MBTA's Pedal and Park (Secure Bike Parking at Major T Stations)

[Arlington]

Here I'm hoping to discuss the "straddle" topic--not quite Biking and not quite T-riding--of how the MBTA accommodates cyclists with special pass-entry biking cages at major stations--mostly "suburban" connecting points. While the cyclists are mostly "suburban" (e.g., from outside the Hubway service area) the stations are mostly "in close".

http://www.mbta.com/riding_the_t/bikes/Default.asp#bike_parking

The MBTA page seems a little stale...talking about June 2013 as the future.

Pedal & Park facilities are now open at Alewife and Forest Hills Stations. On April 16th new Pedal & Park facilities opened at South Station, Braintree, and Oak Grove. Between June and September 2013, seven more Pedal & Parks will open at Ashmont, Davis, Malden, Back Bay, Dudley, Alewife and Wonderland Stations.

My first question will be: The MBTA bans "motorized" bikes in its cages, but does the MBTA notice "electric assist" bikes? or do eBikes slip by that prohibition? (is the motorized ban one of shape/size/weight/value or one of "exposive fuel", or just "had to draw the line somewhere?"

I added bike-access to my Charlie Card, but have not yet attempted to bike and park on a commuter's deadline. Any tips?

 

[Matthew]

Ashmont's looked completely deserted last week.

 

[davem]

Re: MBTA's Pedal and Park

Riding an off peak tran out of Newburyport a week or two ago, I noticed that the bike rack on the new bilevel filled up as soon as the train moved into the station. About 3 or four more people got on with bikes after that, blocking up the vestibule. Then an electric wheelchair bound person got on and they had to make an announcement for all the bike people to come and move their bikes into a closed car to make room.

I stopped bringing my bike on the Red Line because of how hard it is to find a place to put it without blocking up the whole train.

So, the pedal and park program is great, but I think the T needs to look at ways to accommodate more storage on their trains. It would also help a ton with strollers, packages, luggage, and all sorts of other random shit people bring on the train. On the Red Line at least, perhaps the northernmost car (the least filled in either direction from personal observation, probably due to station design) could have half of it without seats, instead placement of tie downs and/or bike racks. As for the commuter rail, I assume as the bilevels take over there will be more bike racks and my experience won't be as large an issue.


Arlington,
If this is off topic to what you wanted to discuss I'll delete/move the post somewhere else.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Re: MBTA's Pedal and Park

Riding an off peak tran out of Newburyport a week or two ago, I noticed that the bike rack on the new bilevel filled up as soon as the train moved into the station. About 3 or four more people got on with bikes after that, blocking up the vestibule. Then an electric wheelchair bound person got on and they had to make an announcement for all the bike people to come and move their bikes into a closed car to make room.

I stopped bringing my bike on the Red Line because of how hard it is to find a place to put it without blocking up the whole train.

So, the pedal and park program is great, but I think the T needs to look at ways to accommodate more storage on their trains. It would also help a ton with strollers, packages, luggage, and all sorts of other random shit people bring on the train. On the Red Line at least, perhaps the northernmost car (the least filled in either direction from personal observation, probably due to station design) could have half of it without seats, instead placement of tie downs and/or bike racks. As for the commuter rail, I assume as the bilevels take over there will be more bike racks and my experience won't be as large an issue.

The Kawasaki bi-levels in the rebuild program right now are getting upgraded to the new Rotem specs in most respects. That could include bike rack installations, although they're not publicizing at that minute a level of detail what it is exactly they're doing to those cars. We should know in a few months when the first pilot units in the rebuild program return to service. It would make sense if they did since just about any new commuter rail equipment other agencies are buying have racks by default. Connecticut made a big to-do about the New Haven Line M8's having a rack in every pair of cars. It solves a lot of the storage capacity needs if every single bi-level can fit 2-4 bikes on the rack. Get that on every bi coach now, and by 2020-2022 100% of the fleet will be bi and have that same exact rack configuration.


That should ease the crunch a lot. Especially on the northside which today only has a handful of assigned bi-levels. And that in turn means they have to make it easier to transport bikes on the subway. The new Orange and Red cars will have a door arrangement closely resembling the new Blue cars and Red 01800 cars, which are a lot easier to get a bike on/off of than the older Red and Orange cars. Might also encourage more usage of the racks at stations and more rack installations at other stations.


Progress comes in little drips and spurts, but the T has evolved enough on bicycles in recent years that they do seem to get pretty clearly the big picture of where it's trending and how to accommodate.

 

[winstonoboogie]

The Kawasaki car rebuild calls for back racks to be installed in all of the rebuilt cars in the entry areas (the "middile level" space near the vestibule doors). It was going to be up to the rebuilder to figure out if it works best to put the racks on the underside of the flip-up seats or on the end wall in place of some of the luggage racks.

