New TPT trains and bikes.

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tom73

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
Having seen TPT are rolling out new trains I did wonder what it meant for bikes.
Well at the weekend I got to find out. Not a lot has changed but some positives.
The big thing is they are still horizontal so no broom cupboard :hyper:
The spacers are now clearly marked up and inform others the space maybe reserved for bikes.
The spaces now also have the same electric reserved display as the seating.
They also now have a rack for sorts for the front wheel and a seatbelt type strap not a great deal but better than before.
IMG_3803.jpeg
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Having seen TPT are rolling out new trains I did wonder what it meant for bikes.
Well at the weekend I got to find out. Not a lot has changed but some positives.
The big thing is they are still horizontal so no broom cupboard :hyper:
The spacers are now clearly marked up and inform others the space maybe reserved for bikes.
The spaces now also have the same electric reserved display as the seating.
They also now have a rack for sorts for the front wheel and a seatbelt type strap not a great deal but better than before.
View attachment 495250
You've left your bike behind.
 

Slick

Guru
Having seen TPT are rolling out new trains I did wonder what it meant for bikes.
Well at the weekend I got to find out. Not a lot has changed but some positives.
The big thing is they are still horizontal so no broom cupboard :hyper:
The spacers are now clearly marked up and inform others the space maybe reserved for bikes.
The spaces now also have the same electric reserved display as the seating.
They also now have a rack for sorts for the front wheel and a seatbelt type strap not a great deal but better than before.
View attachment 495250
Does that mean you can reserve your space, and is that new?

Certainly looks better than the East Coast line.
 
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tom73

tom73

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
Does that mean you can reserve your space, and is that new?

Certainly looks better than the East Coast line.

No that's not new as you've had to book bikes on for some time.
The issue was that they just bought it in so no way of telling the space was booked.
Or any signs saying it maybe reserved for bikes. So at least you can clearly see it's booked and no can say 'well it don't say it is'.

As for East coast yes much better even the old trains are better.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
The loco-hauled ones (class 68 "cats" and MkVa coaches) apparently are bookable as little as 15mins ahead (rather than the day before) and that's switched on for bike spaces now, but won't be switched on for seats until all of the cats are in service.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
On some of our local trains the bike spaces are not long enough to take my size bike! I am not a giant - my bikes are large (58 cm frames) but not HUGE.

New trains are finally starting to appear on our local routes. I haven't taken a bike on one of those trains yet. Hopefully, the provision will be better...
 
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tom73

tom73

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
TPE have three distinct fleets of new trains though - confusingly called Nova 1, Nova 2 and Nova 3. I wouldn't necessarily bet that the bike accommodation is the same in all three...

That's true forgotten about the not having one new train but let's have 3 and give them silly names.
If it helps it's was leeds to York
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
That's the worrying thing. There's no design standard for these bike spaces and each subsequent generation they seem to get more awkward or not fit real life bikes as well. You never quite know what the bike space will be and whether your bike will fit on a train. It is a stress we don't need,
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
That's the worrying thing. There's no design standard for these bike spaces and each subsequent generation they seem to get more awkward or not fit real life bikes as well. You never quite know what the bike space will be and whether your bike will fit on a train. It is a stress we don't need,
Plenty of standards. They're just ignored. And it's not universally worse: these have better spaces than what they replace IIRC, but the class 80x have worse than most of what they replace, while elsewhere on the network, some trains have wheel-in spaces for 18 bikes. No consistency, which is almost as annoying!
 

chriswoody

Legendary Member
Location
Northern Germany
It really is awful the paltry amount of space given over to bikes on trains in the UK and the awkward pre-booking. Over here in Germany we're lucky that some of the trains are double decker trains and as such the provision for bikes is fantastic. This is the bike space I get on my commuter train:

495339


No pr-booking either, just rock up and travel. It's not all like that though, but for the most part it is vastly superior to the UK.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
Looks like good news: https://www.tpexpress.co.uk/travelling-with-us/onboard-facilities/seating-plan

Both the Civitys (aka Class 397 aka Nova 2) and the Mk5as (aka Nova 3) are built by CAF and the layouts appear to be similar. Sadly the 80x fleet (aka IET aka Nova 1) do indeed appear to be the same hanging spaces as on GWR.
So that looks like 6 bikes on MkVa and Civity, but only 4 hanging on AT300s/IETs again? Current fleet looks like 3 or maybe 2 on each 3 car class 185 or 4 car class 350 Desiro. So a slight increase on two routes and mix of increases and decreases on two :-/
 
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