Train firm’s ban on non-folding bikes (From Daily Echo)

Another blind 'cost-driven' Green Initiative. Like the Fareham-Gosport peninsular 'Tepid' Transit System, where you get an old railway line de-construct it at great cost then put some buses through it exacerbating all the traffic jams throughout- genius.

Makes sense, full size bikes would need a 'brake' (an old term from steam days) coach to transport them safely segregated from the cattle (passengers) as the trains are likely to be crammed full.
Even my Brompton when folded is still quite a lump!

FFS common sense from the rail operator, I think most people can live with this for a few weeks. I am sure that if a dramatic increase in rail use is not realized then the operator will relax the rules. Hype?

so even now, when there isn't enough space as it is, they are saying its the people who actually want to be fit, and green...its their fault?

If I take my bike apart (Remove the wheels for example) and hand them to a friend to carry, will this be allowed on, As if it doesn't have its wheels then it only counts as a bike frame and not a complete bike.

lowe esteem wrote:
Another blind 'cost-driven' Green Initiative. Like the Fareham-Gosport peninsular 'Tepid' Transit System, where you get an old railway line de-construct it at great cost then put some buses through it exacerbating all the traffic jams throughout- genius.

Already talking to a company and hopefully shortly the councils involved in replanning the LRT/Heavy Rail for South Hampshire including Fareham - Gosport, Fareham - Southampton, Eastleigh Chord, Ryde - Newport & Possibly re-debating the Solent Tunnel for rail links, as long as that road stays as a Busway, it is, in away, safe guarding it! just keep watching this space.

Currently Hampshire's Transport guy is not doing a great job at listening to what people want and the bigger picture of what could be, so for now we are stuck with buses.

BRT is a very old technology, something of about 30 years ago, the companies around the world who do have it on a large scale are now upgrading them to high speed trams, monorail or even metro so it won't be long till we have to do the same. Peak Oil!

So I've decided, instead of moaning and whining about the BRT, I'm going to be doing something about it.

This was WAY off topic but the comment above got me talking about it :)

Zeo wrote:

lowe esteem wrote:
Another blind 'cost-driven' Green Initiative. Like the Fareham-Gosport peninsular 'Tepid' Transit System, where you get an old railway line de-construct it at great cost then put some buses through it exacerbating all the traffic jams throughout- genius.

Already talking to a company and hopefully shortly the councils involved in replanning the LRT/Heavy Rail for South Hampshire including Fareham - Gosport, Fareham - Southampton, Eastleigh Chord, Ryde - Newport & Possibly re-debating the Solent Tunnel for rail links, as long as that road stays as a Busway, it is, in away, safe guarding it! just keep watching this space.

Currently Hampshire's Transport guy is not doing a great job at listening to what people want and the bigger picture of what could be, so for now we are stuck with buses.

BRT is a very old technology, something of about 30 years ago, the companies around the world who do have it on a large scale are now upgrading them to high speed trams, monorail or even metro so it won't be long till we have to do the same. Peak Oil!

So I've decided, instead of moaning and whining about the BRT, I'm going to be doing something about it.

This was WAY off topic but the comment above got me talking about it :)

Well played Sir, having spent most of my Adult life in Asia it is blindingly obvious that if you build the infrastructure prosperity follows. Don't think for a moment that the UK is still first world in .respect of mass transit. It hasn't been for 50 years or more!

Who's got a ticket for the olympics anyway?
All they want us Brits to do is carry the torch around not to actually see any events.

Me! we were going to take our bikes up to town and cycle round a few miscellaneous events but apparently now we can't, So we will use the public transport that the UK built a hundred years ago and then walk, will be such a nuisance............
...............!

Murray mint wrote:

Zeo wrote:

lowe esteem wrote:
Another blind 'cost-driven' Green Initiative. Like the Fareham-Gosport peninsular 'Tepid' Transit System, where you get an old railway line de-construct it at great cost then put some buses through it exacerbating all the traffic jams throughout- genius.

Already talking to a company and hopefully shortly the councils involved in replanning the LRT/Heavy Rail for South Hampshire including Fareham - Gosport, Fareham - Southampton, Eastleigh Chord, Ryde - Newport & Possibly re-debating the Solent Tunnel for rail links, as long as that road stays as a Busway, it is, in away, safe guarding it! just keep watching this space.

