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PA-DAILY-NEWS\Caltrain bolstering on-board bike space
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Jym Dyer
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Feb 06, 2009 10:04 PST
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http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_11642351
Caltrain bolstering on-board bike space
By Mike Rosenberg
Daily News Staff Writer
Palo Alto Daily News | 05-Feb-2009 11:54:57 PM PST
Caltrain crews soon will begin ripping out seats from their
train cars to make room for more bicycle racks, the first in a
series of moves intended to bolster capacity for frustrated
bikers.
At a meeting Thursday the Caltrain Board of Directors authorized
the "interim" solution to the problem of hundreds of bicyclists
who get "bumped" (left at the station) whenever a train's bike
racks are full.
The board decided that the number of bike racks in gallery cars
should increase 25 percent from 32 to 40, while the number of
racks in bombardier cars should soar 50 percent from 16 to
24. To free up space for the racks, the number of seats on the
bottom floor of gallery cars should drop from 16 to eight and in
bombardier cars from 19 to 11.
In all, the total available bike slots for the entire day should
swell 28 percent from 4,000 to 5,152. During peak commute times
there should be 27 percent more slots, for a total of 2,930.
A total of 272 seats will have been removed.
The changes will be made during the next two to three months and
should be visible by April, said Chief Operating Officer Chuck
Harvey. The work and new racks should cost about $200,000.
"It's not everything the bike community wants, and it's not
everything that we want," Harvey said. "But it is doable."
Bike advocates wanted even more racks, but agency officials
don't want to remove too many seats because Caltrain cars have
become crowded during commute hours, with ridership smashing
records last year.
Just 2,400 of the agency's roughly 40,000 daily weekday riders
take their bikes on board, but they are the only passengers who
have reported being bumped. Bumping sometimes happens on only
nine of the 98 trains the agency operates each day, particularly
southbound trips in the morning and northbound trips in the
evening, Harvey said.
Bicyclists, represented at the meeting and in talks with the
agency by the San Francisco and Silicon Valley bicycle
coalitions, claimed a minor victory after the meeting. The
increase in bike racks would only modestly improve the problem
of bumping, they said.
Still, they were encouraged by Caltrain officials' comments that
this would only be an incremental solution and they would
revisit the issue again starting next month.
Andy Thornley, program director for the San Francisco Bicycle
Coalition, said he is now convinced the Caltrain staff and
directors "get it." In the past, he said, the problem bumping
and their concerns it about had been mostly ignored. Now it
appears likely the agency will form a formal bicycle advisory
commission that would meet regularly and adopt a bicycle plan in
coming months.
The coalition's proposal to increase bike capacity by 96
percent, however, was rejected by Caltrain.
"People will still get bumped," said Shirley Johnson, an
advocate from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition who commutes
to Foster City via Caltrain and bicycle. "But we're very excited
because this is an interim step."
Some 19 bicyclists spoke at the meeting and 259 sent e-mails to
the agency complaining about the problem.
Bicyclists said they also worry the bikes could be stolen in the
new configuration because they would be left on the lower level
while riders search for seats on the upper level. Bike theft has
not been a problem, and installing a security system to monitor
the racks would cost in the "mid to upper six figures," Harvey
said.
Board chair Don Gage said the capacity issue will be revisited
next month and at future meetings. He said it is possible that
the waiting time for trains at stations could increase because
it takes longer for bicyclists to board, and Thursday's decision
was a compromise because there are already constraints on the
system for all riders.
Board member Ken Yeager said the group at a future meeting may
consider increasing the number of bike slots in the bombardier
train to 32, which was Harvey's proposal.
In June, after 18 months of researching the bike capacity issue,
Caltrain released a report that, among other things, recommends
adding bike parking and improving accessibility. But the plan
angered cyclists because it did not address on-board
capacity. In response, Caltrain Executive Director Mike Scanlon
vowed in October to explore adding bike capacity.
Last fall Burlingame cyclist Scott Wildy put a face on the issue
when he was arrested for allegedly defying a conductor's order
to remove his bike from a full train. Wildy pleaded no contest
to disturbing the peace in January and his punishment was
limited to a $281 fine.
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