Cycling UK Forum

Did you know tricycles are banned from most trains, although it is not impossible to travel with your tricycle as most station staff are unaware that tricycles are banned?

I know they take up more room (twice the space of a conventional bicycle), but my tricycle folds, so takes up far less space ( about the same as a wheelchair).

I would like to hear other peoples experiences of travelling with a tricycle.

How do people get on with trike recumbents?

I know an "upwrong" bike can get on trains, I'm booked on the Edinburgh train next month with my Mercian, but I have absolutely no idea how a 'bent user could get on, let alone a tricycle user.

Any ideas?

Space is limited on many trains and so I can understand why tricycles would be banned.

It all depends on the route really, some routes you're lucky to get a seat.

But as cycling becomes more popular due to increased use of public transport the trains will have to accommodate people.

German trains often have bike carriages. We need something similar here, a car with little in the way of fixings and foldup seats.

I have to admit I haven`t taken a bike by train since the early 80s when
I was doing an apprenticeship in London. I used to travel each weekend back home via Kettering station..No booking, no problems. All trains had guards vans at the back. Just turn up with my bike and put it in the van.
Then we had progress in the public transport system!

There was similar progress back in the 60s with Dr Beeching.

All this progress has been one step forward 10 steps back.
Now I ride a Trice Q recumbent trike I`ll give trains a miss, its all too complicated

I have a Trice "S" that I dismantle into a Dahon bike bag then it becomes luggage. I'll be doing this on the 3rd May to Portsmouth to meet Biscuit before we get the ferry over to IOW

I work on the trains as a conductor for London Midland between Worcester, Hereford and suburban routes from Birmingham. Rules are [mod-swearing removed]. You can bring your tricycle on one of my trains whenever you want as long as it's safe and you're sensible (ie the train isn't already packed to the gunnels with smelly commuters )

mrsbloomsburybarton wrote:I work on the trains as a conductor for London Midland between Worcester, Hereford and suburban routes from Birmingham. Rules are [mod-swearing removed]. You can bring your tricycle on one of my trains whenever you want as long as it's safe and you're sensible (ie the train isn't already packed to the gunnels with smelly commuters )

.... careful, you'll upset Mr Pyle (letter in today's Telegraph) :

Sir - Am I the only commuter clambering on to South Eastern's trains early each morning to be irritated intensely by the proliferation of fold-up bicycles?

Not only does this quasi-environmental fad lead to a marked reduction in the amount of standing space at rush-hour but the owners of these technological annoyances proceed to sweat in close proximity to other passengers.

Are they really a creditable green initiative? One has only to stand at the entrance of Sevenoaks station at 6.30am to witness a host of city businessmen being dropped off by energy-sapping four-wheel-drive vehicles.

I advocate a prohibitive fare policy for people who habitually drag large chunks of metal on to busy trains merely to satisfy a misguided mission to save the planet.

David Pyle, Sevenoaks, Kent

If compact folders upset him this much, what effect would an adult trike have.......?

mrsbloomsburybarton wrote:I work on the trains as a conductor for London Midland between Worcester, Hereford and suburban routes from Birmingham. Rules are [mod-swearing removed]. You can bring your tricycle on one of my trains whenever you want as long as it's safe and you're sensible (ie the train isn't already packed to the gunnels with smelly commuters )

we only smell because the conductor's turned the heating up on full and it's about 30 degrees C

It's the commuters that smell, not the cyclists! Anyway, what makes you think the conductor can control the heating?