Bikes On Board and CalTrain April 5 2018 Meeting

Article Source: Bikes On Board

Hello Bicycle Commuters and Supporters,

Well, it happened again. Caltrain staff postponed their presentation about the funding application to buy more electrified rail cars. Now it's scheduled for the April 5 Caltrain Board meeting. We need to show up in droves to prevent Caltrain from decreasing bike capacity on electrified trains. Public comments at Caltrain Board meetings can have a huge impact! Please let us know if you can make it.

When: 10:00 AM, Thursday, April 5
Where: 1250 San Carlos Avenue, San Carlos

Email comments help, too. Even if you've written before, it never hurts to reinforce your message!

Please click here to email the Caltrain Board and copy all the right folks.

Suggested talking points:

• Share why you rely on Caltrain and whether you have ever been denied service due to full bike cars (bumped)
• Remind Caltrain staff that in 2015, the board unanimously approved an 8:1 ratio of seats-to-bikes for electrified trains with the expectation that there would be (a) more bike capacity than today, (b) no fewer seats than today, and (c) one more train per hour
• Express disappointment that the proposed six-car electrified trains have less bike capacity and significantly fewer seats than today
• Acknowledge that six-car trains meet the 8:1 ratio, but that alone is meaningless (the 8:1 ratio can be met with 8 seats and 1 bike space per train, or 16 seats and 2 bikes spaces per train, and so on)
• Thank Caltrain for applying for funding to launch electrified service with eight-car trains instead of six-car
• Express enthusiasm that eight-car electrified trains with 96 bike spaces per train will meet the 8:1 ratio with more bike capacity and more seats per train than today, completely fulfilling the board's expectations
• Encourage Caltrain to put seats within view of bikes on electrified trains to allow passengers to guard their bikes against theft (proposed bike car layout has 36 bikes and no dedicated seats within view of bikes, only three folding seats competing with wheelchair space)
• Include your city of residence after your name

Status Update
Your emails and public comments about bike theft are working! Staff are in the midst of a bike security review and will be doing public outreach later this spring. Unfortunately, staff are pushing back on our request for 96 bike spaces per eight-car electrified train. They now claim the 8:1 ratio applies only to six-car trains, but as explained in the above talking points, six-car trains do not meet the board's expectations for seat and bike capacity.

Report all Bicycle Bumps
Please report all bicycle bumps using Caltrain’s bicycle bump report form, which automatically sends a tweet @BikesOnCaltrain. Reporting bumps is critical to show Caltrain that more bike space is needed now and on future electrified trains.

Relevant Documents
Minutes from July 2, 2015 Caltrain Board meeting in which the board approved the 8:1 ratio of seats-to-bikes
Capacity calculations for bikes and seats

Caltrain modernization program on the Caltrain website

Letters to the editor from concerned passengers

Please forward this email to other bike riders and anyone who cares about bicycle commuting.

Thank you for your continued support!

More bikes, no bumps,
Shirley Johnson
BIKES ONboard Project
Contact us at bikesonboard@sonic.net
Ask other bike riders to email us to be added to our mailing list.

Thank you for supporting bikes on board Caltrain.

Our mailing address is:
Bikes on Board 4th & King
San Francisco, CA 94107

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Robert Riechel

E=Mail: SanBrunoPatch.Robert@Yahoo.com

WEB: http://SanBrunoPatch.com

My Posts: http://patch.com/users/robert-riechel

Photo Credit: San Bruno CA Patch Archives

Source Credit: Bikes on Board

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