NEW CANAAN ADVERTISER, NEW CANAAN, CONN., MAY 1, 2008 7A
Eco Man
Now is the time for bikes on trains
By Richard M. Stowe
In his Talking Transportation column Fit people on trains before bikes, Mr. Cameron rages against the “pro-bike lobby,” which he describes as “well organized, very vocal and relentless.” “Fit people” revolves around a string of assertions and four alleged facts. Regarding fact No. 4, Mr. Cameron admits confusion; he’s not sure if its fact, or opinion.
Cameron: “What is it about “bikers” that they feel their rights trump those of other commuters?”
Stowe: Cyclists didn’t create the crowding on the New Haven Line, nor are we seeking to prevent anyone from boarding Metro-North trains, whether with a set of golf clubs, or a baby stroller at any hour, or on any day.
Cyclists aren’t out to squelch the rights of other commuters, what we’re seeking are equal rights, a very pro-American notion.
It’s the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council that Mr. Cameron leads, which took an injudicious position at its March 19th meeting by striking all, but 13 words of a resolution primarily written to encourage Metro-North Railroad “to safely and securely accommodate bicycles on New Haven Line train cars.”
Cameron: Bikers have no more “right” to bring bicycles on crowded rush-hour trains than I have to haul aboard a steamer trunk.
Stowe: This statement implies that steamer trunks, or their modern variants – suitcases with rollers, are prohibited at peak hours, but they’re not, nor should they be, but bicycles are!
Deconstructing Mr. Cameron’s facts:
Cameron: (No. 1) There’s no room for bikes at rush hours.
Stowe: Not all rush hour trains are equally crowded at all stations; the extent of crowding is time and location dependent. When a peak hour train is less crowded, the revenue of a cyclist’s fare benefits Metro-North.
Cameron: Heck, we don’t have seats for paying passengers, let alone bicycles.
Stowe: In his column Saving the Bar Cars, Mr. Cameron, a self-confessed teetotaler, sings praises about efforts spearheaded by alcoholic-drinks-on-trains advocate Terri Cronin and her commuter council posse to lobby for bar cars, which he describes as analogous to Metro-North’s holy grail. But Mr. Cameron fails to inform his readers of the trade-off: a loss of a minimum of 72 seats per M-8 bar car.
According to C-DOT officials, ten M-8 bar cars are on order; that’s a loss of 720 seats. Mr. Cameron’s thinking: a seat sacrificed for alcoholic beverage consumption is good, but a seat lost for a bicycle, a vehicle for invigorating exercise to and from train stations, is unconscionable?
With seats already removed, perhaps peak-hour bike parking can be integrated into bar cars. Drinks aren’t served in the a.m. peak.
Cameron: And the M-8 cars that are coming won’t change that crowding for many, many years given annual ridership increases averaging five percent.
Stowe: 380 M-8 cars plus 132 M-2 cars rehabbed in a “critical-systems-replacement” program, equals a forty percent increase in train cars and at least a thirty percent increase in seats.
Cameron: (No. 2) Bikes are already allowed on non-rush hour trains. And they’re carried for free. So quit your whining.
Stowe: We’re not whining. Section 66 of New York State Railroad Law, to quote the New York Times, mandates “free transportation of bicycles as baggage.” Section 66 states “no such passenger shall be required to crate, cover, or otherwise protect any such bicycle,” nor does it permit peak hour restrictions.
Cameron: (No. 3) if you’re heading for New York City, you don’t need a bike. Mass transit is plentiful, so leave your Cannondale in Cannondale.
Stowe: For intrastate travel in Connecticut, where mass transit is infrequent and doesn’t deliver the “last mile,” bicycle travel in tandem with trains is essential.
Cameron: (No. 4) I don’t think there’s any demand for bikes among city-bound commuters.
Stowe: Caltrain officials said the same thing before instituting its 24-7 bikes-on-trains program, but in the San Jose to San Francisco corridor cyclists travel to and from all stations.
In 2007 a record breaking 2300 bikes-on-trains customers boarded Caltrain daily. That accounts for 6.2 percent of Caltrain riders. What’s good for California in this case is good for Connecticut.
With price of oil cresting 120 dollars per barrel never has there been a better time for Metro-North to accommodate bicycles during peak hours.
Richard Stowe is president of the New Canaan Environmental Group, an environmental education organization, and founder and director of Rail*Trains*Ecology*Cycling, a nonprofit advocacy group promoting sustainable modes of transportation.
Editor’s Note: Mr. Cameron’s Fit people on trains before bikes ran in the New Canaan Advertiser on April 24. The same day the commentary also appeared in print in the Darien Times (The facts about bikes on trains) and Greenwich Post (Keep bikes off trains). The commentary appeared on April 21 as “Bicycle on Trains?” in Talking Transportation (http://talkingtransportation.blogspot.com) - Mr. Cameron’s blog.
Excellent post!