Bikes and Trains

[hackbike 666]

Originally Posted by lpjr
What is British Rail like with bikes these days, I have noticed the old postal carrriage is gone where I use to stick my bike as a kid.

Nothing.British Rail went bust about 100 years ago

 

[lit]

You need to brush up there.

 

[Catty]

Don't put your feet on the seats though.

Well it is a bylaw against it, plus i don't know about you, but i wouldn't like to sit on a seat that has chewing gum on it that was on someones shoes.

 

[wafflycat]

Must admit, if I was going to be using bike/train combination regularly, I'd be getting a folder; Brompton or Dahon I think.

 

[Crankarm]

The answer is Brompton. Now what's your question?

 

[panpipe]

I got someone to move from the foldy-up seats in the bike space this morning. I did feel quite bad for doing so, but there were plenty of seats elsewhere (ie directly opposite).

I can't really comment that much as I've only been train-bike commuting for a few weeks and leave the bike at Waterloo station overnight during the week, but I've not found many problems so far with taking a full size roadie on the train. I use South West Trains from Waterloo to Basingstoke which is just outside their restriction area for bikes so it's down to the guard's discretion whether he lets you on or not.

I'm not sure whether the SWT improvements are heading in the right direction for cyclists - the older white trains have a few 3-bike racks per train but the new blue ones have 2 foldy-up seat bike spaces per 12 carriages!

 

[BentMikey]

Why not just leave your bike in the vestibule instead?

 

[Norm]

Well it is a bylaw against it, plus i don't know about you, but i wouldn't like to sit on a seat that has chewing gum on it that was on someones shoes.

Oh, Lordy, no, don't start all that again.

 

[John the Monkey]

Why not just leave your bike in the vestibule instead?

It (potentially) blocks an emergency exit (and on some trains, can block the door leading to the platform - my train sometimes switches platform sides on the way to Crewe). The former is the reason most often given for asking you to move the bike.

 

[BentMikey]

Yeah, it's a pain, but not a big one usually. I feel more comfortable doing that than asking people in the fold down seats to move.

 

[John the Monkey]

Yeah, it's a pain, but not a big one usually. I feel more comfortable doing that than asking people in the fold down seats to move.

Yep - although I'd do that if the conductor told me to move the bike.

 

[BentMikey]

I'd be very tempted to ask the conductor to ask the naughty people to move then.

 

[John the Monkey]

I'd be very tempted to ask the conductor to ask the naughty people to move then.

If he refused, you could follow up with "I pay your wages, you know!" They love that.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

I'm not sure whether the SWT improvements are heading in the right direction for cyclists - the older white trains have a few 3-bike racks per train but the new blue ones have 2 foldy-up seat bike spaces per 12 carriages!

They're definitely not bike friendly at all. My husband & I went on holiday with our two Bromptons (let alone full size bikes) and coming back on a Sunday from Portsmouth to London most train carriages didn't even have space for luggage let alone bikes. Here were we, with two Bromptons and two sets of front and rear luggage (so all in all possibly what you might take on an airplane volume wise for one person only) and it took quite a while to find somewhere to put the stuff! The overhead spaces were too small; most carriages were only seating with no spaces between chairs (if they are back-to-back often you could shove things inbetween). Eventually we did find a spot but we had had to move several carriages away.

We did find the bike parking section of the train with the three standy-things, but the Bromptons wouldn't have stood up in them and you couldn't fold the bikes and still leave them there.

Not sure how the 'hire a brompton' scheme is gonna work, myself.