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Bus Rack Story

Prior to the 1990’s, a small number of transit agencies had recognized the need to incorporate bicycles into the public transit equation. However, there was not a good product on the market that accomplished this task. Valley Metro in Phoenix, Arizona came close in outfitting their entire fleet in 1991 with locally made bicycle racks. But, what really turned the tides was the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Equity Act (ISTEA) in 1991. This Act for the first time allowed funding on the federal level for bicycle and pedestrian related projects. It also mandated that each state employ a bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, and that bicycle and pedestrian planning must be taken into account in long-range planning.

With the passage of ISTEA, King County Metropolitan Transit District in Seattle, Washington saw an opportunity. They applied for and received a $950K grant to outfit their entire public transit fleet with bike racks. There was one problem: there was not a product on the market that met the needs of both the cyclist and the transit authority. King County held informational meetings for potential vendors for this unique bike rack. In stepped Sportworks Northwest, Inc. Being a local company that was already in the manufacturing business and one that was looking for more opportunities to diversify its customer base, this product idea made good sense for Sportworks.

Sportworks attended the informational meeting back in 1993. It was one of twelve companies that submitted a proposal. It was one of three companies that were selected to produce prototypes. It was awarded the contract to outfit the entire fleet of 1300 vehicles with its new bike rack.

Prior to the award of the Seattle contract, Sportworks had secured a small number of other agencies as bike rack customers; Sonoma County in Santa Rosa, CA, being the first Sportworks Bike Rack customer. With some minor modifications to the original design, we were off and running.

Today, more than twelve years later, Sportworks has seen tens of thousands of bike racks go out our door. We are happy to report that we have racks in all 50 states, and over 500 agencies and municipalities utilize our product. A conservative estimate tells us that our racks are used more than one million times every month. We have come a long way.

Sportworks employees have an incredible amount of passion and devotion to this product line. Many of us have been with the company during the entire evolution of this product. Many of our employees are avid cyclists and frequently commute to work on two wheels. Our company consistently ranks at the top during the Bike to Work Month Commute Challenge in our county. We talk the talk and walk the walk.

We continue to churn out new products that make sense for the inclusion of bicycles into the public transit realm. People come to us looking for solutions and because our design, engineering and manufacturing (not to mention sales and service) are under one roof. We can not only offer innovative solutions that involve our customers as partners along the way, but also we can make the goods and provide the service that our customers deserve.

Stay tuned for more multi-modal innovations from Sportworks Northwest, Inc.!

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