Currently Hampshire's Transport guy is not doing a great job at listening to what people want and the bigger picture of what could be, so for now we are stuck with buses.

BRT is a very old technology, something of about 30 years ago, the companies around the world who do have it on a large scale are now upgrading them to high speed trams, monorail or even metro so it won't be long till we have to do the same. Peak Oil!

So I've decided, instead of moaning and whining about the BRT, I'm going to be doing something about it.

This was WAY off topic but the comment above got me talking about it :)

Well played Sir, having spent most of my Adult life in Asia it is blindingly obvious that if you build the infrastructure prosperity follows. Don't think for a moment that the UK is still first world in .respect of mass transit. It hasn't been for 50 years or more!

You're right. But there's a reason for it. The Underground is ancient, yes, but it's still incredibly busy. The logistics of shutting it down to build a new one are staggering. It's probably got to happen, sooner or later, but only when they figure out a way of doing so, without causing long-term utter chaos in the capital.

They first rip people off with high fares, then cheeky so and so are forcing their potential customers to invest in new bikes.

In supposedly democratic and free society private companies are dictating to cyclist on type of bike they should ride... What next?

Before becoming Prime Minister Mr. Cameron used to ride bike. If I remember correctly his pictures always were on ordinary bike, as often is the case with Boris Johnson. Yes with their wealth if they want to travel by these trains they will be able to buy bikes acceptable to this train operator, but what about those on low income?

Murray mint wrote:
Me! we were going to take our bikes up to town and cycle round a few miscellaneous events but apparently now we can't, So we will use the public transport that the UK built a hundred years ago and then walk, will be such a nuisance............

...............!

You still can Murray mint,they have an excellent daily cycle hire system in place in London,best sign up early though, as it's bound to be extra busy.
I think it's quite cheap as well,check it out on-line.(http://www.
tfl.gov.uk/roadusers
/cycling )

Paramjit Bahia wrote:
They first rip people off with high fares, then cheeky so and so are forcing their potential customers to invest in new bikes.

In supposedly democratic and free society private companies are dictating to cyclist on type of bike they should ride... What next?

Before becoming Prime Minister Mr. Cameron used to ride bike. If I remember correctly his pictures always were on ordinary bike, as often is the case with Boris Johnson. Yes with their wealth if they want to travel by these trains they will be able to buy bikes acceptable to this train operator, but what about those on low income?

Well what about cycling all of the journey? It's only about a 150 mile round trip. 10 hours there, 10 hours back and 4 hours at the events. We could call it an away day special.

Georgem wrote:

Murray mint wrote:

Zeo wrote:

lowe esteem wrote:
Another blind 'cost-driven' Green Initiative. Like the Fareham-Gosport peninsular 'Tepid' Transit System, where you get an old railway line de-construct it at great cost then put some buses through it exacerbating all the traffic jams throughout- genius.

Already talking to a company and hopefully shortly the councils involved in replanning the LRT/Heavy Rail for South Hampshire including Fareham - Gosport, Fareham - Southampton, Eastleigh Chord, Ryde - Newport & Possibly re-debating the Solent Tunnel for rail links, as long as that road stays as a Busway, it is, in away, safe guarding it! just keep watching this space.

Currently Hampshire's Transport guy is not doing a great job at listening to what people want and the bigger picture of what could be, so for now we are stuck with buses.

BRT is a very old technology, something of about 30 years ago, the companies around the world who do have it on a large scale are now upgrading them to high speed trams, monorail or even metro so it won't be long till we have to do the same. Peak Oil!

So I've decided, instead of moaning and whining about the BRT, I'm going to be doing something about it.

This was WAY off topic but the comment above got me talking about it :)

Well played Sir, having spent most of my Adult life in Asia it is blindingly obvious that if you build the infrastructure prosperity follows. Don't think for a moment that the UK is still first world in .respect of mass transit. It hasn't been for 50 years or more!

You're right. But there's a reason for it. The Underground is ancient, yes, but it's still incredibly busy. The logistics of shutting it down to build a new one are staggering. It's probably got to happen, sooner or later, but only when they figure out a way of doing so, without causing long-term utter chaos in the capital.

No requirement to shut anything down. It's all about planed upgrading and extending. Look at what has happened in Singapore over the last 10 years, it is staggering. Investment = jobs = growth= prosperity, win win.

Paramjit Bahia wrote:
They first rip people off with high fares, then cheeky so and so are forcing their potential customers to invest in new bikes.

In supposedly democratic and free society private companies are dictating to cyclist on type of bike they should ride... What next?

Before becoming Prime Minister Mr. Cameron used to ride bike. If I remember correctly his pictures always were on ordinary bike, as often is the case with Boris Johnson. Yes with their wealth if they want to travel by these trains they will be able to buy bikes acceptable to this train operator, but what about those on low income?

Nobody is forcing anyone to buy new bikes. It's a temporary measure.

I've never seen BJ or DC taking their bikes onto trains, again your creating scenarios that don't exist.

Why not put an extra freight car on the end of the train just for bikes, prams (with children in them) people using laptops/ mobile phones, drunks, teenagers and anyone else who annoys me.
Better make that a few more freight cars.

I'm surprised that no one noticed that this decision has already been reversed, yesterday.

That's right, south west trains went back on their decision due to public opposition.

Have a quick google and you'll find the current correct status.

Bikerider70 wrote:
I'm surprised that no one noticed that this decision has already been reversed, yesterday.

That's right, south west trains went back on their decision due to public opposition.

Have a quick google and you'll find the current correct status.

Why are you surprised? Do you routinely read a news story, then think "I'll just quickly google to see if the opposite of this has happened?"

These bloomin bikes, when they're not creating havoc on the roads they're taking up space on trains. We'll be giving them a space on a bus next and forcing taxis to have a bike rack on the back of the Cab. ;-)

IronLady2010 wrote:
These bloomin bikes, when they're not creating havoc on the roads they're taking up space on trains. We'll be giving them a space on a bus next and forcing taxis to have a bike rack on the back of the Cab. ;-)

You sure do have some great ideas.

How about a cycle rack on top of a tuk tuk?

How many bicycles can you take on a Greyhound coach?

Renationalise the lot - trains and buses too. Public transport should be public service, not a method for Cameron, Blair and their ilk to line the pockets of their pals.

Sorry Melanie you've got this story wrong re-read the press release- following a review they are not changing their normal policy - ie bikes are/will be allowed on most journeys. That's why the last paragraph you wrote makes no sense - you can't have an exception to a rule of no bikes allowed that is no bikes allowed...

Markmag wrote:
Sorry Melanie you've got this story wrong re-read the press release- following a review they are not changing their normal policy - ie bikes are/will be allowed on most journeys. That's why the last paragraph you wrote makes no sense - you can't have an exception to a rule of no bikes allowed that is no bikes allowed...

Can I put my car on the train? If Cyclists wish to share the roads they can share the pain.

cantthinkofone wrote:
Renationalise the lot - trains and buses too. Public transport should be public service, not a method for Cameron, Blair and their ilk to line the pockets of their pals.

Quite right. Public transport should be a method for Bob Crow and his union pals to blackmail the country and supporting his union pals at the expense of the travelling public. This idea that people can rely on public transport is really unfair.

Zeo wrote:

lowe esteem wrote:
Another blind 'cost-driven' Green Initiative. Like the Fareham-Gosport peninsular 'Tepid' Transit System, where you get an old railway line de-construct it at great cost then put some buses through it exacerbating all the traffic jams throughout- genius.

Already talking to a company and hopefully shortly the councils involved in replanning the LRT/Heavy Rail for South Hampshire including Fareham - Gosport, Fareham - Southampton, Eastleigh Chord, Ryde - Newport & Possibly re-debating the Solent Tunnel for rail links, as long as that road stays as a Busway, it is, in away, safe guarding it! just keep watching this space.

Currently Hampshire's Transport guy is not doing a great job at listening to what people want and the bigger picture of what could be, so for now we are stuck with buses.

BRT is a very old technology, something of about 30 years ago, the companies around the world who do have it on a large scale are now upgrading them to high speed trams, monorail or even metro so it won't be long till we have to do the same. Peak Oil!

So I've decided, instead of moaning and whining about the BRT, I'm going to be doing something about it.

This was WAY off topic but the comment above got me talking about it :)

Good luck with that, Zeo!

Bikerider70 wrote:
I'm surprised that no one noticed that this decision has already been reversed, yesterday.

That's right, south west trains went back on their decision due to public opposition.

Have a quick google and you'll find the current correct status.

http://www.southwest
trains.co.uk/cycle-p
olicy.aspx

I, for one, am thankful of the decision, as I'm bringing my bike back down from Edinburgh to be able to carriage myself and my belongings to Bestival.