 

[The EGE]

The Kawasaki car rebuild calls for back racks to be installed in all of the rebuilt cars in the entry areas (the "middile level" space near the vestibule doors). It was going to be up to the rebuilder to figure out if it works best to put the racks on the underside of the flip-up seats or on the end wall in place of some of the luggage racks.

Which do the Rotems have? I assume they'd do it identically on the K cars.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Which do the Rotems have? I assume they'd do it identically on the K cars.

Here's a pic.

You can probably find more shots by Googling some of the news articles from the inaugural run of the new coaches. The dignitaries on that train were demonstrating the racks to all the press covering the event.

 

[Arlington]

Re: MBTA's Pedal and Park

...So, the pedal and park program is great, but I think the T needs to look at ways to accommodate more storage on their trains. It would also help a ton with strollers, packages, luggage, and all sorts of other random shit people bring on the train. On the Red Line at least, perhaps the northernmost car (the least filled in either direction from personal observation, probably due to station design) could have half of it without seats, instead placement of tie downs and/or bike racks. As for the commuter rail, I assume as the bilevels take over there will be more bike racks and my experience won't be as large an issue.


Arlington,
If this is off topic to what you wanted to discuss I'll delete/move the post somewhere else.

If the thread goes on, I think it natural that it cover bike-train intermodal concerns.

Still, if any of y'all have experience in the bike cages,that'd be great, like *did* these seven stations get their Charlie-controlled cages as scheduled this year?

Ashmont,
Davis,
Malden,
Back Bay,
Dudley,
Alewife (#2)
Wonderland Stations.

 

[Matthew]

One thing Caltrain does do better than the T is handle bikes. They have special bike cars, sometimes 2, with most of the seats ripped out. The Peninsula needs bikes more so than Boston, due to paucity of connecting transit, but general "linearness" of the corridor and nice warm days.

 

[Ron Newman]

I can't speak to the others, but the Davis cage has been in use for several months now.

 

[Randomgear]

I really wish that any new commuter or subway cars would have vertical racks for bikes - more bikes, less floor space eaten up.

LivableStreets has been asking the BRA and MEPA to make sure that the proposed development at the Boston Garden Site include a large covered pedal and park facility as a measure to help mitigate automobile trips. Currently there are all of about 35 bicycle parking spaces at North Station and they are frequently full.

 

[dshoost88]

I understand wanting vertical bike racks for commuter rail trains that come from a long distance, but I think it's ridiculous to suggest our subway trains should have vertical storage also. It doesn't matter which subway line, they are all far too congested/overcrowded to merit giving up real estate on the trains for bicycles. If you're gonna commute by bike and already live close enough to a T station, just bike the whole distance. If the subways decided they wanted bike storage anywhere, it should be on the front or rear of the trains on mounted racks like the MBTA busses have--maybe a moving platform could be installed at certain stations to allow cyclists to safely mount bikes to it.

Also, I want to point out that my principle transportation mode is cycling--I'm fully aware of the benefits and hurdles associated with riding around this city.

 

[datadyne007]

The S-Bahn in Berlin has "bike friendly" cars on each train set (identified by bike symbols on the windows) in which a whole row of perimeter seating (16-ish seats?) folds up so that bikes, strollers, and wheelchairs can be accommodated, similar to the way the buses here have those 2 seats in the front that fold up to allow for wheelchairs. The seats all fold individually so you can fold up/down only seats you need. You must purchase a bike ticket to bring your bike though (would be n/a in Boston since we don't use POP). If you're caught by the Kontrolle with a bike and no bike ticket, then you're fined.

The fold up seats could easily be accounted for in the new RL and OL car designs. A big problem right now is that most bikes, strollers, and handicapped people end up right in front of the doors.

 

[belmont square]

If you're gonna commute by bike and already live close enough to a T station, just bike the whole distance.

Right on. Other than a possible exception for the Blue Line (where the Maverick to Aquarium link is 3 minutes by train and close to 30 very uncomfortable minutes by bike). Bikes can help us relieve congestion on crowded subways as the city becomes safer to cycle around. But a bike taking up valuable real estate on a crowded subway car is making the situation worse.

 

[whighlander]

If the stations are to become major Bike Parking Lots can we get rid of the special parking for electric cars?

It's bad enough that when there are a few electric cars that all of us are paying for generally wealthier people to charge their batteries -- but most of the time most of the spaces are empty

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

Subway cars are people-eaters. I don't think we have the luxury of losing any seating for bikes. There's never going to be a perfectly elegant solutions for handling that other than increasing service frequencies enough so cars and platforms aren't overstuffed.


The better way to handle this is to just do a better job load-spreading from the commuter rail terminals. Seaport to Back Bay, Urban Ring, Red-Blue, etc., etc. It's no different from the myriad other reasons downtown circulation is the T's most acute need. If there is going to be a gradual uptick in bikes, keep the Red Line from being the one that has to eat 'em all out of SS by dispersing them in all directions.

