Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Freewheeling => Topic started by: Cudzoziemiec on 12 December, 2022, 04:59:38 pm
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This time by Sustrans. Here's the waffle:
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/our-blog/news/2022/december/views-sought-on-cycle-rail-travel-to-inform-new-guidance/
and the actual survey itself:
https://systraltd.welcomesyourfeedback.net/s/Cycle-RailT3
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I filled that one in last week. It wasn't too bad in terms of missing the point re: actually being able to get your bike on a train. I attribute this to it coming from Sustrans, rather than someone in the rail industry.
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That didn't take long.
Said no way I will use bike/train until there is a station nearer than 20 hilly miles from home.
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Different country, different operators but same problem. Make the trains go where people want to go at times they want to go and with adequate capacity for passengers and their luggage at those times and do all that at affordable prices for the target clients - seems simple and logical but it's far from that.
I am in the throes of preparation for a simple extended w-e cycle-camping the Brest-Nantes canal with my daughter next may (a known tourist route, nothing bizarre or exceptional). The train link necessary to go from end to beginning is a sheer nightmare and is determining the direction we go. Looking at bike travel guidance from the local regions I get "Don't travel with a bike during our peak times and you won't necessarily have space but you can't reserve it outside that", "Bagged folders accepted at all times", "Tandems, trailers, cargobikes and anything else abnormally big refused" (which almost certainly excludes non-folding 'bents, and possibly some folding ones!) from the Brittany region, "Avoid peak times, travel after 20h on holiday week-ends" for the Loire-Atlantique and, if you want to tour the Loire Valley, "33 bike places per train - rising to 83 places in high season". I am wrestling with the problem of a maximum of two practicable train times for the return link and the probability that the folder is going cycle-camping again. I don't normally use trains and this experience won't encourage me!
Could do with a survey but then the SNCF would not pay any attention to outlying regions, just the parisiens; going anywhere from Limoges already involves a three hour trip to Paris to change lines, stations etc!
Good luck with your Sustrans survey
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The only real problem for me is the bike provision in trains, which is physically too small for most bikes and is often full of other people's luggage anyway.
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Least bad survey I've seen on the subject. At least is considers bike on train rather than others that have been very carefully worded such that Bike to station, train to near destination then fuktifiknow how I get to my actual destination is the only option.
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Done, misses my biggest issue which is weekend engineering works and replacement busses that don't carry cycles. Therefore my cycle - train - cycle journey is not possible as I have to leave the bike behind.
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The only real problem for me is the bike provision in trains, which is physically too small for most bikes and is often full of other people's luggage anyway.
This, the lottery of whether the cupboard on the carriage you get on is already full of other bikes or luggage. Then even if not, trying to get your bike in, whilst others try to push back. Into a space barely wide enough for the skinniest of road bikes without luggage.
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Average size tourers don't fit - the rear mudguard drags the ground.
MTBs don't fit because of bar width and tyre diameter.
Road racing bikes rarely fit unless the drop bars are quite narrow.
Hipster fixies with 30cm straight bars and short wheelbases are good to go!
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The only real problem for me is the bike provision in trains, which is physically too small for most bikes and is often full of other people's luggage anyway.
This was my experience too in the very limited amount of cycle/ train touring I've done. I had to move some cases to fit my bike in the designated space and ended up having to justify my actions to a couple of irate "ladies" but was helped out by a guy who looked like he cycle commuted often (given he knew to the nearest millimetre of where to stand for the bike carriage door) which just added to the stress of the journey plus not knowing if I could even get my bike on the train in the first place as I couldn't book a slot. Once moving the journey was excellent and stress free.
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Hipster fixies with 30cm straight bars and short wheelbases are good to go!
As long as they haven't got deep section rims.
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Good point. That's Velocity Deep Vs and trispokes out. Dang.