Whinging rail commuters

[Mrs Pingu]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7372956.stm
 

[border-rider]

Must be a slow news day 

[Greenbank]

Not as much fun as the dirty looks you get taking a non-folding bike on the train just after the cycle restrictions have ended (i.e. leaving Waterloo just after 7pm) and the trains are still relatively packed.

As for the story, I've seen some stupid/arrogant behaviour from cyclists on trains (both the groups that lock their bikes up at the stations, and those who carry folding bikes on trains). There are idiots that use all forms of transport.

But then it seems that almost every time I'm on a commuter train there's always someone that thinks their bag has a right to take up a seat on a packed train, even when someone asks them politely to move it so they can sit down. Or someone who I'd assume is perfectly able-bodied who won't even consider giving up their seat for the eldery person or visibly pregnant woman. The usual perpetrators are the very same suits that are whinging about folding bikes.

[rogerzilla]

I've just pea-roasted this in Folders, but it's not a very busy board.

[Greenbank]

I've just pea-roasted this in Folders, but it's not a very busy board.

Also probably ignored by many people (including me).

[Chris S]

I've seen plenty of folderists stop and construct their bikes, completely in the way of the flow off the platform. Why not wait until there's room, on the concourse? As for constructing a bike whilst still on the train...  .

FWIW - many cyclists seem to help reinforce the poor stereotype image. Cycling from Liverpoo St to Marylebone stations last Friday (late in the evening rush-hour) I rapidly became self concious as I was one of a very tiny minority of cyclists who obeyed traffic signals of any kind. Sad - it's not going to help the cause one bit.

[Julian]

Thing is, for most people who use a bike to commute, there isn't "a cause," it's a means of getting home / to work.

Not everyone who cycles is an activist.

[alexb]

When you read the comments to articles like this (in newspapers and online) it's always a shock to find how much people really, really hate cyclists.

Cycling seems to be the new "black" if that's not too much of a stretch, or in bad taste, but then I'm old enough to remember The Black and White Minstrel show and comedians telling racist jokes on prime time TV.

[Dave]

Whinging is what rail commuters do.

I commuted on the Cambridge-Ely part of the Stansted-Birmingham line for three years (lucky me). Getting on the train in Cambridge to find the entry ways piled high with luggage was always fun. More than once, I saw people dump cases onto the platform, where they remained as the train pulled out of the station...

This isn't really about folders, I reckon, it's about lack of space. But it's always good to have a dig at cyclist though, innit?

[Chris S]

Thing is, for most people who use a bike to commute, there isn't "a cause," it's a means of getting home / to work.

Not everyone who cycles is an activist.

Agreed - it's not necessarily their cause. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't obey the law.

[токамак]

Rail commuters get a pretty rough deal so I don't begrudge them a moan. The government has been banging on about mixed-mode transport for a while now haven't they? But who's doing anything to support it? Certainly the train companies aren't; they seem only to be interested in squeezing on-board as many extortionate fares (passengers) on as few carriages as possible.

[nuttycyclist]

Not as much fun as the dirty looks you get taking a non-folding bike on the train just after the cycle restrictions have ended (i.e. leaving Waterloo just after 7pm) and the trains are still relatively packed.
...

Ticket salesman, "I'm sure you're aware that bicycles aren't allowed on this train as it's during rush hour"
Nutty, "I'm sure you're aware that this is a Brompton which folds up and so is therefore allowed on according to your rules and this leaflet here."  Nutty lifts leaflet off rack and posts through ticket office window.
<awkward silence>

[FatBloke]

Would these commuting city-working types be the same ones that on a Friday evening make such a fecking nuisance of themselves by shouting, singing, puking, fighting, stinking of B.O. and being so bloody unpleasant that it has stopped me attending CM any more?

Feck' em!!  Wankers!!!

[tiermat]

A little aside here, many many years ago I used to live in Ripon and work in Leeds.  One day (and, as it turned out it was only ever 1 day!) I decided to bike to Harrogate, instead of getting the bus.  I would then get the train from H/Gate to Leeds, go to work and do the opposite on the way home.  On the way there the guard on the train told me politely that I really shouldn't have the bike on the train as it was rush hour (which on that train meant there was 3 people in the same carriage as me!).

On the way home was a different matter however.  I arrived at Leeds station, found where my train was going from, went to the platform and boarded.  As I knew that train and route really well I knew that the doors furthest away from the platform would not be used so I stuck my bike in the footwell therein, so that it would not inconvinience anyone.  Along came little hitler, fresh out of train guards school.
"You can't come on here with that"
"Oh, can't I? I looked for information as to when I can and can't travel with a bike and couldn't find any"
"Well there are posters all over the station saying you can't bring that on here"
"Fair enough, show me somewhere it says that and I'll take the bike off"
"Don't get snotty with me"
"I'm sorry, I didn't believe I was, could you please show me the relevant poster or leaflet that says I can't travel with my bike on this train and I'll get off"
"There is no need to be like that with me sir, if you carry on I'll get the Transport police to take you off the train, besides this train gets really really busy and we can't be having bikes on it"
I sense I am fighting a loosing battle, pissing in the wind etc etc
"OK then, I tell you what, let me leave my bike there, if the train gets so busy that the bike is taking up someones space I will get off, how does that sound"
Sensing a hollow victory he disappears into his cab.
Sure enough the train fills up, packed infact so it is standing room only, so full that the little hitler cannot get out of his safety zone to tell me to take my bike off.  To do so would also entail asking 10 or so hot, sweaty, hacked off commuters to get off the train whilst I get my bike off!
For some reason I did not see him all the way to H/gate....

