This article is about taking bikes on Intercity buses – a country-wide, privately run network of buses with impressive coverage, regular services, flexible cancellation/amendment terms (handy for cycle trips) and reasonable prices. This bus network is far from ‘bike-friendly’, but when approached sensibly, can faciliate some awesome bike adventures. And anyway, it’s all we’ve got other than a precious few train services.
My advice boils down to this: Accept in your heart that it will be up to the driver right at the moment of boarding, whether or not you and your bike gets onto the bus.
Embrace the uncertainty and you will (probably) be fine. Skip to the bottom if you’re here for the actual practical steps of disassembling bikes. Contact us or comment below with with your experiences and advice to add to this.
If you think that the driver can be compelled to take your bike based on logic, insistence, getting something in writing ahead of time or something written on Intercity’s website, you’re courting disaster. You’ll often need to put your feelings second. Some drivers are very friendly with bikes, other’s aren’t. I was recently told “this (having bikes) is a joke mate” and “did you book these?” (you can’t book bikes). The kids asked me why the driver was mad at me. I told them the truth – some people hate bikes. We still got on the bus and thanked him when we got off. Who am I to judge – I’ve never run a bus company and had to hire drivers to cover the whole island; I probably couldn’t do any better. I certainly can’t drive a bus. In any case, that’s not the normal experience. Mostly they thank me for taking off the pedals and not showing up with the bike fully assembled.
Philosophy lecture aside, it is useful to know what is written on Intercity’s website about travelling with bikes. Let’s go through it (their words in italics):
- Oversized luggage is classified as any item that is heavier than 25kg or exceeding total dimensions of 158cm (refer to our Checked Luggage terms).
That means my bike is oversized. Outside of a Brompton folding bike (157cm), it is simply not possible to achieve L + W + H < 158cm.
To clarify, I’m talking about the sort of travel where you ride to the bus stop with all your pannier bags and touring equipment, dismantle your bike yourself, put it under the bus and continue your ride at the other end – no taxis, bike boxes, hotels storing your equipment etc. There are also specialty bags, where your bikes goes inside stripped down to the frame. This doesn’t work for me. Although a few of the e-bikes we sell can do this, the ones I currently own are too bulky. And what would I do with the 9kg bag for the rest of my ride – I don’t always ride back to where I started, thanks to combining with buses. It is a cool solution though and worked well for my friend Jake from Sydney Electric Bikes, who travelled with his non-electric MTB using buses and planes (and my cargo bike) all over NZ. Key difference is that when he arrived, he walked to his accommodation (the bike case rolls) where he could unpack and leave his stuff, then go riding. There are non-rolling lightweight, compact bags too (Alex has one), which I will probably explore later, with a more compact e-bike.
- Oversized luggage is carried subject to space availability on each sector travelled, with a limit of one oversized luggage item per person. Please note we cannot guarantee carriage on any specific travel date or service.
All true – there’s no guarantees here.
- Oversized luggage is charged at $10.00 per item, per individual bus connection. This is payable to the driver.
I have never been asked for the $10. If in fact this ever happened, the reason it’s payable to the driver is simple enough – they can’t take payment before you get on the bus or when you book, because there’s no guarantee you’ll get on!
- Please note that some buses on our network are unable to accommodate bikes and other large items. Please check the notes under ‘Service info’ when booking your fare.
This refers to Double decker buses which haven’t got the cavernous luggage space underneath. There are stories of people managing to get their bikes onto these services, so don’t completely rule it out, but certainly don’t go booking one as part of your plan A. The Auckland-Wellington service is generally a double decker. You can tell by starting your booking, selecting a service and then seeing what it says here:
- Bicycles must be collapsed down (both wheels removed from the frame) with handlebars turned sideways, the chain covered and preferably in a bike case. They should not exceed total dimensions (length + width + height) of 158cm (62inches). Bicycles presented in this fashion will be accepted for travel and counted as one of your two Checked Luggage entitlements. If your bicycle is not collapsed down then it will not be carried.
