A place to record cyclists using trains

[Palinurus]

Recently travelled from Paddington to Swindon on a Sunday (rode back via. the ridgeway, on my cross bike. Very nice)

No problems at all, staff helpful- pointed me in direction of cycle storage bit of train (which was pretty large). Had a bit of trouble with the cycle reservation at Watford Jn- staff didn't know how to do it but worked it out fine in the end. Easy enough, shame I can't do the reservation online (at least I don't think I can).

I've done the same journey a couple of times to get to cross races. Each time it went smoothly even though I missed my train (with reservation) on one occasion.

Also travelled from Watford to Leighton Buzzard a couple of weeks back on a Saturday (getting to a TT. I rode back). That was easy too, bike just goes in the bit between the doors. No reservation required, but some restrictions I believe in the evenings.

[dave holladay]

From our East Croydon riders - they make regular Sunday trips with rail assistance

Report for 16th August

09.21 E Croydon-Tonbridge - 4 coach train (Class 377 246 seats) 12 cyclists 7 other passengers
- 63% of passengers were travelling with cycles!
- train only used to 8% of full seated capacity
- carbon footprint per passenger @ 1 tonne of train per passenger (?)

17.48 Hever to Oxted - 4 coach train as before 15 cyclists 40 other passengers
- 27% of passengers were travelling with cycles
- train only used to 22% of seated capacity.

Those who remember the old Southern Region might recall that they had 2-coach units (and slam door trains had more seats per carriage because they didn't need big double doors to get people on & off). Current DfT thinking is that they should have fixed formation 8 and 12 coach trains, which will make running off peak services even less viable in environmental and energy use terms. Of course one idea is to put coaches in the quantity required between driving units, perhaps calling these loco - motives......
Certainly one for the green campaigners to ponder.

Also an alert for tandem users - if you use or may use the East Coast Main Line (NXEC at present) please register your previous use and interest in future use of these services, as we understand that NXEC has considered withdrawing their tandem-carrying facility because of an operational problem on their (diesel) HST's. This does not occur on First GW or Grand Central HST's and we believe that it can be resolved for NXEC trains, as long as they know that there is a demand to keep the facility available. Journey logs etc - fire them in to the forum

[EdinburghFixed]

Today (18th August) myself and two other riders - no connection - were turned away from the First Scotrail Fife Circle service at 8.12

There were already three bikes on board which is the limit, but the particular train (three cars, usually with bike storage at either end) was only outfitted to accept bikes at one end.

In the end it would have been quicker just to ride to work!

[fatboy]

Friday 14th of August First Capital Connect from Hitchin to Stevenage - no problems. National Express East Coast to Newcastle. We got some staff members to walk with us to the guard's van which was a good job since no-one got off the train! Otherwise all went well.

Return journey from Edinburgh to Hitchin was glitch free.

General comment about the National Express staff regarding bikes was that they couldn't have been more helpful.

[dave holladay]

Edinburgh Fixed

Presumably this was 08.12 ex Waverley (outbound) and thus not as busy as an inbound service. Sounds like either an SPT train (blood & custard livery) or a former Hull Trains unit with a buffet counter and no converted space in the second coach (with 'normal' toilet).

Was the train busy or near empty (difficult to know at that time of day, and with potential crowd getting on at Haymarket*). It would be handy to know if it was pedantic application of a rule or actual number of passengers which gave rise to the problem. Scotrail has approved the use of door vestibules for bikes (BIXC - Bikes in Excess of Capacity) as long as the cyclists place them on the side opposite to the platforms and stay close to the bikes. It might be useful to express your disapointment in an e-mail to register the need to get more bikes on the 08.12 and boost passenger numbers (and peak time fare sales)

* One trick from the Nunc estus Nostrum (or Nostri) philosphy is to join the train at Haymarket - it pulls in and the aim is to depart quickly, so you watch it arrive, spotting a) vacant spaces and b) the doors where the conductor is standing and get on the train aware of the state of play. If you can pack the bike away neatly, the inertia and hassle of ejecting you, and the potential delay to the train in doing this means that if you are not causing a problem you can generally negotiate remaining on the train to your intended destination. Do you normally catch this train? Are some Fife Circle trains terminating at Platform 0 at Haymarket?

