Integrating Bicycles and Transit in Santa Barbara, California

The integration of bicycles and transit in Santa Barbara, California, was designed as an innovative demonstration project, to increase local transit ridership. The Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District (SBMTD) installed bicycle racks and lockers at selected bus stops and attached bicycle trailers to fixed-route minibuses. The demonstration services operated for 18 months and the SBMTD continued these services intact the following year. This report evaluates the Santa Barbara Demonstration Project. It examines the impacts of integrating bicycles and transit services on equipment design, selection of routes and bicycle storage sites, implementation, marketing, travel time, equipment reliability, safety and security, weekday vs weekend, seasonal, and bicycle-trailer vs. system ridership, user and trip characteristics, user attitudes, fleet characteristics, and capital and operating expenses. A final section examines the integration of bicycle and transit services in other applications.