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We heard from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition today that at the November 6th of the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board, there was still no word on increased capacity for bicycles on Caltrain.
Coincidentally, on the very day of the recent PCJPB meeting, we were very nearly bumped from the 5:46 pm northbound bullet at Menlo Park -- in spite of having a folding bike, there was no room for us in the bicycle car, so we sought refuge with four other folders in the (gasp!) luggage car, as four or five forlorn cyclists were left on the platform.
The Powers have told us that they don't want to remove seats to make room for bikes, but there were certainly plenty of available seats on our train. In fact, the SFBC has been collecting images of full bike cars and empty passenger seats for some time now, even though the Department of Homeland Security would like you to "Report any persons showing uncommon interest in critical infrastructure/key resource facilities, networks, or systems (e.g. photographing or videotaping assets)."
Details on Caltrain's 2008 Progress Report after the jump.
We had the pleasure of attending the October meeting of the PCJPB, where we were served tasty Mother's frosted oatmeal cookies, perhaps the last of their kind. We were also treated to a firm statement that small increases in capacity and minor changes in boarding procedure would be implemented soon, but there was no mention of implementation in the Caltrain 2008 Progress Report, released on November 6th. As the report tells us,
Since 1992, when Caltrain first made room for bicycles on its trains, the program has grown to the point where nearly 2,400 customers bring their bikes onboard Caltrain each weekday. The program has been so successful that bike capacity on Caltrain during peak hours has reached a straining point. Caltrain is working hard to stretch its limited resources to accommodate passengers with bikes.
The full report is available here as a PDF.
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my guess is that you don't ride a bullet. my 8:14am train is near standing-room by the time we get to Millbrae. likewise, the 5:06p bullet from Palo Alto to the City is a mess..
Clearly Caltrain should reduce capacity to accommodate people who drag bicycles on board... it would be wholly unreasonable to expect people with bicycles to be somewhat accommodating and use folding bikes instead. Alas.
we spend billions of dollars accomodating people who drive their cars to work by building and maintaining roadways. people who bring bikes on caltrain generally live and work farther than walking distance from stations, so they are going out of their way to use public transit. they should be supported for that.
zippy - a photo is worth 1000 words. Check the photos linked to above. Caltrain runs with empty seats and full bike racks. The "reduction in capacity" does not result in a reduction in passengers because the bikes are not displacing passengers, they are displacing empty seats.
The argument goes - "well, those seats will be full someday" runs into the counter argument - "How are those new passengers going to get to - and FROM - the station?"
Note also the photo above - if the four cyclists bumped at Menlo in Jonathan's story had folding bikes, there would be no room to put them either.
You can get a swanky "Don't Bump Me" shirt here:
http://www.cafepress.com/vsgoliath
(sold at cost)
I agree the issue isn't passenger capacity
Plus this isn't BART with platform an d boarding issues. Add another car if you need to
I really see this as something Caltrain could be innovative in. The Bay Area and this corridor are unique in that they have clustered uses because of geography (thank goodness) but they are not quite within walking distance. we also have a high population of bike riders and people who care about the environment.
some day we will work on the landuse and upgrade the caltrain service. for now lets be innovative and encourage the bike on trains thing