Are you who I think you are? if so I should really blag Glasgow Fixed as an identity.

[EdinburghFixed]

Dave - it was one of the red SPT trains. I knew as soon as it pulled in that I might have to wrestle for a spot, but unfortunately the conductor was waiting at the bike door

I didn't know about BIXC. The conductor was clearly being bloody minded then, as there was ample space for us to hide in the vestibules. (Is there a link you could provide to some sort of document I could print out and wave about?)

It's a difficult problem because to be honest, as more and more people take up cycling they will never be able to maintain adequate peak capacity anyway. Since I started regular train commuting in 2005, the numbers have soared. So providing 6 spaces instead of 3 only helps us for the next 12-24 months (or less!?).

For a reliable rush hour ride, I really should have a folder. It's just that I can't bring myself to add another bike to the stable just for Scotrail's benefit...

[chasb72]

Saturday 15 Aug, 09:05 Edinburgh Waverley - Dunbar, Cross Country trains

Tried to book the ticket with National Express East Coast website - error message saying booking failed. Twice. Have emailed NXEC to alert them to the problem, no response so far.

Booked ticket in person at Waverley - no problems. Guy I booked it from couldn't explain why there might be a problem booking via the website.

Journey itself was no trouble - staff very friendly & helpful. I was the only bike on the train.

I didn't have any trouble with the size of the bike space (drop handlebars) but the lack of straps to secure the bike did concern me. I couldn't find my bungees, so the bike was swinging wildly at each turn and hitting my nice STI shifters against the sides of the bike space. For the 20 minute journey to Dunbar I was happy to hold the handlebars to prevent damage, but if I'd been travelling all the way to Exeter I wouldn't have been quite so happy!

Have written to Crosscountry asking them if they'll fit restraining straps to their bike spaces, provide more and better bike spaces in future rolling stock, and to provide bike booking facilities on their website. Will forward any response on to CTC, or I could post it here if that's easier?

[ChrisPeck]

17th August - on the 1630 Bristol Temple Meads to London Padd train on there were 8 cycles in the cycle carriage by the time the (lightly loaded) train reached Reading. Although greater than capacity there was no problem.

I noticed that 7 cyclists came off a busy 1632 Redhill to Reading FGW train (probably 180-200 passengers).

Reading Station always seems to be swarming with cyclists. Might be something to do with the fact that the station has one of the worst records for cycle thefts of anywhere in the country!

Sorry to hear about a problem with NXEC online bike bookings - we've heard of this once before. Not sure what the problem is - it seems to work most of the time. A temperamental system is almost as bad as nothing at all.

[Greg]

Travelled Stockport to Oxenholme on August 11th, with a standard road bike (no panniers, just a small rucksack). I didn't have a reservation as this was a fairly impromptu trip. I caught the First TransPennine service north on one of those new Siemens trains, which was fine and all the staff were very understanding, even though I'd had to get on not in the official bike space for the first stop north of Manchester, due to a crowded platform at Piccadilly. There was one other bike on the train.

I changed at Preston and due to delays on my route, any reservation I'd had would have been useless anyway, as I'd missed my connection. I was looking to catch the 18.53 and asked a member of Virgin staff on the platform which end of the train the bike car would be at. Instead of an answer I got a (cocky, patronising) "You got a reservation with that bike?" "No" "Well you can't get on that train then". I duly hawked my bike up to the ticket office and tried to make a bike reservation, but the guy didn't seem to be able / want to do this, so I resolved to sneak on the train without the platform staff noticing. This I duly did and there was one other bike in the car (this being an old school Virgin voyager with space for 4 bikes in coach F, not one of the new converted XC voyagers with the rubbish space in coach D), so there was no problem fitting in and I had no problems while on the train.

My train journey back was the same in reverse, but this time everything ran on time, there were 2 other bikes in the car on the Oxenholme - Preston leg, I think none on the Preston - Piccadilly leg and none on the Piccadilly - Stockport leg, which was on a Voyager (Good, since I've not been allowed on those before without a reservation, for even such a piffling journey as Manchester to Stockport).

