Irish rail - bikes on Heuston commuter trains

leftism

Nice move guys! No option but to fork out for a fold-up bike now...

:mad::mad::mad:

http://www.irishrail.ie/travel-information/bicycle-information

eeeee

It says you can still bring a bike as long as you book it online first (for free), which is annoying but there's a max of two bikes per train now which is also annoying. I can kind of understand it a bit when there's barely room to stand in rush hour, it's similar to the dart rules.

Lumen

They've only banned them during peak weekday hours. Doesn't seem unreasonable.

"Bicycles are permitted on Commuter and DART services between 10:00 and 15:30 and after 19:00 Monday to Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday."

tomasrojo

At least Irish Rail have been fairly accommodating of bikes. Veolia (Luas lot) haven't.

You won't regret getting a Brompton. (Well, I didn't anyway.)

liam24

Bikes get banned because there isn't room to stand in commuter trains, and the government think it's advisable to cancel Dart Underground. Well that makes sense!

munchkin_utd

leftism wrote: »

Nice move guys! No option but to fork out for a fold-up bike now...

:mad::mad::mad:

http://www.irishrail.ie/travel-information/bicycle-information

should never have been allowed on peak time trains in the first place.

and same goes for people on free travel passes BTW.

Victor

They're not banned. All they are doing is refusing to sell bicycle tickets for InterCity trains at peak times, but insisting that you make a free reservation.

lennymc

tomasrojo wrote: »

At least Irish Rail have been fairly accommodating of bikes. Veolia (Luas lot) haven't.

You won't regret getting a Brompton. (Well, I didn't anyway.)

Transdev replaced Veolia as the Luas operators.

tomasrojo

lennymc wrote: »

Transdev replaced Veolia as the Luas operators.

Ah, that's right. No change on the bike policy though.

EDIT: was Transdev a result of Veolia being taken over or something?

EDIT 2: Apparently so.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transdev#Ireland

Nisio

Victor wrote:

They're not banned. All they are doing is refusing to sell bicycle tickets for InterCity trains at peak times, but insisting that you make a free reservation.

Theres an issue with their website that means that for annual ticket holders you can't book a bikes on many trains

It's also not free, the reservation costs 5 euro on top of what you've already paid for your annual ticket

punisher5112

lennymc wrote: »

Transdev replaced Veolia as the Luas operators.

Its the same company just a different name.

Veolia transdev was name they dropped Veolia and became transdev.

Beasty

Victor wrote: »

They're not banned. All they are doing is refusing to sell bicycle tickets for InterCity trains at peak times, but insisting that you make a free reservation.

Thread title changed to remove the word "ban";)

Kaisr Sose

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the number of bikes is limited on all trains. and you need a ticket for them. I don't see what's wrong with Irish Rail limiting them. The fundamentals of space , crowding etc are the same for them.

That said, bikes should be allowed on off peak LUAS. The issue is probably more to do with potential soiling of surfaces with oil/ dirt than the bikes themselves.

tomasrojo

Edinburgh has similar trams, and after a trial period allowed bikes on at off-peak times:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-33347368

Michael Powell, safety, quality and environment manager at Edinburgh Trams, said: "After considering passenger feedback and the number of cyclists using the trams every day we agreed that there was little to no impact on daily operations and so we are happy to welcome bikes on board.

Qualitymark

Lumen wrote: »

They've only banned them during peak weekday hours. Doesn't seem unreasonable.

"Bicycles are permitted on Commuter and DART services between 10:00 and 15:30 and after 19:00 Monday to Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday."

I believe those cunning English have a thing called a Guard's Van that you can put bikes into. Who'd be up to them?

Darkglasses

Qualitymark wrote: »

I believe those cunning English have a thing called a Guard's Van that you can put bikes into. Who'd be up to them?

They have them on the trains up North too. Great that you're guaranteed to have enough room (and they're free!), but I was always worried that my bike would just fall over in transit. Never happened thankfully.

Lumen

Qualitymark wrote: »

I believe those cunning English have a thing called a Guard's Van that you can put bikes into. Who'd be up to them?

It varies between operators.

I took a train from Holyhead to Chester and back a few weeks ago. There were two operators.

Arriva had a guards van with lots of capacity but no pre-booking.

Virgin had a couple of spaces on the train that had to be pre-booked but there was some wrinkle like you couldn't book the bike online.

I went with Arriva in the end and my bike had the guards van to itself.

So the system isn't without issues.

The Irish train spokesperson on the radio this morning declared that the lack of bike capacity was a deliberate design decision when the trains were commissioned, and that the lack of guards van was due to the engines being internal to the carriages or some such.

According to wikipedia the "guards van" used to be where the brakes went so that if the train de-coupled the rear portion would able to stop, the guards being the people who applied the brakes, so I assume that what's been relocated to the carriages is the brakes not the engines.

smacl

I've found the bike service on Irish Rail a bit hit and miss over the last few years, mostly on the Dublin Wexford and Dublin Waterford services. I've booked a space only for it not to be there twice going to Dublin from Wexford, where the demand to and from Rosslare nearly always seems to exceed available spaces in the summer. The Dublin Waterford services starts out with five carriages, two of which have bike racks, only one of which actually goes as far as Waterford.

