Bike racks missing on some buses today

Bicycle commuters who take the bus across the Highway 520 bridge might face a longer wait to get on a bus today. And bus-bike commuters on some other routes will face buses with no bike racks.

King County Metro Transit workers spent the weekend removing all its three-bike bicycle racks and replacing as many as possible with two-bike racks after learning the larger racks weren't secure.

Metro Transit does not have enough replacement racks, so some buses will be missing them for today's commute, said spokeswoman Linda Thielke.

Routes that will not have bike racks include 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 12, 13, 14, 36, 49, 70. In addition, some buses on routes 7, 43, and 44 will not have racks. Updates will be posted at transit.metrokc.gov.

"We know this is going to be inconvenient," Thielke said. "There's no one route you could pick where you don't have impact."

Workers replaced racks on buses with high bike use and long routes where riders have few alternatives. City routes and those with other bus options are more likely to be without racks.

Metro Transit posted signs Friday at busy stops on affected routes, Thielke said.

The agency still needs about 150-200 more bike racks to replace the flawed ones, and it will take some time to get more, she said.

Metro Transit began installing three-bike racks in the spring, starting with routes with high demand, where bicyclists sometimes can't get on buses because of full bike racks. Rack use is first-come, first-served.

But the agency received reports over the past couple of months about problems with the new racks' securing system. A few bikes were damaged, and riders were worried about using them, Thielke said.

The racks are still under warranty, and Metro is working with the manufacturer to fix the problem.

Depending on availability, Thielke said, it will probably take a couple of weeks to add racks back to all buses.

Nicole Tsong: 206-464-2150 or ntsong@seattletimes.com