Tomorrow (5/13) is Bike to Work Day. As a part of the Bike to Wark Day activities, energizer stations will be set up during the morning commute hours throughout the Bay Area. The stations, generally located along travel corridors, transit center, and employment sites, will provide free drinks, snacks and good cheer to bicyclists.

Interactive energizer station maps are available here.

Because Caltrain has a strong bicycle culture and a set of rules for bicyclists, it can be particularly confusing for those who try to bring their bikes on the train the first time. This page provides some simple tips on how to bring your bike on Caltrain. Be warned: space is not guaranteed, especially during peak hours. Although Caltrain has no officially sanctioned way to track bicycle capacity on any given train, the bicycle community uses Twitter to keep up with current bike car status.

After last year’s rocky episode over onboard bike capacity, Mark Simon, Caltrain’s Executive Officer of Public Affairs, said the agency will form a new Bicycle Advisory Committee to formalize dialogue between rail staff and bike advocates, as well as to help Caltrain on how to better serve bike riders. Read More

Monday, Caltrain released a bicycle plan. It was retitled from Bicycle Master Plan to Caltrain Bicycle Access and Parking Plan because of the criticisms that the plan does not cover the issue of bicycles onboard the train.

A week earlier, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition issued a its own document arguing that Caltrain has the capacity to provide more onboard spaces for bicycles, and suggesting that the recent removal of 14 rail cars from service is an example that non-bike passengers can do with fewer available seats.

Personally, I think the best opportunity to address onboard bicycle capacity is when Caltrain orders new electrified vehicles. The current gallery car fleet has high steps as well as a very poor interior layout. SFBC has yet to propose how Caltrain could add bike space onboard with the least impact on operation. Although SFBC argues that bike access is not the cause for dwell time delays, it is important to note that over the years, Caltrain has added minutes to the overall travel time in part because of bicycles.

Caltrain, a leader in permitting bicycles onboard transit, has been suffering from its success for sometime. Everyday, bicyclists are denied boarding (being bumped) because of the limited bicycle capacity.

The Bicycle Master Plan, unfortunately, will be a big disappointment for some bicyclists who want to see more bike capacity on trains. The plan focuses primarily on bike parking issues. For various reasons, Caltrain is putting the controversial issue of bicycles on trains off the table just like Nancy Pelosi putting impeachment off the table.

Nonetheless, bike parking is a real issue, for me, I would love to bike between the San Jose station and my work place, which is a mile away. I would not have to wait for the bus and I would not be at risk for missing my train because of a late bus.

However, I really don’t need to bring my bicycle onboard because I don’t need my bike on the other end between my home and the station. Given the fare structure, I tend not to use the station closest to me (Redwood City), but rather use another one a few miles down (Menlo Park). I can drive to Menlo Park quickly and that station has plenty of parking. Menlo Park would be too far for me to bike on a regular basis.

I have thought about leaving my bike at San Jose station overnight, but the issue that is holding me back is security. At the station, I’ve seen bikes missing their wheels left on the bike racks. Will my bike be stolen or striped apart? At the same time, all the lockers at San Jose has been rented out.

Preferably, Caltrain should have a system of shared bicycle enclosures at its major stations to provide a balance between security and flexibility. Even though Mountain View, Menlo Park and Palo Alto stations already have shared use enclosures, these enclosures don’t act as a system. To get access to one enclosure, you have to sign up and pay at a non-Caltrain entity. To get access to another, you have to sign up and pay again at another entity. Ideally, I should have to pay one fee to Caltrain and get access to all enclosures throughout the system, just like I do for my car.

For riders like me, it is more easier to bring the bike onboard and occupy valuable slots than to find safe bike parking at stations. Secured bicycle parking can certainly help improve Caltrain access and address the onboard bike capacity issue.

Ever since the introduction of the Bombardier cars on Caltrain in 2002, these cars have a rough relationship with bicyclists. Although Bombardiers are a huge improvement over the gallery trains with low floor boarding and two doors per side, a Bombardier bike car can only accommodate 16 bikes, versus 32 on the older gallery bike car.

On one of my recent trips on a Bombardier train, bicyclists are boarding in Mountain View:

As you can see, the current method of stacking bike together can be a source of bike congestion.

In an attempt to speed boarding, Caltrain recently designated one of the Bombardier doors as the bike entrance and the other as exit by trying to establish a flow. On that same trip at Palo Alto, bicyclists basically ignore the “exit only” sign: