setting the record straight for Bikes on Board
Caltrain makes misleading statements in its Bicycle FAQs, but we want you to know the truth. The statements below are taken from Caltrain's Bicycle FAQs as of December 5, 2008.
| Caltrain Writes ... | But Really ... |
|---|---|
| Overall, Caltrain has steadily expanded on-board bike capacity through increased frequency. | The old gallery cars hold 32 bikes per train. The new Bombardier cars hold 16 bikes per train. No matter how many more trains Caltrain runs per day, the bike capacity per train has been cut in half. At a time when bicycle passenger demand is growing rapidly, Caltrain is buying cars with half the bicycle capacity. |
| On the rare occasion, a second bike car might be available on a gallery set. | Almost half of the gallery train sets in service have two bike cars. This is not a "rare occasion." Surely, Caltrain can figure out how to schedule trains with two bike cars during busy commute times. |
| Bullet service is very popular and at least one train per rush hour each is completely full, with no seating capacity available. To remove seats and replace them with bike racks would mean giving up paying customers with non-paying bicycles. | There is one northbound baby bullet train that reaches capacity at Redwood City. Every other train runs the entire line with empty seats (Reference: February 2008 Caltrain Annual Passenger Counts). Removing seats for bikes does not necessitate losing a walk-on customer. As things stand now, many paying customers have stopped using Caltrain, because they cannot bring their bicycles on board. |
| Caltrain's mandate is to get people out of their cars and onto the trains. | If so, why spend so much money on parking lots for cars, and disregard the needs of bicyclists who don't drive at all? Parking lots encourage people to drive to the station. Caltrain would achieve its mandate better by having sufficient bike space on trains to encourage more bicyclists. |
| Clearly, bicyclists have figured out what we need to teach everyone else - that there are alternatives to the car. The best way to teach that is to provide service to a wider range of customers. | "Provide service to a wider range of customers?" Who is this generic, passive customer? Bicyclists are leading the way, so add more bike space on trains, and more people will ride bikes. |
| In other words, we use all our equipment — cars and locomotives — throughout our schedule, all day. | Caltrain's commute fleet consisted of 110 cars until recently, when eight new Bombardier cars were added to bring the total to 118 cars. Caltrain now has 100 cars in service (20 five-car trains). While we appreciate the need for spares, Caltrain should put more of these 18 extra cars in service to meet rising demand. |
| Therefore, no equipment can be assigned permanently to the same run. | We don't care if it's the same equipment, we just want busy trains to have more than one bike car. |
| All our customers are entitled to know what they can expect in terms of capacity and bike service when a train arrives at the station at its scheduled time. | Caltrain assigns train sets to runs every morning before the first train departs at 4:30am. Caltrain should post the daily train set assignment every morning on its website and make better use of electronic signage at stations. |
| For bicycle commuters, Caltrain hopes to make more efficient use of existing capacity — and find ways to expand capacity. | The reality is that Caltrain is actually reducing capacity. The new Bombardier trains have half the bike capacity of old gallery trains. There is no stated plan for bikes on board in Caltrain's 2017 Short Range Transit Plan, nor its 2023 Strategic Plan, nor its 2025 Plan. |
| Folding bikes are allowed on any train car. | If every bicyclist brought a folding bike onboard, there would not be enough room for all the folding bikes. Caltrain is not planning space for folding bikes either. |
| Folding bikes must be able to be stored under the seat in front of you or be placed in the luggage racks provided by Caltrain. | Folding bikes do not fit under the seat, and not all trains have luggage cars. There is no guaranteed space for folding bikes. Bicyclists with folding bikes are being bumped today, even on trains with luggage racks, because the luggage racks are full. |
