Muchhas been written in recent weeks about allowing bicyclists to bringtheir vehicles on board Metro North commuter trains, and I wanted toadd my two cents just as a commuter and not as Chairman of the CommuterCouncil. (Never be confused when I write here as I am always and onlyspeaking for myself and not the many groups on which I serve.)
Whatis it about “bikers” that they feel their rights trump those of othercommuters? How can such a well organized and vocal lobby be so blind tothe sad realities of commuting on Metro-North that they would askcommuters to straddle their two-wheelers in standee-filled vestibulesin the name of personal liberties and “being green”?
Bikers have nomore “right” to bring bicycles on crowded rush-hour trains than I haveto haul aboard a steamer trunk. (At least you could sit on a steamertrunk). Yet, they rant against everyone in their personal strivings fortwo-wheeled freedom.
In the interest of personal disclosure: I donot ride a bike, but I do commute and often must stand for an hour ormore due to lack of seats.
Bikers… here are the facts of life: Fact#1, there’s no room for bikes at rush hours. Heck, we don’t have seatsfor paying passengers, let alone space for bicycles. And the new M8cars that are coming won’t change that crowding for many, many yearsgiven annual ridership increases averaging 5%. Fact #2, bikes arealready allowed on non-rush hour trains. And they’re carried for free.So quit your whining. Fact #3, if you’re heading for New York City, youdon’t need a bike. Mass transit is plentiful in the city, so leave yourCannondale in Cannondale. Fact #4… or maybe an opinion… I don’t thinkthere’s any demand for bikes among city-bound commuters.
Thepro-bike lobby is well organized, very vocal and relentless. Butthey’re also unreasonable in their demands that every Metro-North trainaccommodate a special car filled with bike racks.
They point tosuch services in the San Francisco bay area, but Caltrain has only37,000 daily riders carried on 100 double-decker passenger carscompared to Metro-North’s Connecticut ridership of 110,000 each daycrammed into cars with much less space. If Caltrain’s ridershipcontinues to climb, I predict they’ll rip out the bike racks and addseats.
If bikers really wanted to build support for their cause, Ihave a suggestion. Rather than rant against those who reasonably argueagainst bikes on trains, the bikers should instead lobby for bike racksand lockers at rail stations. Attract more people to two-wheeledtransportation to catch the train by persuading local towns whichoperate those stations that this would be a great way to cut parkingpermit waiting lists. Towns like Westport do a great job with bikeracks. Why can’t the other towns use parking revenue to similarly servetheir residents?
The bottom line: until every paying passenger getsa seat for their Metro-North ticket, let’s allocate room on the trainsto people, not their bikes.