having problems taking your bike on a train?

flyingdutch said:

A rail Co (southern) in UK has banned bikes/even folders recently.

as a protest a crowd got on with these cardboard bikes. bwahahahahahhah

weight weeneies will surely follow...

Taking a bike on anything approaching a busy train is an uncomfortable experience in my very limited experience.

Connex prefer you to use the space at the rear of the train with the fold up seats to stack your bikes, but this irks other passangers as it's using up seat space.

The alternative is to stand with it in the door way which inconveniences everyone getting on and off there or hook the front wheel in to the handrail by the door which doesn't take up as much space but is frowned on by Connex.

I've been following this on uk.rec.cycling in the past, the suggestion from government is to buy two bikes, leaving the unused one at the station. Witnessing the fate of bicycles left at rail stations across the country dissuades me from that course, even if it is a legitimate N+1 (N+N even?)

EuanB said:

I've been following this on uk.rec.cycling in the past, the suggestion
from government is to buy two bikes, leaving the unused one at the
station. Witnessing the fate of bicycles left at rail stations across
the country dissuades me from that course, even if it is a legitimate
N+1 (N+N even?)

Exploit the handy dandy bicycle lockers that they've installed at a
large number of (non-cbd) stations, perhaps?

But yes, not an option that I'd be happy about, even with a hard rubbish
single speed at both ends.

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

EuanB said:

flyingdutch said:

A rail Co (southern) in UK has banned bikes/even folders recently.

as a protest a crowd got on with these cardboard bikes.
bwahahahahahhah

weight weeneies will surely follow...

Taking a bike on anything approaching a busy train is an uncomfortable
experience in my very limited experience.

Connex prefer you to use the space at the rear of the train with the
fold up seats to stack your bikes, but this irks other passangers as
it's using up seat space.

The alternative is to stand with it in the door way which
inconveniences everyone getting on and off there or hook the front
wheel in to the handrail by the door which doesn't take up as much
space but is frowned on by Connex.

I've been following this on uk.rec.cycling in the past, the suggestion
from government is to buy two bikes, leaving the unused one at the
station. Witnessing the fate of bicycles left at rail stations across
the country dissuades me from that course, even if it is a legitimate
N+1 (N+N even?)

Or you could just ride the thing, avoiding the train part altogether....

--

phillip brown

"[censored] doesn't just happen. there is always an ass-hole involved"

Phillip Brown said:

Quoted message said:

I've been following this on uk.rec.cycling in the past, the suggestion
from government is to buy two bikes, leaving the unused one at the
station. Witnessing the fate of bicycles left at rail stations across
the country dissuades me from that course, even if it is a legitimate
N+1 (N+N even?)

Or you could just ride the thing, avoiding the train part altogether....

I do, thirty kms each way every day.

EuanB said:

Phillip Brown said:

Quoted message said:

I've been following this on uk.rec.cycling in the past, the

suggestion

Quoted message said:

from government is to buy two bikes, leaving the unused one at the
station. Witnessing the fate of bicycles left at rail stations

across

Quoted message said:

the country dissuades me from that course, even if it is a

legitimate

Quoted message said:

N+1 (N+N even?)

Or you could just ride the thing, avoiding the train part
altogether....

I do, thirty kms each way every day.

I wasn't having a go at you specifically. It was more like a 'royal' you.

--

phillip brown

"[censored] doesn't just happen. there is always an ass-hole involved"

Quoted message said:

station. Witnessing the fate of bicycles left at rail stations across
the country dissuades me from that course, even if it is a legitimate
N+1 (N+N even?)

Have you seen what happens to bikes left locked up anywhere in public in
London for more than 30 minutes?

I just hope the junkies here don't cotton on to what even a [censored] bikes'
worth of components can fetch on ebay.

Jules

Phillip Brown said:

EuanB said:

Phillip Brown said:

> I've been following this on uk.rec.cycling in the past, the
suggestion
> from government is to buy two bikes, leaving the unused one at the
> station. Witnessing the fate of bicycles left at rail stations
across
> the country dissuades me from that course, even if it is a
legitimate
> N+1 (N+N even?)

Or you could just ride the thing, avoiding the train part
altogether....

I do, thirty kms each way every day.

I wasn't having a go at you specifically. It was more like a 'royal' you.

Much less embarrassing than the Royal We(e)

T

Phillip Brown said:

Or you could just ride the thing, avoiding the train part altogether....

Sadly, never an option in my employment history.
Although a few times I was paid to ride my bicycle and it wasn't as a
courier either {:-).

[PHP][/PHP]

EuanB said:

I do, thirty kms each way every day.

[PHP][/PHP]

Well we had it tough. We used to have to get up out of the shoebox at twelve o'clock at night, and LICK the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at the mill for fourpence every six years, and when we got home, our Dad would slice us in two with a bread knife

Right. I had to get up in the morning at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I went to bed, (pause for laughter), eat a lump of cold poison, work twenty-nine hours a day down mill, and pay mill owner for permission to come to work, and when we got home, our Dad would kill us, and dance about on our graves singing "Hallelujah."

But you try and tell the young people today that... and they won't believe ya'

flyingdutch said:

A rail Co (southern) in UK has banned bikes/even folders recently.

as a protest a crowd got on with these cardboard bikes. bwahahahahahhah

weight weeneies will surely follow...

Wasn't there a similar protest up in Sydney last year? Here's interesting info via recent MBTC news about travelling via a group:

******************************
4. Organising group travel discounts on Met trains

Norm Appleby gleaned this information on how to minimise expense for group travel on Met trains. It was obtained for possible use by the Darebin BUG mid week riding group and is slanted towards the senior members of that group. It does appear to offer significant savings for weekday or Saturday rail travel,
particularly all-day Zones 1, 2 and 3.

To qualify for group travel the group needs to be a group of twelve adults or more.

Tickets need to be purchased the day before the day of travel. (This creates a problem of course as one person has to purchase all the tickets and then hope that everyone turns up the next day for the ride.) Group travel tickets can only be purchased from Premium stations (e.g. Heidelberg, Ivanhoe or Clifton Hill).

Cost per person (Fullfare or senior)
For Zones 1 + 2 = $5.00 (for all day)
For Zones 1 + 2 + 3 = $5.50 (for all day)

If the group of people had six full fare and six seniors you could not buy the six at group rate and the other six at the Senior's rate. Alternatively, if you had twelve adults and six seniors, then the seniors could buy their own senior ($3) tickets.

Note that the Met does not offer two-hour Group bookings. The only two-hour tickets are the standard ones. Full fare ticket costs are:
For Zones 1 + 2 = $5.20
For Zones 1 + 2 + 3 = $7.20

By far, the cheapest group travel option for Zones 1+2+3 for everyone is to travel on Sunday and use the Sunday Saver ticket - which costs everyone $2.50!