As many of you know, Metro has been working to increase space for cyclists on its subway and light rail cars — and will be taking out a few seats here and there to help.
Metrolink is getting in the act, too — and vastly increasing room for bikes on two rail cars on the Inland Empire line. If cyclists respond, Metrolink says it’s prepared to add 10 more bike cars to its fleet.
Here’s the news release:
As part of a pilot program, Metrolink will introduce its first two “bicycle cars,” passenger railcars outfitted with space for at least 18 bicycles, instead of two slots like Metrolink’s other railcars. The agency hopes this will encourage more bicyclists to take the train to their destination.
To accommodate the additional bicycles, Metrolink crews removed 29 passenger seats on the bottom level of one of its railcars that traditionally seats up to 149 people.
“We hope to attract bicyclists whose public transportation options may be limited by available storage space,” said Metrolink CEO John Fenton. “We are committed to growing our ridership; to do that, we have to modify the type of services we offer.”
Metrolink used in-house resources to design and retrofit existing cars with additional storage for bicycles. The agency coordinated with bicycle advocates on the design, which was ultimately approved by the Federal Railroad Administration.
Initially, Metrolink’s “bicycle cars” will debut on the Inland-Empire line weekend beach trains, where the demand is highest for additional bicycle storage space. Bicycle cars can be identified by yellow decals located on the outside of the rail car.
Metrolink is prepared to add up to 10 additional “bicycle cars” to its fleet, depending on the success of the pilot program.
ABOUT METROLINK
Metrolink is Southern California’s regional commuter rail service in its 19th year of operations. The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), a joint powers authority made up of an 11-member board representing the transportation commissions of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, governs the service. Metrolink operates over seven routes through a six-county, 512 route-mile network.
This is FANTASTIC! Metrolink/SCRRA is on a roll. Simply amazing to see the transformation of the agency. So many innovative initiatives coming out of it in recent months.
OH WOW! YIPPEE
I never ride the inland empire line though…always heading south towards Irvine/Oceanside…we need a car or two on these lines! If there was weekend service…just imagine! Amtrak is getting more and more un-bike friendly these days and removing almost all bike space on their cars…if Metrolink took that business I and my friends would be some seriously happy campers. As well as the businesses we would be frequenting in the OC/San Diego County Areas.
I agree with David, its so refreshing to see Metrolink respond to the needs of the riders and introduce service and amenities to encourage more. I just hope they are also working on base things like TAP/Fare issue. They absolutely need to keep the EZ pass transfers and Rail2Rail though I am not too worried at the moment.
I don’t recall seeing a post for the Del Mar trains on here but just another example of Metrolink trying to encourage better ridership by expanding service for events. The baseball trains too are popular from what i hear. On that note, Metrolink should team up with OCTA to promote Disneyland service. I’m amazed that people don’t know there is a station down the street. It’s mainly from OCTA’s terrible service and advertisement of it and have a closing time train (around midnight) to bring people back to L.A.
Metrolink is doing a lot lately in the right direction but a large problem still persists, the frequency of service. Metrolink does not operate at hourly or even 30 minute headways the way that caltrain or metra do for example, which is crucial for successful regional rail. Often, trains run 2 to 3 hours apart and are very limited on weekends if even present at all. Metrolink is getting a lot right in terms of amenities, special service, etc. but in general operations, it just doesn’t run often enough to be an attractive travel option for most people yet.
It was a bad decision for metrolink to cut late night service on the ventura county line supposedly because of low ridership since it was tested for such a short time, there was no chance for the service to “settle in”, some transit services have to be well established for people to even be aware of them let alone start using them. there needs to be a sense of permanence. Also, many people may head somewhere midday or in the morning but will find that they can’t get home via train because they have to leave before 6:40 pm (the last train on the ventura county line), this means they wont use the train at all because they have to tailor their day around the early train times.
Hey Redebbm;
We did have a post about the Del Mar races — but we’ve been slow in the past at times to get Metrolink info on The Source. We’re working with them to do better at that, given reader interest on Metrolink is high and, of course, L.A. Union Station is Metrolink’s biggest station.
I recently interviewed Metrolink CEO John Fenton and I should have that post ready to roll soon.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Niiiiiice!
Horay! Metrolink scores–what a great way to adapt extra rail cars!! Thanks Gray Crary!
Very impressed–and a big thank you. Metrolink has always been very accommodating to me while traveling with a bike (although bike storage was a bit limited), but this takes it to the next level. This is great.
Bike camping just got easier! Woo-hoo!!!
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!
The EASTSIDE BIKE CLUB will plan a day ride utilizing this new service soon and will spread the news on our FACEBOOK page