The main thing to take away from here is that you must ‘collapse’ your bike. 158cm is impossible, so just collapse it to the best of your abilities. I haven’t removed the rear wheel for bus travel – if you decide to, I recommend also removing your derailleur to avoid damage.
- If you’re bringing a bike with you, please contact us in advance of travel so we can inform the driver. This may make it easier for him/her to leave space for your bike, although we cannot guarantee carriage on any specific travel date or service.
Good advice which I should try to follow more. But don’t forget the magic rule – it’s up to the driver at boarding time. I’d advise against name dropping the person in the office as having told you that the driver would do this or that. Ever hitchhiked with truck drivers? The people in head office are not always considered ‘team mates’.
- The charge for bicycles that are not collapsed down is $10.00 per bike, per individual bus connection. This is payable to the driver.
This contradicts the earlier “If your bicycle is not collapsed down then it will not be carried“. I suspect the contradictions are not an accident: if it’s not collapsed down, it won’t be carried and that when collapsed down it should somehow become smaller than a 16” wheeled folding bike and you should call ahead but there’s no guarantees. It sounds a policy born of compromise between drivers, customers, booking systems, health/safety and marketing. So what does it all mean? Be nice, do your best and the driver will make the final call. And if you can’t get on? Well, it hasn’t happened to me yet.
How to ‘collapse’ your bike
Now your practical lesson. E-bikes vary of course, this is based on my eZee bike. Practice at home first. Rene’s 1-day ‘bike enthusiast‘ course in Blockhouse bay is highly recommended as it’s based on your own bike (if you bring it).
1 – Set up. Get there early. I want to be all finished before the driver sees the bike. The bus stop areas aren’t always the most comfortable place to work on a bike. Large cities have bus stations, which are smelly, noisy places where your kids can get run over with very little space to work on a bike (have I mentioned trains are better?) Auckland’s main stop (SkyCity) is one of the worst. Manukau isn’t even possible for bikes to be loaded onto buses due to shape of conrete bus bays covering the driver side luggage compartments. At Hamilton a bin was literally on fire next to me. Christchurch bucks the trend – it’s actually very nice. The main stops in smaller towns tend to be near i-sites and are quite pleasant. The stops in between towns are somewhat improvised – side of the road, petrol station parking area, in front of a school on the edge of town. It’s hard to know exactly where the bus will pull up (if it’s your first time there) and these are very quick stops, so you might have to very quickly move yourself and your collapsed down, unwieldy bike a long way to get to the bus, making step 7 very challenging. Did I mention the insanity of losing our train network?
2 – Remove the pedals and loosen up stem bolts while the wheels are still on. I carry a compact pedal spanner (it’s actually a wheel spanner) for this. Not all pedals have ‘flats’, your pedals may need a big 8mm allen key instead. The left pedal loosens counter clockwise.
3 – Remove the front wheel (here’s how on an eZeebike) and front mudguard, velcro strap the mudguard to the wheel. The bike is now unwieldy!
4 – Remove the stem and handlebar, tie to the seatpost and top of head tube with velcro straps.
5 – take chain off front chainring and put inside a rag and strap it closed. Another option is to keep the chain on the bike, but wrap the rag around the derailleur and some of the chain at the bottom. Now your bike is really unwieldy – it probably doesn’t even roll backwards now.
6 – Organise yourself. Small bag and helmet to go inside the bus with you, panniers nice and neat. One challenge at some stops is not knowing where the bus will actually pull up! Deep breaths, submit yourself to the bus driver gods. Smile, stay at ease and think about keeping others comfortable.
7 – Load up. When the bus arrives, find a good moment to let the driver know that you have a bike with you and offer to load it into the bus yourself (if you can). They load luggage according to where you’re getting off. However, bikes usually go on the ‘other’ side of the bus, where the driver’s tool bag lives. Loading from that side (the traffic side) introduces safety issues at some stops. The bike will fit in along the wall, perpendicular to the bus itself, if the handlebar and stem have been removed. Your pannier bags can then go next to it, helping to hold it up.