IronLady2010 wrote:

Markmag wrote:
Sorry Melanie you've got this story wrong re-read the press release- following a review they are not changing their normal policy - ie bikes are/will be allowed on most journeys. That's why the last paragraph you wrote makes no sense - you can't have an exception to a rule of no bikes allowed that is no bikes allowed...

Can I put my car on the train? If Cyclists wish to share the roads they can share the pain.

You could once - it was called Motorail and it ran for years but was abandoned on privatisation. THe nearest terminal round here was Brockenhurst and you could travel by sleeper as far as Fort William with your car at the back of the train. The old Motorail network would be like a dream come true today - imagine if instead of slogging down to the west country all day in a 50 mile tailback you could put your car on a motorail train and next morning wake up in Penzance fresh with your car ready to start your holiday? The trouble is that sort of seasonal service just doesn't pay in a privatised high capex business model.

Surely adding a couple of extra carridges on the back of the trains will help with congestion of people. They will charge more for fares anyway over the olympics so use that money to add a few more carridges, and then allow for the eener people who wish to travel to have a fold up bike. Then just have announcements like they do now, do say what carridges will be open able to stop at what stations for those stations that dont have long enough platforms.

badengk1 wrote:
Surely adding a couple of extra carridges on the back of the trains will help with congestion of people. They will charge more for fares anyway over the olympics so use that money to add a few more carridges, and then allow for the eener people who wish to travel to have a fold up bike. Then just have announcements like they do now, do say what carridges will be open able to stop at what stations for those stations that dont have long enough platforms.

You don't use the train do you, or you'd know there are lots of reasons why that could not work.

badengk1 wrote:
Surely adding a couple of extra carridges on the back of the trains will help with congestion of people. They will charge more for fares anyway over the olympics so use that money to add a few more carridges, and then allow for the eener people who wish to travel to have a fold up bike. Then just have announcements like they do now, do say what carridges will be open able to stop at what stations for those stations that dont have long enough platforms.

They are running extra trains with old rolling stock, such is the expected unreliability the rail operators have been trying to remove a lot of the standard rail safety methods, such as placing detonators before a failed train.

And they want to eliminate guards (train 'managers') to create driver only operation savings in the near future too...

IronLady2010 wrote:

Markmag wrote:
Sorry Melanie you've got this story wrong re-read the press release- following a review they are not changing their normal policy - ie bikes are/will be allowed on most journeys. That's why the last paragraph you wrote makes no sense - you can't have an exception to a rule of no bikes allowed that is no bikes allowed...

Can I put my car on the train? If Cyclists wish to share the roads they can share the pain.

So you're not a cyclist then?
You are painting a very unhealthy picture again.

IronLady2010 wrote:

Markmag wrote:
Sorry Melanie you've got this story wrong re-read the press release- following a review they are not changing their normal policy - ie bikes are/will be allowed on most journeys. That's why the last paragraph you wrote makes no sense - you can't have an exception to a rule of no bikes allowed that is no bikes allowed...

Can I put my car on the train? If Cyclists wish to share the roads they can share the pain.

So you're not a cyclist then?
You are painting a very unhealthy picture again.

The Wickham Man wrote:

cantthinkofone wrote:
Renationalise the lot - trains and buses too. Public transport should be public service, not a method for Cameron, Blair and their ilk to line the pockets of their pals.

Quite right. Public transport should be a method for Bob Crow and his union pals to blackmail the country and supporting his union pals at the expense of the travelling public. This idea that people can rely on public transport is really unfair.

Is there a reaon why you picked on Bob Crow specifically? I know he is not everyones cup of tea but to my knowledge has never resorted to corruption to carry out his tasks, unlike the people he often comes up against.

Niel wrote:

badengk1 wrote:
Surely adding a couple of extra carridges on the back of the trains will help with congestion of people. They will charge more for fares anyway over the olympics so use that money to add a few more carridges, and then allow for the eener people who wish to travel to have a fold up bike. Then just have announcements like they do now, do say what carridges will be open able to stop at what stations for those stations that dont have long enough platforms.

They are running extra trains with old rolling stock, such is the expected unreliability the rail operators have been trying to remove a lot of the standard rail safety methods, such as placing detonators before a failed train.

And they want to eliminate guards (train 'managers') to create driver only operation savings in the near future too...

Railwayman are you?