[Pete]

I could have my own little gripe about cycles on trains, if I wanted to.  Don't have a folder, and hence (perforce) peak hours with bike are not an option for me.

But when I do get on the train, out of peak hours (last occasion was last Saturday) - the type of train in my area is usually a class 377 ('Electrostar'), I'm stuck in a space for two or three bikes at most (the notices say two) right next to the disabled toilet, and sitting on a jump seat.  In the evenings the toilet is in constant use, largely by drunks.  Drunks argue with one another over who gets to use the loo first.  People forget to lock the curved door so it swings open whilst they're in mid-chunder (or worse!).  Little things like that are mighty off-putting!  I wish there were a better place for cyclists.  Away from the toilet.  But there: that's my moan.  Fellow Southern travellers will be familiar with all this...

[bobmick]

I don't think I've ever been told to take my bike off a train.  A couple of years back I returned from Hull to Sheffield at (more or less) peak time and the guard allowed 5 bikes on the busy 2 carriage train.

Maybe its less fraught than London.  

I have, however, been refused to carry a bike frame on a Sheffield bus before: "You can't bring a bike on the bus!"  "But it isn't actually a bike - just a frame."  "Tough.  You're not bringing it on here."  Bastard.

[Polar Bear]

These have largely replaced the crappy old electric units running along from Euston to Birmingham stopping at every godforsaken hole between.   They have a 'cupboard' for want of a better description which is permanently locked in one of the coaches.  Enquiries have enabled me to discover that this is for bicycles.  Two problems:  You'd only every be able to get folded bikes in there because of the shape and position of the door, and it's always locked so you can't use it anyway!

Booking bikes on trains and getting them on and off is one of my pet gripes - as a frequent user of ...

[tiermat]

Whilst we are having a gripe about trains, how is it that I can quite easily get a bike onto a train from the frozen North to London Village, and get the same bike on a train from London village to sunny Hampshire, BUT I CAN'T TRANSFER IT BETWEEN THE TWO TRAINS.....

Train 1 comes into Kings Cross, train 2 leaves from Victoria, only deep line tubes run betwix those so the only option would be to cycle, not an easy thing to do when carrying 20kg+ of kit on your back....

[Regulator]

Whilst we are having a gripe about trains, how is it that I can quite easily get a bike onto a train from the frozen North to London Village, and get the same bike on a train from London village to sunny Hampshire, BUT I CAN'T TRANSFER IT BETWEEN THE TWO TRAINS.....

Train 1 comes into Kings Cross, train 2 leaves from Victoria, only deep line tubes run betwix those so the only option would be to cycle, not an easy thing to do when carrying 20kg+ of kit on your back....

Which is why the cycling supreme being invented panniers... 

[bobmick]

Which is why the cycling supreme being invited panniers... 

where did he invite them? 

[matthew]

Well I commute on the SWT Waterloo - Reading line each day with a standard bicycle or fixie each day. The choice of parking area is not great as I have to be by the loo but I have only hade one complaint from a fellow passenger in over a year. But then I go away from london in the morning and towards london in the evening.

I have just learnt to avoid the 18:12 out of Reading as it is the only 4 carriage train in the day.

Matthew

[Greenbank]

Train 1 comes into Kings Cross, train 2 leaves from Victoria, only deep line tubes run betwix those so the only option would be to...

Use the Circle line direct from Kings Cross to Victoria?

OK, so it wouldn't be the fastest route (30 mins compared to 10 mins on the Victoria Line) but it's all doable with a bike since it's either overground or old box tunnels.

[Domestique]

Coming back from London anytime after 2130 with a bike is always a nightmare with the drunks.
I do think rail commuters do put up with a shit service though for the money they shell out on a season ticket.

[Regulator]

Yep - Circle Line is an option (if it's actually running  ) but panniers and a quick spin down from Kings Cross to Victoria is the quickest way.  It used to take me 20 minutes tops - if I stopped at red lights, etc...

[mattc]

But when I do get on the train, out of peak hours (last occasion was last Saturday) - the type of train in my area is usually a class 377 ('Electrostar'), I'm stuck in a space for two or three bikes at most (the notices say two) right next to the disabled toilet, and sitting on a jump seat.  In the evenings the toilet is in constant use, largely by drunks.  Drunks argue with one another over who gets to use the loo first. 

Of course, some disabled toilets are large enough to take the bike in with you ...