a change from road rage, rail rage....

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A slightly surreal encounter the other day on the train to work.

In Scotland, the Scottish Exec and the Scotrail franchise encourage cyclists to use the train.

Anyway, on my regular commute the other morning there was another cyclist and myself waiting for the train, when we boarded the class 170 unit, I politely asked the woman on the fold down seat at the bike rack (below the bike priority sign) if we could get in to the bike rack, when she said, "No, I'm not getting out of my seat for cycles"... at which point the 2 of us looked at each other and shrugged and waited in the vestibule area.

The guard/conductor then arrived and asked the woman to move, again she refused, and he said, "if you don't let them in I'll have to ask them to get of at the next stop, do you really want me to have to do that?" At which point she stood with much titting and sighing to let us in. Having secured my bike I sat in the next compartment where I counted TWENTY empty seats!..... When I returned at South Gyle for my bike, she was still standing and still titting and sighing, lol!

All very strange!

Of course many of you are thinking, "eh, bikes on trains?!?", or "eh? empty seats in the rush hour!?!"....

Angus
 
She sounds like a complete waste of time.
 

Pete

Guest
I don't know how the rest of you feel about this, but we have those tip-up seats on the Thameslink trains too, and I'm rather loath to confront a passenger directly. If they aren't obliging, I'll just put my bike diagonally in the vestibule, keeping an eye open as we approach a station in case the platform's on that side. Indeed that's what most other cyclists do, anyway.

The day we see the return of the guard's van, with plenty of cycle space, will be a red-letter day for us. But the combination of maximum profits for the rail company - i.e. pack in as many passengers as you can - with the disappearance of mail on the trains - has put paid to that.

And I also seethe at passengers who insist on standing in the vestibule when there are plenty of seats vacant. That's the occasion for an - at first polite, but progressively more emphatic - 'excuse me'...
 

gambatte

Middle of the pack...
Location
S Yorks
angusde said:
Having secured my bike I sat in the next compartment where I counted TWENTY empty seats!..... When I returned at South Gyle for my bike, she was still standing and still titting and sighing, lol!

I'm thinking "did you do a quick check of brakes etc when you got off??" ;)
 

Kirst

Well-Known Member
Location
Edinburgh
Pete said:
And I also seethe at passengers who insist on standing in the vestibule when there are plenty of seats vacant. That's the occasion for an - at first polite, but progressively more emphatic - 'excuse me'...

There are lots of their ilk on the no30 bus in Edinburgh. It's a single decker and it fills up quickly, and on the days I do get the bus to work, there are always 5 or 6 empty seats at the back, and 5 or 6 idiots standing in the aisle, making getting on and off more difficult for everyone else. I push past them now, muttering.
 

yenrod

Guest
You dont have to be a rocket scientist to know that the rail indistry is not great in this land of ours.

Whats wrong with throwing and extra carriage on that back for bikes and things - nothing at all.

No wonder that the bloody roads are grinding up - better why not: we all get a car grind them up too standstill then what'll the government do...

Sort them out and railways too...

If they can sort out a pretty much no needed bank ie northen rock then they can sort this !
 

Keith Oates

Janner
Location
Penarth, Wales
It just shows that there are grumpy people everywhere so perhaps some of the moans we have made about car drivers is typical of other people as well!!!!!!!!!!
 

HJ

Cycling in Scotland
Location
Auld Reekie
I had something similar with a push chair being parked under the bike rack, it wasn't in use, she just didn't want to fold it up. She final moved the thing when I do her that we had booked the bike spaces.

There is a lot of bizarre anti bike sentiment out there, I never have this sort of problem when I am on the continent. In Austria it s quite normal to get your bike on the bus, although I would rather ride my self.
 
yenrod said:
You dont have to be a rocket scientist to know that the rail indistry is not great in this land of ours.

Whats wrong with throwing and extra carriage on that back for bikes and things - nothing at all.

No wonder that the bloody roads are grinding up - better why not: we all get a car grind them up too standstill then what'll the government do...

Sort them out and railways too...

If they can sort out a pretty much no needed bank ie northen rock then they can sort this !


Oh yeah.It's all very good talking the talk but can you walk the walk?

How do you sort the railways out then?

I've had this conversation many times and I don't know how many times our railways have been compared to other railways in the world.

It's always people from the outside who f**k it up then criticize.

I think our railways are more split than they have been before I have been working on them for 25+ years and it doesn't get any better.
Dont you think other people who know more about railways and not from all the crap written in the media have tried but failed?

What's wrong with throwing an extra carriage on?


It's not that easy.Capacity is tight especially on the railway I work on and the new trains dont have the old sort guards brake on that's if they have a guard at all.I know of one train where they made the brake van smaller so they could fit more passengers in(installed more seats).Not very good in the rush hour though as I have seen it many times people getting on with bikes which is very inconsiderate of other people.It's a privatised railway and it's all about money not bikes.


If they can sort out a pretty much no needed bank ie northen rock then they can sort this !

This is a joke right?
 

Flying_Monkey

Recyclist
Location
Odawa
Terminator said:
Got to admit I have been on the Japanese Railways and Spanish/American and I found the Japanese most impressive.

Yes, they are fantastic. But... you try taking bikes on them - even long distance. No way. It's easier to get bikes on coaches than on trains in Japan.
 

Pete

Guest
yenrod said:
Whats wrong with throwing and extra carriage on that back for bikes and things - nothing at all.
[Anorak on]Bring back the good old Class 423's (aka 4-VEP's) - solid workhorse of the Southern Region in days gone by - slam doors and a huge HUGE guard's van with acres of space for umpteen bikes! Sometimes the space was chokker with mailbags though, those were the days when the mail really was carried by train. But still a dream compared with modern class 319s and 377s and suchlike.[/anorak off]

Nowadays provision for bikes is little more than lip-service, IMO. I suppose there is something to be said, for cyclists being able to sit (or stand) close to their bikes and keep an eye (and hand!) on them. But I rarely get on a train, with or without bike, without seeing at least one other cyclist on the train. Taking bikes on trains ought to be making some money for the TOCs. Perhaps something more positive, more encouraging to cyclists, could be done?
 

Bollo

Failed Tech Bro
Location
Winch
I get on a range of SW Trains, some with fold-up seats (158s, 450s) and them with the wheel-benders at the carriage entrance (444s). I commute off-peak so most trains are empty by the standards of the day, so its rare that anyone sits on the fold-ups.

The 444s are more of a problem, because they have no large luggage space. This means that all the Heathrow passengers going to Woking to catch the coach to the airport (integrated transport?!) have no choice but to dump their luggage in the bike spaces. When this happens I usually just hold the bike, 'cause its genuinely not their fault.

My favourite is a lady that I occasionally see with an immaculate red brompton who manages to use all three bike spaces on the 444 to store it, folded:ohmy: We've had words.
 
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