when the bike rack system was incorporated, said Keith Carlson, the La Crosse transit manager. He said that 80 percent of funds were procured through government funds, and the rest through a local capital improvement program. New buses purchased automatically come with racks.

According to the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, a survey of bike rack users in La Crosse showed that 86 percent would have made their trips using other modes of transportation prior to the availability of bike racks.

There have been some reservations that the bike racks would slow the buses’ schedules. Riders may not know how to use the racks, and this would affect stop times. This was easily solved in La Crosse. Those wanting to use the bike racks must have a $2 permit, which is issued around campus and other specified areas with instruction on how to use the racks.

The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin (BFW) sent out a petition earlier this year supporting the addition of bike racks on city buses. The petition is still circulating and is in the early stages as the BFW is researches who the decision makers of the incorporation could be.

Shea Schachameyer, project coordinator of the Milwaukee BFW chapter, hopes the petition will convey the city’s demand for bike racks on buses.

“I feel like so much of my money as a biker goes towards automobile infrastructure, while I wish it would go more towards biking improvements,” Schachameyer said.

The MCTS is not unaware of the demand for bike racks on city buses. Studies are done every two to four years, and each time it has been determined that the racks are not feasible.

“There are a couple of things that are difficult to overcome financially. As you know, the county has difficulty because of that, and it can only do absolutely necessary projects,” said Joe Caruso, MCTS marketing director.

Caruso said that part of the money the system gets from government grants, known as capital money, must be spent on purchasing buses, doing maintenance and purchasing equipment.

This money is very limited and would be where bike rack funds would come from. MCTS feels that there are other areas that need the money more, such as keeping the buses running and in good shape.

Studies done by MCTS state that it would cost about $1,000 per bus, totaling about $485,000 to install racks on all city buses. Some have asked why the racks couldn’t be installed on certain routes, but this possibility falls short, since buses do not stay on the same route each day, Caruso said.

If bike racks are installed, another issue arises, Caruso said. The garages that buses are stored in are long, six-lane tunnels. Buses are parked bumper-to-bumper, with small access lanes for maintenance. If racks were installed they would displace the access lanes, making it impossible to perform maintenance. It has been estimated by MCTS that garage alteration or rebuilding would cost at least $1 million.

Caruso said that these costs may not be a factor forever, and MCTS continues to study the possibility in the future as fuel costs rise and more people begin to ride bikes to their destinations.

“We want to be part of the bike-friendly ridership,” Caruso said.

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