Vehicles: buses: length limitations.

Existing law imposes a 40-foot limitation on the length of vehicles that may be operated on the highways, with specified exemptions. Existing law exempts from this limitation an articulated bus or trolley and a bus, except a schoolbus, that is operated by a public agency or passenger stage corporation that is used in a transit system if it is equipped with a folding device attached to the front of the vehicle that is designed and used exclusively for transporting bicycles, does not materially affect efficiency or visibility of vehicle safety equipment, and does not extend more than 36 inches from the front of the body of the bus or trolley when fully deployed. In addition, existing law prohibits a bicycle that is transported on the above-described device from having the bicycle handlebars extend more than 42 inches from the front of the vehicle. This bill would authorize Gold Coast Transit (GCT) to install folding devices attached to the front of its buses that are designed and used exclusively for transporting bicycles if the use of the device meets certain requirements, including, but not limited to, that the device does not extend more than 40 inches from the front of the bus when fully deployed, and that the handlebars of the bicycles being transported do not extend more than 46 inches from the front of the bus. The bill would require GCT, if it installs the bicycle racks, to report to the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing on or before December 31, 2017, regarding safety issues and mobility improvements. The bill would also require GCT, prior to installing a folding device on a bus that is 45 feet in length, to establish a route review committee, as specified, in order to determine, by unanimous vote of the voting members of the committee, which routes proposed by GCT are suitable for the safe operation of a 45-foot bus that is equipped with a front-mounted bicycle rack and to obtain certification approved by a licensed traffic engineer that all proposed routes are safe for travel by buses so equipped. The bill would require the committee's initial review to include a field review of the proposed routes. The bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute.