Bikes on the Commuter Rail
August 29th, 2008
As I get ready to leave town on my bike for the holiday weekend, I thought I’d write a bit about our bike/train infrastructure.
If you’re lucky your trip on the MBTA Commuter Rail will be glorious, thanks to the ample parking offered by the bike car. It is nice to see that they have both the wheel-mounted racks and also a smaller number of frame-mounted racks.
Note, however, that just because you’re riding in the allowable off-peak hours doesn’t mean you’re ensured the bike car. If you don’t get it, be prepared to watch over your bike! These bikes were rolling all over the place.
It was worse than this on my most recent trip, I think we had more than twenty bikes in a car meant to hold zero. Note to MBTA: it’s a good idea to send the bike car on the train that goes closest to sundown. That’s when the cyclists are likely to be ending their adventures and heading home. I hear the 2PM bike car was completely empty, but bikes were spilling into the aisles of my 7:30PM train.