 

[Arlington]

I don't see the need for bikes *on* trains, because it basically means you'll have a 3-seat ride, (bike-rail-bike) which are generally not widely used.

Alewife, though, is a natural bike-to-subway intermodal point for a two-seat ride (suburban bike-rail-walk in "the core") now fed by grade-separated bike paths from every compass point "beyond" its terminus:

North: New Alewife Brook paths from South-West Medford and Dillboy-Somerville
NW: Minuteman from Arlington & Lexington
West: Fitchburg Cutoff from Belmont
SW: (future path from Watertown Branch)

These paths then also feed into the Community Path to Davis Sq, making it a natural secondary hub for a bike cage (that Ron Newman says is operating.

Basically, I'd say that every terminus should have a bike cage at the station, and every station that intersects a major bike path (e.g. Davis Sq), and then, in the city, rely on Hubway for the rare person who wants to complete his commute on the "core" end via bike.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

I don't see the need for bikes *on* trains, because it basically means you'll have a 3-seat ride, (bike-rail-bike) which are generally not widely used.

Alewife, though, is a natural bike-to-subway intermodal point for a two-seat ride (suburban bike-rail-walk in "the core") now fed by grade-separated bike paths from every compass point "beyond" its terminus:

North: New Alewife Brook paths from South-West Medford and Dillboy-Somerville
NW: Minuteman from Arlington & Lexington
West: Fitchburg Cutoff from Belmont
SW: (future path from Watertown Branch)

These paths then also feed into the Community Path to Davis Sq, making it a natural secondary hub for a bike cage (that Ron Newman says is operating.

Basically, I'd say that every terminus should have a bike cage at the station, and every station that intersects a major bike path (e.g. Davis Sq), and then, in the city, rely on Hubway for the rare person who wants to complete his commute on the "core" end via bike.

Yeah. People who live on the subway generally aren't going to be hauling their bikes onboard unless they have a very specific reason to do so. It is irregularly-spread demand at the nodes you suggest.

And it's missing a little bit of the big picture to expect the subways to be the primary load-bearers in the future. The path system in the urban core is tantalizingly close to being able to go everywhere-to-everywhere as its own de facto transit system when some of the broken links are filled. e.g. Somerville Path finished to Northpoint, Northpoint direct-connected to the Esplanade, Esplanade-to-Fens/Necklace gap shortened to just a Kenmore crossing, gaps in the Mystic system and the Wellington interconnections filled, Watertown-Alewife filled, Neponset gaps filled, etc. All the cage-equipped pedal-to-train transfer stations do a great job spreading the load around.

Beyond that improving crowding conditions is non-specific to any particular rider. Backpacks, luggage, shopping bags, bikes, baby strollers, wheelchairs...it doesn't matter. If the train's packed like sardines every person walking on with extra bulk in tow it ups the pain throughout the entire car. If the trains are perpetually overstuffed and have draggy platform dwells because of the overclowding like Red has downtown at-peak, the only thing that'll truly solve it are higher frequencies to disperse the crowds faster. That and improving some of the tight station confines that are inhibiting dwells and foot traffic like the lack of a far-end platform egress at Park St. Red or that holy grail State-DTX pedestrian connection. None of that is bike-specific or anything-specific, but it vastly helps the ability for a car to absorb any rider any time regardless of whether they're carrying bulky items on them or not.


Hell...I think luggage-luggers from the Airport or Amtrak heading to their hotels and those SUV urban-warrior mom strollers are vastly more numerous and space-hogging than than bikers. Bikes currently aren't even close to the biggest piece of the pie in terms of space-eaters on subway cars.

 

[datadyne007]

None of that is bike-specific or anything-specific, but it vastly helps the ability for a car to absorb any rider any time regardless of whether they're carrying bulky items on them or not.


Hell...I think luggage-luggers from the Airport or Amtrak heading to their hotels and those SUV urban-warrior mom strollers are vastly more numerous and space-hogging than than bikers. Bikes currently aren't even close to the biggest piece of the pie in terms of space-eaters on subway cars.

Which is exactly my point about making it so that seats can fold up and down to accommodate whatever the situation is rather than just ripping seats out like BigRed. It would allow full customization by passengers or even the T where they could easily turn a normal car into an extra BigRed by folding up all the seats and locking them in place somehow. The folding seats would likely all be down and in use during the peak but the MBTA would have the opportunity to force a BigRed situation if they wanted/needed. Off peak is when they would be most effective.

 

[novitiate]

The fold up seats could easily be accounted for in the new RL and OL car designs. A big problem right now is that most bikes, strollers, and handicapped people end up right in front of the doors.

If I remember when I was looking at the specs of the new cars, this is exactly what the MBTA hopes to have in the new ones.