Caltrain can be proud that 17 percent of passengers ride bicycles to the stations today, but if staff have their way, that number will plummet (“Bikes on electrified Caltrain” published in the Oct. 4 edition of the Daily Journal). Staff intend to reduce bike capacity on new electrified trains, forcing bicyclists back into their cars and onto the freeways.
In 2015, the Caltrain board did the right thing and unanimously approved increased bike capacity on electrified trains. Staff have not met the board’s directive, and obfuscate by touting a “systemwide” increase in bike capacity of 12.5 percent due to one more train per hour. But the board mandated more bike capacity per train, even with the extra train per hour.
Over the last dozen years, bike boardings have increased an average of 10 percent per year despite maxed-out bike cars. The so-called systemwide increase of 12.5 percent in 2021 corresponds to only 3 percent per year — nowhere near enough.
Staff claim to “maximize bike capacity through the increase in the ratio of bikes to seats approved by the board in 2015,” but staff hide their plan to remove over 200 seats per electrified train to achieve that ratio. The proposed electrified system won’t have enough seats or bike spaces.
Caltrain needs to go back to the drawing board. Otherwise, we’ll be stuck for decades with an expensive, inadequate train system that won’t meet anybody’s needs.
The letter writer is the founder of the BIKES ONboard Project.
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