Bikes on Caltrain?

[Transit-Ranter]

There is usually one bike-car for each train. There is rack space for 32 bikes, and there are 32 seats, in the bike portion of those cars.

Why did Caltrain recently remove all the yellow-and-black signs explaining that the seats in the bike-cars were for bicycle riders?   •••   Should those signs be reinstated?   •••   Should bikers stop using deodorant in protest?     ;-))

CALTRAIN, please reinstate some kind of advisory signs about seating and bike cars...

Non-bike riders on Caltrain have no clue, without those signs. It's very inconvenient when non-cyclists are taking up too many seats, during peak-commuting hours, and the bike riders must sit in other cars far from their bikes. Bikes need to be moved sometimes, when an occasional rider does not have a destination tag, and bikes are not stacked in order.

Sometimes, there are two bike cars, one near the engine, and one at the end, but how do the riders know? You have to ask, if you can find a conductor. Could there not be a bike-car indicator that riders could see from either end of the train?

Got a comment about bikes on Caltrain? Post below...

[Transit-Ranter]

@ Kevin: Good comments. Last Thursday, 3/27/08, leaving SF station on the Baby Bullet about 5:14pm, The train had one less car than usual. The conductor apologized for the very crowded train. He announced something about having "a meeting with management last nite" where the staff requested more cars on commuter trains.

It's also very unpredictable, whether there are one or two bike cars, on commuter trains, both in the morning and in the evening!

[Cyclelicious]

Kevin, the conductors aren't really that uninterested, just unempowered. They've given their input about the need for more cars and more bike cars and additional bike storage. Some of them are also upset about the new rules where the bike car is *not* reserved solely for cyclists (as it was theoretically in the past).

[295bus]

A question to fellow bikers--what would you say to paying a little extra for a "bike ticket" if it guaranteed space?

It might incent enough people to get foldable bikes (which, since they don't take up rack space, ought to not require a special ticket) that the whole bike storage crunch would go away.

I think there are other transit systems that do this.

CalTrain might also think about other ways to encourage foldable bikes--they could put reviews of models and bike shops in their newsletter.

[Cyclelicious]

295 - did you participate in the cyclist survey Caltrain did about a year ago? Some of the possibilities mentioned in the survey were a surcharge for bicycles and additional bike parking at busy stations.

I guess because of feedback from current users, Caltrain has decided to move forward with more parking at train stations and encouraging riders to lock their bikes up there. The stations most used by cyclists are 4th & King, 22nd, Mtn View, Millbrae, San Jose, Redwood City and Hillsdale.

[GeoFan49]

More parking for bikes? That just doesn't seem right.

I could never figure why anyone would want to park their bike at a train station! There should be more room for bikes on trains, imho.

Biking to work saves time and money. Most busses and trams are too slow and expensive. Biking a few miles on each end is easy, healthy, and environmentally better too!

[GeoFan49]

Yes, I would pay an extra buck to pay for the bike space and a seat when I ride my bike.

[Kevin]

I would pay up to a 10% premium for a 'guarantee', though I am not sure I would trust a guarantee from Caltrain.

[295bus]

If they charged extra for bikes during peak commute hours only, it might get enough people to adjust their schedules that the bike crunch problem would go away.

The scuttlebutt I got about the bike survey (from BATN's editorializing) was that it was all about bike storage at stations, and downplayed bikes on trains, which is what we really want. I think I skipped it.