When It Rains, It Pours: Another Bump in the Road for King County Metro
King County Metro can't seem to catch a break.
Aside from being on the brink of financial crisis that will bring the city's streets to a grinding halt, they've recently been confronted with another bit of bad fortune: a shortage of safe bike racks.
According to their site, many of Metro's bike racks are "wearing out more quickly than the manufacturer expected," which means--you guessed it--they need to be replaced, far sooner than anyone planned. The vendor, however, is being cooperative; they've sent replacement parts for the racks, which are still under warranty.
In the mean time, Metro warns, there will be a shortage of racks, which will inevitably leave some bike commuters stranded. Metro doesn't allow bikes inside buses (for obvious reasons of crowding and safety), and has yet to release any kind of a route schedule to help riders plan ahead. About 15% of bike racks have been removed for repair, and every bus on the road with a bike rack has been determined to be safe. Most buses will be able to accommodate at least 2 bicycles.
Seattle's bus system is starting to look like a real bad-luck kid. Service is already, at times, laughably bad. And it's hard not to look at something like this as a symptom of Metro's larger problems--that planning and fiscal responsibility aren't exactly the organization's strong suits--but kicking them when they're down seems like a low blow. After all, hasn't everyone at some point bought a terrible, regrettable problem, only to be caught in the snag of rebates and warranties? Of course. Still, it's disappointing that, in light of Metro's money troubles, there's such a concrete problem to point to.
We all rely on Metro's ability to run effectively and efficiently. Their problems are our problems. So we hope that Metro can get the bike racks replaced, and that their luck changes, because we're not sure any of us can stand another blow to the City's most used public transit option.
