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How To Ride Public Transit For Free This Friday

bike to work
Flickr Creative Commons

Use your bike to get around the Greater Cincinnati area Friday and your ride on public transit will be gratis

In an effort to show how easy it is to bike and ride around town, Metro, the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK), Clermont Transportation Connection (CTC), and Butler County Regional Transit Authority (BCRTA) are joining forces once again to offer riders who store their bike on a bus' bike rack a free ride.

All Metro, TANK, CTC and BCRTA buses are equipped with front-loading bike racks that accommodate two bikes. (Bikes are not allowed on board buses unless they are foldable and can fit under a seat.) If a bus' bike rack is full, you'll have to wait for the next one.

New Rider Nerves?

Experienced "bike and riders," as they're called, may know all this, but those trying out the practice for the first time shouldn't be intimated, says Brandy Jones, director of external affairs for Metro. 

In fact, Jones says many of her co-workers use some combination of bike and bus to commute each day. "They'll take a bus up a hill, or part of the way," she says. "It's a nice way for them to get their exercise, even if they live further away."

New bike and riders can find instructions with pictures that illustrate how to use the racks on Metro's website. "It's a breeze," Jones assures. "It takes maybe 30 seconds." 

While part of Metro's driver training involves bike safety, don't expect a driver to help you load a bike on a rack. "It's a liability issue," she says. "But if you need help like, 'What do I do?' they can certainly explain." 

While Metro doesn't track its number of bike and riders, it does know that typically 100 - 200 people take advantage of the free ride offered for a few years now on Bike to Work Day, which always falls in May, also National Bike Month.

Editor's note: This story was written May 16, 2018, and has been updated. 

Jennifer Merritt brings 20 years of "tra-digital" journalism experience to WVXU.