[petersmith]

When and where - Sunday 9th August - Three Bridges -> London Victoria : London Victoria -> Dover Priory
• How many bikes - 1 x solo and 1 x tandem
• How many passengers - 3
• Any problems - Three Bridges -> London Victoria - none. Bike space on Southern train was free, luckily, although others had to place bikes in doorways. Buffet trolley had difficulty passing the tandem and solo in the alloted space. Only one cycle space on a long train.
London Victoria -> Dover Priory. No cycle symbol on doors although train was same design as Southern. Managed to get in to the cycle space as first to get on. Lots of bikes but they were all in the doorways.

When and where - Sunday 16th August - 07:25 Harwich boat train to Liverpool street
• How many bikes - 1 x solo and 1 x tandem
• How many passengers - 3
• Any problems - we secured the fold-up seats space. Many other bikes, several tourists - all had to wedge in to the doorways.

When and where - Sunday 16th August - 09:40 London Bridge -> Three Bridges
• How many bikes - 1 x solo and 1 x tandem
• How many passengers - 3
• Any problems - got on first at departure station so able to secure allocated bike space. Other bikes including day-trippers in the door ways. Lots of bikes on this train.

Mostly on this trip we got on at the origin station and so missed the dash down the platform to the correct doors (how we missed that!). We also had time to manoeuvre the tandem on and off which can be a bit complicated, especially with loaded panniers as the turn from the doors to the bike space is too tight for tht tandem. No one gave us any grief about the tandem.

[Cunobelin]

ScotRail.....

Brilliant service on the Caledonian Sleeper, 8 bikes on the way up and 5 on the way down, my only complaint was that the upright hanging device couldn't cope with 2.1" MArathon Supremes. I had to let down the front tyres on both bikes to fit them in.

[Mark PHC]

On 16th August:

12 bikes plus 7 passengers on the 9:21 from East Croydon to Tonbridge.
4 carriages. 63% of the train!

15 bikes plus 40 passengers on the 17:48 from Hever towards Oxted. 4
carriages. 27%

A Pollards Hill Cyclists ride.

[virtualpenguin]

How many Bikes: 7 (icluding the 4 thrown off the train)


Early August 2009 (sorry, I forget the date)
Cheltenham 7.25am to Paignton Cross Country service.


Problems:

4 cyclist thrown off train, due to 3 places being available and 7 cyclists wanting to use them.

2 of those 4 are now buying folding bikes in order to get to work reliably. So passsengers are paying a total of around £1,500 as a direct result of insufficient cycle carrying capacity.

Arriva (the current operators of this Cross Country service) should be repremanded for:
a). reducing the cycle capacity during a refit (officially from 4 to 3 spaces, but in practice from 5 or 6 down to 2 or 3, because of poor design) and
b). putting cyclist nearer the middle of the train where they are more likely to get in the way of non-cycling passengers.

Apologies for rant, but this commuter, despite not being one of those ejected, is fuming.

[jgurney]

Not a recent report, but last year my wife & I went on the 2ft gauge Bure Valley Railway with laden cycles.
It's tiny trains still manage to carry 4 cycles per train, which makes full-size ones able to carry only two look very unambitious.

[The Gazman]

Good news: We might just have set a record for non-event-attending bikes on a train this month! It was the 1730 from Temple Meads to Paddington on 7th August. The main cycle carriage was overflowing as far I could see, so the train manager opened up the next van, the one on these types of trains that is always otherwise empty. I think she said it did used to be for bikes and there were three or four slightly strange-looking contraptions for hanging them on. But unless they make the offer, I suppose citing this example - to any intransigent jobsworth, disinclined to spend an extra 30 seconds to help out cyclists, you're unlucky enough to encounter - would not help.

Bad news: I think it was later that very evening that four teenagers, each with one of those tiny bikes they like so much, tried to get on a northbound service from St Pancras at Bedford. Unfortunately for them, there were already two bikes in the space so they had to wait for the next service. The train manager's argument that they couldn't block the driver's door in case of an emergency exit sounded fair enough, but as those bikes are so small they could have easily fitted in elsewhere. I wonder how often - if at all - EMT staff would use their discretion to allow as many bikes as will fit into the bike space when it's at the opposite end to the driver...