Bike Policy

I like that they gathered input from the "cycling community." I wonder how they did that.... Bicycle.net?

I guess community can mean many things. A couple of times I've gotten emails from the http://www.bicyclecoalition.org/ that thanked "your support of ... rail to trail program". As far as I remember I've never told them anything about my opinion of rail to trail, and certainly not about the ones they mentioned in their emails. So if NJT contacted any organizations like Philly Bicycle Coalition they might have been contacting folks who think they speak for the community.

sixty-six wrote:Can't wait until the next person gets hurt because of a bike. This is going to be interesting.

What is it about the new rules that makes you think it more likely for a bike to hurt a person than the old rules?

They are just putting into effect a policy that has unoffically been done by many crews, especially down on the Bay Head shuttles, for years. Bicycles and the Jersey shore kind of go hand and hand.....

Sometimes you would just open up a "bike car" - and let them all go into a closed car. That way the only person they can/will hurt is themselves or another bicyclist. Ive done it and seen it done many many times.

But then again, this is on the Coast Line, where apparently there isn't such a hatred for bikes as there is on other lines of NJT.

Jtgshu, yes, opening up closed cars to bikes only sure sounded like a way to LESSEN the chances a bike would hurt anyone, which is one thing that gave rise to my question to sixty-six about why he might think the new rules would increase the risk.

Patrick Boylan wrote:Jtgshu, yes, opening up closed cars to bikes only sure sounded like a way to LESSEN the chances a bike would hurt anyone, which is one thing that gave rise to my question to sixty-six about why he might think the new rules would increase the risk.

I've already had multiple people ask for help in loading their bikes onto the train, others who have no idea how to safely walk their bikes down the aisle, and one person who already hurt themselves getting off the train. Now that it's amateur hour, I see a MUCH greater potential for injuries.

The new customer satisfaction survey just promulgated has a question to determine the interest on bringing a bike on board. Will be interesting to see the results.

Patrick Boylan wrote:

sixty-six wrote:Can't wait until the next person gets hurt because of a bike. This is going to be interesting.

What is it about the new rules that makes you think it more likely for a bike to hurt a person than the old rules?

Moreover, why can't he wait for someone to get hurt to prove his point?

One wonders if we rail travelers get out much in the world beyond the rails if bicycles on trains are such a scary, overwhelming prospect.

Society changes, and folks usually have the capacity to change with it (albeit at varying individual speeds). Jtgshu, who actually works for/on the railroad, seems quite capable of adjusting (indeed, seems to have anticipated many of the needs beforehand) to better serve his company's customers. Since more people are using bicycles more often, it makes sense to solicit that market segment, or at the very least accommodate them when they decide to use rail.

As rail advocates, we often face the "us vs. them" dilemma, but it's not a desirable setup. With bicycles and bike advocates, it also can be wholly unnecessary, certainly when it comes to promoting existing rail service. (The rails-to-trails saga, of course, is a different ballgame.)

an electric skateboard with regenerative brakes
http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/348 ... n+forever/

"The last mile of transportation is this huge problem that hasn't been solved yet," Boosted Boards co-founder Sanjay Dastoor said in the company's promotional video below. "Once you get off of a public transit system, whether it's a bus or a train or anything else, how do you get along that last mile to your destination? What Boosted Boards does is gives you a really portable vehicle that you can use in conjunction with public transit."

NJTransit's New Schedules effective October 14, include the new "bike car" development.

All the weekend portions of the timetables display one of two bike symbols, one saying that up to 12 bikes are allowed, another saying that there are no bikes allowed on that train.

A sample from the PVL public timetable:


Listed in the notes section:


(sorry if the pictures are a bit small, the website would only allow me to upload these smaller photos)