Why do trains hate cyclists?

[slowmotion]

The Man in Seat 61 has a whole lot on this. There are a links to the UK minefield in this article...
http://www.seat61.com/bike-by-train.htm

 

[classic33]

Extend the platforms to run 12 carriage trains. In the meantime, run them anyway and stop with 1-8 one station, 5-12 the next, alternating. Most people would get used to it, eventually.

That makes too much sense! They'll never do that.

 

[ufkacbln]

The latest suggestion down our way is that as most journeys are commutes of less than an hour, there is no need for toilets so these can be removed......

 

[MarkF]

Never had a problem with Transpennine or Northern and I use their services monthly (Leeds - Skipton - Manchester). I've only pre-booked once for the Leeds - Manchester rush hour train. Skipton back, can get bike busy with riders who are knackered, or, like me, have fallen victim to Dales pubs, very often there are many more bikes than the allocated amount.

Like other behemoth service companies, the T&C's are stupid and unwieldy but the I've found the front line staff, especially the conductors, super helpful

 

[al78]

But if the trains are less crowded and more people can sit of them, they are more sedentary. Isn't it better to ride the bike than transport it on trains?

If a cyclist is using a train, it is likely that the distance they are traveling is too far to be practical for cycling.

For example, to visit my family is a 240 mile journey one way, which is not a practical utility cycling distance for me.

 

[vickster]

During the rush hour in London?

 

[snorri]

If they make more space for bikes on trains people will get to hear about it and take their bikes on trains leaving no more space for people who want to take their bikes on trains and these people will complain and.....

 

[IHateTrains]

When I worked as a guard there were two things I hated. One of them was when passengers sat in the bicycle area then were exceedingly reluctant to move out of the way for bicycles. If I had it my way I'd have had those fold down seats removed; remove the temptation for passengers to sit there in the first place. The other thing I hated was the fact that a lot of cyclists never had the courage to ask passengers to move away from the bicycle area.

I started my railway career about a year before trains with guards vans were finally phased out of main line service. It's a shame the guards vans went; they were a valuable asset to the railway I think.

That's me.

Living in Ipswich we have incredibly old rolling stock on out railways, meaning we do still have guards carriages on our 'intercity' service with plenty of room for bikes.

I must congratulate Abellio Greater Anglia for how they handled the extra volume of bikes for the Dunwich Dynamo, ipswich to London travel by train. Signs as you get to the platform to direct bikes in the right way, a queue her sign for bikes and fitting as many bikes on as humanly possibly. They let us on an earlier train, despite prebooking, as they were keen to get everyone to London as speedily as possibly.

Annoying that the problem has only reared its head when they've rolled out the new 'improved' carriages.

It's not really the trains' fault. There's loads of bike room on the First Great Western intercity services between London and Swansea, but it's closed, presumably because they are scared that if they make it easy for people to travel with bikes, people will, er... travel with bikes. So much for demand-led theories. Arriva Trains Wales, on the other hand, has rather limited dedicated bike storage, but they are less scared of cyclists, so in practice it's usually easy to travel with a bike.

That's my point; the problem is more attitude than physical room on the train.

To the OP. Your train journey sounds like a right PITA. Forget the train, I think you are just going to have to drive. Why not cycle the full distance 2 or 3 days of the week and drive the other days? Just a suggestion.

Might start doing this.

Never had a problem with Transpennine or Northern and I use their services monthly (Leeds - Skipton - Manchester). I've only pre-booked once for the Leeds - Manchester rush hour train. Skipton back, can get bike busy with riders who are knackered, or, like me, have fallen victim to Dales pubs, very often there are many more bikes than the allocated amount.

Like other behemoth service companies, the T&C's are stupid and unwieldy but the I've found the front line staff, especially the conductors, super helpful

Like you I had the exact same experience up until last month. I bet you've only been on the older trains...

Honestly, the platform is like a war zone at the moment.

If a cyclist is using a train, it is likely that the distance they are traveling is too far to be practical for cycling.

For example, to visit my family is a 240 mile journey one way, which is not a practical utility cycling distance for me.

Exactly. I thought the utopian vision was a network of trains with people walking and using bikes to get to the final part of their destination?

If they make more space for bikes on trains people will get to hear about it and take their bikes on trains leaving no more space for people who want to take their bikes on trains and these people will complain and.....

Indeed. It's like something from The Thick of It (Yes, Minister for you old boys. ).

 

[Jefferson Meriwether]

That's me.

No need to blush; there's been times when I haven't asked passengers to move out of the bike area, I've just settled for giving them a slight glare instead. I tell myself the reason I've not said anything is because I'm a typical reserved British person, not because I'm too scared/shy to say anything

 

[Rasmus]

Here's the latest evolution of bike carriage on the Copenhagen commuter trains:

Note the very efficient one-way entry/exit system for bikes.

Naturally, there is a big difference in demand between Copenhagen and UK cities, but this just show what can be done - there is no inherent reason bikes and commuter trains cannot be combined.

 

[Rasmus]

How does Copenhagen compare to London for capacity and demand?

That's an impossible comparison. London has ~10x the number of people, and probably ~10x the number of daily passengers.

The Copenhagen S-train system has only 1 station underground and is not restricted to the diameter of Victorian era tunnels, so the trains are substantially bigger than the tube. But there are many other cities in the UK with transport conditions more similar to Copenhagen. Not everything has to be dictated by what may or may not work in London.

 

[young Ed]

easy, cycle to work and back each day. probably quicker
Cheers Ed