Vermonter to accept bikes starting this summer

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rrdude said:
According to Local Motion (a cycling advocacy organization based out of Burlington), bicycles will be permitted onboard the Vermonter starting sometime this summer:
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That's great. It's interesting that this doesn't involve the re-enstatement of a baggage car with a bike rack on it, but rather the modification of the passenger cars on the route to accommodate bikes. I can only assume that this will make it more difficult to construct the consist of the vermonter, nevertheless, it's a big step forward.

I'd like to see bikes welcomed on all the state sponsored trains. The Michigan service, and Illinois service in particular, would be enriched from my point of view if they allowed bikes to be brought on as luggage, even for a fee.
 
guest biker said:
rrdude said:
According to Local Motion (a cycling advocacy organization based out of Burlington), bicycles will be permitted onboard the Vermonter starting sometime this summer:
Click to expand...
That's great. It's interesting that this doesn't involve the re-enstatement of a baggage car with a bike rack on it, but rather the modification of the passenger cars on the route to accommodate bikes. I can only assume that this will make it more difficult to construct the consist of the vermonter, nevertheless, it's a big step forward.

I'd like to see bikes welcomed on all the state sponsored trains. The Michigan service, and Illinois service in particular, would be enriched from my point of view if they allowed bikes to be brought on as luggage, even for a fee.
Click to expand...
Doesn't Illinois already allow bikes on corridor trains?
 
transit54 said:
According to Local Motion (a cycling advocacy organization based out of Burlington), bicycles will be permitted onboard the Vermonter starting sometime this summer:

http://www.localmoti...ermonter-again/

As far as I'm concerned, this is wonderful news!
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It's awesome news. :)

My young son and I made use of the incredibly cheap shipping for bikes on the LSL during a bike ride across New York last year. Boxing them wasn't particularly an issue, though having to carry extra tools to partially disassemble them to fit in the boxes was.

Adding easy on/off bike service to Amtrak is an excellent way to encourage more bike tourists, who tend to add a lot of economic value on popular routes.
 
mulveyr said:
transit54 said:
According to Local Motion (a cycling advocacy organization based out of Burlington), bicycles will be permitted onboard the Vermonter starting sometime this summer..
Click to expand...
Boxing them wasn't particularly an issue, though having to carry extra tools to partially disassemble them to fit in the boxes was.

Adding easy on/off bike service to Amtrak is an excellent way to encourage more bike tourists, who tend to add a lot of economic value on popular routes.
Click to expand...
The extra tool that consumes length at least is the pedal wrench, this service would take that out of the equation.

The Vermonter schedule would open it up to corridor daytrippers vacationing east and returning home west, in other words I could leave DC in the morning with my bike, spend the day in New York or Philadelphia riding, and return home that evening -- both legs on the Vermonter.
 
guest biker said:
That's great. It's interesting that this doesn't involve the re-enstatement of a baggage car with a bike rack on it, but rather the modification of the passenger cars on the route to accommodate bikes. I can only assume that this will make it more difficult to construct the consist of the vermonter, nevertheless, it's a big step forward.
Click to expand...
I think the reason that it doesn't involve re-adding a baggage car is two-fold: 1) There aren't any spare baggage cars at the moment and 2) There is not a single staffed station in Vermont, so there would be no one to load/unload/store/check the baggage.
 
transit54 said:
I think the reason that it doesn't involve re-adding a baggage car is two-fold: 1) There aren't any spare baggage cars at the moment and 2) There is not a single staffed station in Vermont, so there would be no one to load/unload/store/check the baggage.
Click to expand...
Curious as to how Amtrak will do this. The Amfleet I cars don't have a lot of spare space for hanging bikes. Will Amtrak modify some Amfleet Is to take out the luggage rack area at the end of the car for a bike rack? Carrying a bike through the vestibule and door of an Amfleet I will be rather awkward, more so up and down the stairs at the stations with low platforms.

Or will Amtrak be storing the bikes somewhere else on the Vermonter? Cab car?
 
Excellent News!

I dream of the day when any Amtrak train can casually and cheaply accept and roll on bikes at any station, right now there just such a hassle with those boxes and location constraints.

Well my one experience with rolling my bike on board a midwest corridor service was on the Carl Sandburg last summer from Keewanee to Chicago (continued on the Lake Shore to New York) after riding half of RAGBRAI I had flown to Des Moines on Frontier Airlines that carries boxed bikes for free like their regular baggage (the only US airline that does) I wanted to take the Zephyr out to Iowa but there is no baggage service in the entire state! I also looked into Amtrak to Chicago and then a bus but couldn't get confirmation that any bus line would accept my bike!

Back to the Carl Sandburg, it was a strange experience. The train rolled in with three cars, a regular Superliner Coach, a Cross-Country Cafe Car, and a Snack Coach where the actual food service is. The conductor directs me to the door of the CCC and tells me to leave my bike in the unused Amtrak Kitchen where my bike rides the rest of the trip! My first impression of them is there huge size. With only a few single seats left in the coaches I end up spending the trip uncomfortably sitting (I'll take a Sightseer Lounge seat any day) in the CCC. Chatting with the conductor I am told that the official Amtrak policy is for bikes to only ride in a bike racks but this conductor has yet to actually see a bike rack (on the midwest trains he operates)!

The other Amusing part of that short trip is I earned 400 AGR points on what was a $25 trip! ($15 for me to travel, and a separate $10 ticket for my bike that I received its own ticket!), there was also a Midwest double points promotion going on. I'm not trying to say I support a service fee for bikes (if there are enough racks Amtrak's California load them up and go policy is much better) but I still find that trip amusing.
 
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afigg said:
Curious as to how Amtrak will do this. The Amfleet I cars don't have a lot of spare space for hanging bikes. Will Amtrak modify some Amfleet Is to take out the luggage rack area at the end of the car for a bike rack? Carrying a bike through the vestibule and door of an Amfleet I will be rather awkward, more so up and down the stairs at the stations with low platforms.

Or will Amtrak be storing the bikes somewhere else on the Vermonter? Cab car?
Click to expand...
Don't see any option but to put bikes on the cars, since the train runs with a P42 on each end. Even if there was a cab car involved, the power switches at New Haven to an AEM-7, so the bikes would still have to be in the cars if they want to offer bike service along the NEC.
 
ttSta said:
mulveyr said:
transit54 said:
According to Local Motion (a cycling advocacy organization based out of Burlington), bicycles will be permitted onboard the Vermonter starting sometime this summer..
Click to expand...
Boxing them wasn't particularly an issue, though having to carry extra tools to partially disassemble them to fit in the boxes was.

Adding easy on/off bike service to Amtrak is an excellent way to encourage more bike tourists, who tend to add a lot of economic value on popular routes.
Click to expand...
The extra tool that consumes length at least is the pedal wrench, this service would take that out of the equation.

The Vermonter schedule would open it up to corridor daytrippers vacationing east and returning home west, in other words I could leave DC in the morning with my bike, spend the day in New York or Philadelphia riding, and return home that evening -- both legs on the Vermonter.
Click to expand...
Yep, pedal wrench, and for those of us retro-grouches who still use quill stems, a wrench for the quill bolt. ;-)

For what it's worth, my experience with the boxed bikes on the LSL was excellent. We got the bike boxes for free at the station, since they were used by previous travelers. On the way back from Albany to ROC, I was having a lot of trouble getting my bike boxed up again ( I have really, really wide Rando bars, and they had no room to spare in the box, even with them completely off the stem ), but the baggage people were extremely helpful. Such a contrast to airline employees. :)
 
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