A 402 story a couple weeks ago about National Bike to Work Week stirred up on a conversation on JournalStar.com: Would StarTran please consider putting bike racks on its buses?

Well, it sounds like bus riders who’d like to tote their two-wheeled rides with them may not have that chance for a while.

Glenn Knust, the maintenance superintendent for StarTran, said he doesn’t expect bicycle hitches to be added anytime soon.

Why? Money and space.

Because the bike racks add about a foot and a half to each bus, they would no longer fit in the garage, he said. Their estimated $2,500 cost — multiplied by 60 buses — is also an unresolved issue. 

But, Knust said, the Transit Development Program’s study group is talking about bringing back the racks, a feature the city experimented with in the late 1980s for about a year.

Nye Bond, a member of the study group, said the issue has not been outright dismissed.

“I can’t say definitely one way or another, but it is in the hopper and it is not going away,” he said.

The advisory board has not heard any public input on the issue and has moved it down on the priority list as a result, Bond said.

Without more public outcry, rapid progress is unlikely, Knust said.

“I’ve heard of only two people contacting us about it,” he said.

— Drew Kerr