more from the Leader Post (a 2 page spread on cycling in Regina):

Looking good, feeling great: Bike racks and bike lanes enter the public consciousness in Regina
By Allen Warren

Two City of Regina initiatives designed to improve the mechanics of bicycle travel in the city shift into high gear this month. Earlier in June, Regina Transit finished outfitting its fleet with front-end loading bike racks to give people who want it the option to cycle, rack and ride their way to their final destination.
It was a project started in fall of last year after the city’s Transit Advisory Board and the City of Regina’s Green Ribbon Commission, a group appointed by city council to identify ways of lowering community greenhouse gas emissions in the Regina area six per cent below 1990 levels by 2012, both endorsed the idea.

All Regina Transit buses will now be equipped with bike racks, which feature a support arm to hold the bike firmly in place, big enough to accommodate two adult-sized bicycles. Sue Luchuck, Senior Transit Planner with Regina Transit expects the use of the bike racks to increase once the public starts realizing how they can be used to their advantage. "We don't provide transit service to all areas of the city at the moment, so if someone is interested in taking a greener form of transportation to work other than their car, they can ride their bike to their nearest transit stop, rack their bike on the bus and ride transit to work,” she explained. "Adding bike racks to our buses was one of the things we thought we could do to provide tangible benefit for our riders,” she said, “ and perhaps this will get people using public transit who haven't used it before.”

Bike racks have been fixtures on city buses in Canadian municipalities like Vancouver and Ottawa for years, and are now finally making their appearance here. Luchuck said that while she has handled some calls that seemed to express derision towards the new racks, feedback to date has been mostly positive. The racks were covered by a 2007 federal capital funding grant for transit.

"When we explain to them why we have done it, they seem to think it's not such a bad idea," she said, "We hope the visibility of the bike racks will at least get people thinking about alternate forms of transportation, and we hope they will be well-used.”

Racks will be removed for the winter months sometime in late fall. Information on using the bike racks is currently available on city buses, as well as on the Regina Transit web site at http://www.reginatransit.com/. Perhaps interested parties from all corners of the city will want to "rack and ride" their way to another City of Regina biking initiative at the Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre on June 25, as the city hosts an Open House public forum on the proposed Cathedral neighbourhood bike paths.

Bob Berry, Senior Traffic Planning Engineer with the City of Regina, said the forum is in follow-up to the questionnaires sent to Cathedral and Heritage Precinct homes earlier in the year. The questionnaires asked for residents’ preferences on where they would like to see a new dedicated bike lane established in the area. While the public expressed preference for a bike lane to stretch from Lewvan Avenue to Albert Street along Thirteenth Avenue, the “type” of bike lane remains to be chosen. “What we want to do is to go to the pubic to see what they think about the new plans we have coming out,” he explained. Berry said the Cathedral neighbourhood project is part of a five-year city plan that includes taking a look at a number of neighbourhoods where cycling can be improved for the recreational and commuter cyclist alike.

Later in the summer, Berry says the city will begin an inquiry into creating a bike lane from the south end of Wascana Parkway all the way to Fourth Avenue North along Broad Street. He said the public support for creating new bike lanes all over Regina is strong, and now is the time to act. “It’s been recognized by the city that we should be encouraging the use of bikes throughout the city, and this is one of the ways you can do that—by coming up with dedicated laneways for the bikes themselves.”

The Open House at the Cathedral Neighbourhood Centre will be held between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. at 2900-13th Avenue. All public, especially cyclists and those interested in green forms of transport are encouraged to attend.