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SMDJ\Caltrain adds bike capacity
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Jym Dyer
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Feb 07, 2009 00:15 PST
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http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=105246
Caltrain adds bike capacity
By Dana Yates
San Mateo Daily Journal | 06-Feb-2009 | Page 1
Caltrain officials hope to increase bike capacity on its trains
by April under a revised plan to address bicyclists' concerns
about being "bumped" during commute hours.
It appears the squeaky wheel got the grease. For the last
several months, bicyclists from San Francisco, San Mateo and
Santa Clara counties pressured the transit agency in a mass
letter-writing campaign to increase room for bicycles.
Bicyclists are upset with the practice of being asked to wait
for the next arriving train because the one they were trying
to board was already at its bike capacity. Caltrain has been
stuck between meeting the needs of loyal customers and balancing
both their budget and aging equipment, officials said.
The new plan will increase bike capacity on the newer
streamlined Bombardier-style cars from 16 to 24 and capacity
on older gallery-style cars from 32 to 40. Currently, the number
of bikes allowed on a car can vary from 16 to 32. Caltrain
will immediately order and install more bike stands, a process
expected to take eight to 12 weeks, according to Caltrain.
The newer Bombardier-style cars now fit 16. The older gallery
cars fit 32.
"It's not everything the bike community wants ... it's not
everything we want, but I think it's doable," said Caltrain
Chief Operations Director Chuck Harvey.
Caltrain introduced the plan with the intention of increasing
the Bombardier-style car capacity to 36. However, that plan
would eliminate all seats on the ground floor, leaving no way
for bicyclists to supervise their bikes.
The idea was dubbed the "stand or steal" plan by bicyclists
because it would force them to crowd the bottom level by
standing near their bikes or risk having their bike stolen when
they're out of sight on the second level.
Bicyclists only found out about the new plan at yesterday's
Caltrain meeting. However, the issue is not new to bicyclists,
who sent more than 250 letters to Caltrain regarding the bike
capacity issue since mid-October.
In those letters, 102 bicyclists complained of being bumped.
Many of them use their bikes to commute to and from work and are
forced to wait for the next train on their evening commutes homes.
Despite the last-minute disclosure of the plan, San Francisco
Bike Coalition Program Director Andy Thornley said he was "very
much encouraged by the agency's commitment." He praised the
agency for helping to facilitate "truly green end-to-end trips,"
in which people could ride their bikes from home, to the train
station and to work.
Caltrain is limited by a tight budget, aging equipment and
limits on how many trains can run on the system at one time.
Ideally, Caltrain said it would like to run at least two gallery
cars just for bikes on each train, but it does not always have
the stock to do that.
Still, bicyclists argue there are steps the agency can take to
improve its service. Some suggest the agency find a way to alert
customers via the Internet of bike capacity on approaching
trains. Bike riders can use their cell phones to text messages
to the Web site Twitter alerting other riders to train capacity
and any issues that may delay the train.
Other companies, such as Bay Area Rapid Transit and Jet Blue
airline have similar programs.
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