I actually think that making bike spaces available online only makes sense, once they guarantee the space will actually be there, as it is the only way you can plan a journey in advance.

Darkglasses

Lumen wrote: »

It varies between operators.

I took a train from Holyhead to Chester and back a few weeks ago. There were two operators.

Arriva had a guards van with lots of capacity but no pre-booking.

Virgin had a couple of spaces on the train that had to be pre-booked but there was some wrinkle like you couldn't book the bike online.

I went with Arriva in the end and my bike had the guards van to itself.

So the system isn't without issues.

The Irish train spokesperson on the radio this morning declared that the lack of bike capacity was a deliberate design decision when the trains were commissioned, and that the lack of guards van was due to the engines being internal to the carriages or some such.

According to wikipedia the "guards van" used to be where the brakes went so that if the train de-coupled the rear portion would able to stop, the guards being the people who applied the brakes, so I assume that what's been relocated to the carriages is the brakes not the engines.

On the Enterprise trains (should have specified that earlier, not the translink) the "guards van" seems to just a very general extra storage area. Handy for anyone with extra large/awkward cargo. Don't think their removal is to do with moving the engine, moreso just making them cheaper and more efficient for the operator.

Qualitymark

The Capitol Corridor trains in California have a sensible system, with racks and Velcro straps so you hang your bike up.

http://www.capitolcorridor.org/on_board/bikes_on_board.php

Hunterbiker

If you take the wheels off put bmp liner over them and one over the frame it's no longer a bike. It's luggage and you cam bring luggage on for free. Not ideal but if you are stuck it's workable.

cython

Lumen wrote: »

It varies between operators.

I took a train from Holyhead to Chester and back a few weeks ago. There were two operators.

Arriva had a guards van with lots of capacity but no pre-booking.

Virgin had a couple of spaces on the train that had to be pre-booked but there was some wrinkle like you couldn't book the bike online.

I went with Arriva in the end and my bike had the guards van to itself.

So the system isn't without issues.

The Irish train spokesperson on the radio this morning declared that the lack of bike capacity was a deliberate design decision when the trains were commissioned, and that the lack of guards van was due to the engines being internal to the carriages or some such.

According to wikipedia the "guards van" used to be where the brakes went so that if the train de-coupled the rear portion would able to stop, the guards being the people who applied the brakes, so I assume that what's been relocated to the carriages is the brakes not the engines.

I'd go so far as to say that the lack of a guard's van was down to the choice to purchase DMUs rather than locomotive-hauled stock. In the former the engines/generators and brakes are all distributed throughout the train (hence if you're passed by ones at low speed you'll typically hear revving coming from multiple points), while in the latter it is brakes alone (I suspect the guard's van might have had auxiliary controls for the brakes if anything in the context of what you describe), and the traction is provided by the locomotive at one end of the train.

Bloggsie

my tuppence worth, I used to get the 18.05 Longford from Connolly, most Irish Rail staff in Connolly would ask what train I was catching & had no issue, on 1 occasion I was told that I couldnt take it. When I pointed out that a man or woman with a buggy takes up more space, it seemed to annoy the staff member & he told me that once he was on the gate no one with a bike would be allowed on the train, only for 2 lads with bikes to be on it the following day, while he was on the gate!

IMHO it depends on the humour of the staff on the day!

Qualitymark

Bloggsie wrote: »

it seemed to annoy the staff member & he told me that once he was on the gate no one with a bike would be allowed on the train, only for 2 lads with bikes to be on it the following day, while he was on the gate!

Politicians' sons?

Cerdito

Hunterbiker wrote: »

If you take the wheels off put bmp liner over them and one over the frame it's no longer a bike. It's luggage and you cam bring luggage on for free. Not ideal but if you are stuck it's workable.

Think again. I saw a lad at Heuston at 5:30pm yesterday with his two wheels off and his frame up on his shoulder and they weren't letting him through.

Lots of dejected looking cyclists sans bike on the 17:35 to Waterford. Not a single bike in on my train from Sallins this morning, usually there'd be 6-8 bikes.

rainbow kirby

Similar restrictions are on London Overground and some national rail trains - you can take on a (non-folding, Brompton types are generally ok) bike no problem outside of peak hours, but not between 7am and 10am and 4:30pm and 7:30pm. Nothing unusual really to have rush hour restrictions due to overcrowding.

Really should be on the train operators though to increase capacity as needed and provide proper facilities for bikes, but we all know that Iarnród Eireann have not the slightest interest in that.

Qualitymark

What about buses? Mostly much cheaper than trains, and mostly their luggage wells aren't full.

Bloggsie

Qualitymark wrote: »

Politicians' sons?

lol, with the age of these lads their dad must have been Dev!