Author Topic: ScotRail to consider providing carriages for bikes on scenic routes  (Read 1544 times)

Some Scottish Government work on planning to provide space for outdoor equipment. Part of this story here:

ScotRail to consider providing carriages for bikes on scenic routes but the rest is subscription but you can find the full consultants report on which the article is based here:

https://hitrans.org.uk/Documents/Train2Ride_Study.pdf

Interesting points in conclusion are:

  • services to Oban and Crianlarich are more regularly fully booked with bikes than other journey legs
  • Surveys in July showed that  people carrying bikes on the ScotRail and Sleeper services at this time are largely cycle tourists, mainly male and carrying relatively expensive machines.. hence tourism and economic impacts
  • Although there's spare capacity shown by the booking system, the passenger surveys showed that there is a lot of  unbooked bike travel occurring
  • New Caledonian Sleeper rolling stock will see an increase from six to ten cycle spaces on-board, but is still likely to be a need for the road courier service for the surplus in the summer peak


bhoot

  • MemSec (ex-Mrs RRtY)
Re: ScotRail to consider providing carriages for bikes on scenic routes
« Reply #1 on: 14 January, 2018, 10:45:40 pm »
Many thanks for posting this. We usually take our bikes to Scotland on a combination of sleeper and local services once or twice a year so have an interest in this.
From discussions with a friend in the Hebrides it sounds like there has been a significant increase in cyclists on the Hebridean way route in the last two or three years, which means (as observed in the report) a large demand on the Barra ferry from Oban. Last summer we took that ferry on a weekday and there were nearly 20 bikes on it. On our return to the mainland we could not get a booking on the Fort William sleeper (already fully booked), so had to use the service to Glasgow and then take that sleeper (in our experience the easiest to get a bike onto).
Great to see the comment about the new sleeper trains having a refrigerated compartment for the fish instead of it occupying bike space!

Dave_C

  • Trying to get rid of my belly... and failing!
Re: ScotRail to consider providing carriages for bikes on scenic routes
« Reply #2 on: 15 January, 2018, 01:44:56 pm »
Thanks for posting.

I've only used the FW to Glasgy route once. I was on the first train of the day (Saturday) and fortunate enough to get a space. The train was an older until with 6 hanging spaces for bikes.

I would not consider the Sleeper as they are so expensive as to make hiring a car much cheaper, even one way hire!
@DaveCrampton < wot a twit.
http://veloviewer.com/athlete/421683/

Re: ScotRail to consider providing carriages for bikes on scenic routes
« Reply #3 on: 15 January, 2018, 02:46:24 pm »
What the sleeper gives you that a car does not is 10 hours rest.  You can sleep through your journey arriving in Aberdeen, Fort William, Inverness etc. at the start of the day ready to explore.   In essence you can save a day of travel at each end of your trip.   

We have done numerous tours setting off in the morning from where the sleeper lands us and also arriving at a station ready to return home overnight after a day of touring.  No wasted days in a car.