|
SM-DAILY-NEWS\Riders say bike plan falls short / Caltrain struggles
|
Jym Dyer
|
Aug 20, 2008 10:19 PDT
|
http://sanmateodailynews.com/article/2008-8-20-caltrain
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10252649
Riders say bike plan falls short
Caltrain struggles to meet capacity demands
By Shaun Bishop
San Mateo Daily News | 20-Aug-2008
[Also in the _Mercury_News_]
Whether motivated by high gas prices, global warming or physical
fitness, thousands of Caltrain's regular passengers are lugging
their bicycles aboard.
But the same incentives are also driving more commuters out of
their cars and into the trains, causing a logjam inside to rival
the gridlock on nearby Highway 101.
And when push comes to shove, it's the bicyclists who get left
behind, or in Caltrain parlance -- "bumped."
More and more, bicyclists who feel they're doing the
environmentally correct thing are being asked not to board
a crowded train car, or the next one, or the one after that.
"Leaving San Jose anytime between 5 and 7 (p.m.) is just nuts,"
said Robert Cox, who rides the train there from his home in
Redwood City. "I've seen people get bumped a lot and it's just
going to get worse."
That's not news to Caltrain, which recently completed a report
that recommends several possible solutions such as building more
bike lockers at stations, starting a bike sharing program or
charging a fee for allowing bikes during peak ridership hours.
But bikers, who now make up an estimated 8 percent of Caltrain's
weekday riders, say the report misses the point, and that the
train services should free up some space for their bikes either
by removing more seats or adding more train cars.
Caltrain officials don't want to buy more rail cars now because
they'll be replaced in a few years as the agency considers
moving to an electrified system. And they're reluctant to take
out more seats for bikers, noting there already aren't enough
for passengers during rush hour as the line experiences record
ridership.
"We're experiencing capacity problems on a lot of our trains
during the peak and that's going to increase," said spokeswoman
Christine Dunn. "It's a happy problem to have, but the bike
riders are not the only ones."
Caltrain's Bicycle Parking and Access Plan, released last week,
gives a broad look at issues bicyclists face when using Caltrain.
It was initially called the Bicycle Master Plan, but cyclists
complained that it focused on parking and access at Caltrain
stations and ignored the 80 percent of cyclists who carry their
bikes on the train. So the name was changed, but bikers say the
focus didn't change much.
One relatively easy project, which the report even mentions,
would be to make the bike-holding capacity of trains more
predictable, said Andy Thornley, program director for the
San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.
He said bicyclists are frustrated when a 7:30 a.m. train has
spots for 16 bikes one day and 64 spots the next, making it
near impossible to predict whether they'll get bumped.
Eugene Kim, who commutes to Redwood City, said he gets bumped
"all the time" at the station in San Francisco, where he
lives. He guesses about three of every five bike cars he tries
to board are filled, and now has to get to the station early
just to account for delays.
The bike plan suggests posting the train configurations the
night before on a Web site or installing a system to monitor
available spots and display them at stations in real time.
Other potential solutions include installing more bicycle
lockers at the stations or subsidizing residents' purchase of
folding bikes that can be stored under seats.
But Caltrain, which struggles to balance its budget every
year, doesn't have the funding to implement any of the report's
recommendations, officials say.
Supervisor Jerry Hill, who sits on Caltrain's board, said he
wants to ask cyclists whether they would use the suggested
improvements before seriously considering them.
"If we build all these alternatives and they're still lining up,
getting (bumped) from the train all the time, it's not solving
the problem," Hill said.
The bicycle coalition crafted its own bicycle plan, which it
distributed to Caltrain board members at a recent meeting.
Thornley said he hopes officials will consider their
suggestions, including taking out more seats.
"It's not that we're against better parking at the stations
or access to or from stations," Thornley said. But, he added,
"they really need to start with the bikes-on-board service."
|
|
 |
|
