If bicycles are banned from commuter trains, why aren't pushchairs?

Musty Pie · 15 Jan 2015 at 15:00

Its a shame your mother was not forced to carry you as a child OP.

The chance she would have had to drop you dangerously in the commuter rush might have knocked some sense into you.

deuse · 15 Jan 2015 at 15:17

The people that use bicycles should pay road tax like every other road user

Musty Pie · 15 Jan 2015 at 15:23

deuse said:
The people that use bicycles should pay road tax like every other road user

Road tax doesn't exist? You mean Car/vehicle tax right?

neil_g · 15 Jan 2015 at 15:24

deuse said:
The people that use bicycles should pay road tax like every other road user

ohyou.jpg

deuse · 15 Jan 2015 at 15:32

Musty Pie said:
Road tax doesn't exist? You mean Car/vehicle tax right?

That will do

so they gave it a new name so you can't moan about the state of the roads! only in the UK.

Musty Pie · 15 Jan 2015 at 15:39

deuse said:
That will do so they gave it a new name so you can't moan about the state of the roads! only in the UK.

An old topic done to death many times over.

Clearly you are stuck in the 40's? Tax has been implemented for emissions for as long as I can remember.

I think (although I could be wrong) that your council tax is used for the maintenance of the roads.

v0n · 15 Jan 2015 at 15:50

neil_g said:
or maybe its a method of commuting for workers?

Not if you need another method of commuting to carry your method of commuting, at the cost of passenger space, it isn't.

Cycling is an activity, that's all it is and that's all it will ever be. Yes, you can perform that activity on your way to work, if you live close enough, just like you could skate board or roller skate to work, or even simply jog to work, but as a method of commuting, this whole "cycling to work via train" as currently performed by many individuals is effectively in the same class as horse riding or kayaking to work via train would be. You wouldn't expect transportation methods geared towards genuine commuter to make adjustments and facilitate carrying horses or kayaks, why are you surprised that bicycles do not belong there?

TheBDog said:
Cycling as a form of commuting is not only recreational, but also very practical vs the London underground/ walking.

Only for the performer of the activity. Pedestrians hate it, drivers hate it and apparently commuters on trains hate it too, but it's not like it ever stopped anyone from cycling...

Dj_Jestar · 15 Jan 2015 at 15:57

v0n - some people live upwards of a mile from the nearest train station, with no buses, and no carparks at neither the train station nor near their place of work, which is many miles away. Cycling is the most reasonable form of transport to the station from that point.

Stop being so narrow minded.

Edrof · 15 Jan 2015 at 15:58

I think cycles and prams should be allowed on public transport. It's the transport itself that needs to change in accommodation.

MatsyLR said:
Why can't they walk?
or the mother carry them.

I'm guessing that you don't have children, sir. Youngsters require a small amount of kit that needs to go everywhere that they do. that, sadly, is a fact of life. Carrying them in your arms means you can't do anything else and they are heavy. If you need two hands for something you have to put the blighters down which leads to further complications.

Judgeneo · 15 Jan 2015 at 15:59

Why do you think pedestrains hate cyclists?

stuie · 15 Jan 2015 at 16:02

Bah you're all peasants. Get a car, if you can't afford a car work harder.

Let public transport deal with the parents and cripples that dont know how to drive so as to keep them off our roads

/thread

StriderX · 15 Jan 2015 at 16:03

Why not just have those leash dealios for larger kids?

I've seen it plenty of times, kinda funny, but also economical and somewhat safer than something on wheels that could veer into traffic.

v0n · 15 Jan 2015 at 16:06

Judgeneo said:
Why do you think pedestrains hate cyclists?

Pedestrians don't want cyclists on pavements, drivers don't want them on the road, commuters don't want them on the train. It really is Nigel Farage of activities - supported by small minority, unwanted by most, but in your face all the time whether you want it or not.

Haggisman · 15 Jan 2015 at 16:08

StriderX said:
Why not just have those leash dealios for larger kids?

I've seen it plenty of times, kinda funny, but also economical and somewhat safer than something on wheels that could veer into traffic.

You still end up with a kid who has to walk potentially 2-3 miles. Not an issue for adults, but for someone with legs 2-3x shorter, they get tired very quickly. Not to mention it takes 2-3x as long to get anywhere with a kid walking! A 30 minute walk to the train will turn into a 2 hour one when you're walking at half the speed and have to stop every 20 minutes to give them a rest

Besides, a kid deciding to run into traffic is just as likely as something on wheels veering into traffic.

StriderX · 15 Jan 2015 at 16:09

Haggisman said:
You still end up with a kid who has to walk potentially 2-3 miles. Not an issue for adults, but for someone with legs 2-3x shorter, they get tired very quickly. Not to mention it takes 2-3x as long to get anywhere with a kid walking! A 30 minute walk to the train will turn into a 2 hour one when you're walking at half the speed and have to stop every 20 minutes to give them a rest

Give 'em some steroids then?

pitchfork · 15 Jan 2015 at 16:11

The idea was never to ban bikes.

It was to ban sweaty cyclists from stinking up the train.

Skeeter · 15 Jan 2015 at 16:17

pitchfork said:
The idea was never to ban bikes.

It was to ban sweaty cyclists from stinking up the train.

Then why are folding bikes allowed?

For those who didn't realise bikes were banned from some trains, theres actually quite a lot of services where they are restricted! I never realised it was quite that restrictive.

SexyGreyFox · 15 Jan 2015 at 17:15

deuse said:
That will do so they gave it a new name so you can't moan about the state of the roads! only in the UK.

They only gave it a new name back in 1936

Anyway, I own two cars so I pay my 'road tax' to be able to cycle every day.
In fact 100% of commuting cyclists pay 'road tax' because if they are commuting they are working and if they are working they are paying taxes for the upkeep of the road.

Now if you said we've got no insurance I'd agree on that one.

Dj_Jestar · 15 Jan 2015 at 17:36

You should also know the proper name is Vehicle Excise Duty.

[TW]Fox · 15 Jan 2015 at 17:44

arknor said:
For the second god damn time!

TRAINS THAT ALLOW BIKES HAVE A SEPARATE CARRIAGE FOR THEM AWAY FROM THE COMMUTERS THEY ARE NOT IN YOUR GOD DAMN WAY OR TAKING UP ANY SEATS and you in most cases have to reserve the space for them in advance.

Most trains you go on likely allow bikes you just don't see the bikes because they are in the guards carriage

Absolute rubbish arknor, sorry.

Almost none of the stock in use on the UK network has a guards carriage or a separate storage coach for bicycles irrespective of what you've quoted. Infact the only stock I can think of that does are the IC225's on the East Coast London to Scotland services and the diesel HST's (The IC225 has an empty driving van trailer at one end with no seats in which can be used for storage, and the HST has storage space in either power car). These are long distance Intercity services (Which whilst used for longer distance commutes are not really 'commuter trains'). Edit: Oh, also I'd imagine Greater Anglia put bikes in the DVT at the end of the IC services as well.

On everything else (ie, the overwhelming majority of train services) bicycles are stored either in bicycle areas within the main passenger coaches (For example on an XC Voyager there is a segregated area for two bicycles in Coach D, a passenger coach) or just in doorways and vestibules on other stock or on some units in the area where flipup seats are provided - flip the seats up and you have storage for bicycles of pushchairs at the detriment of seating position. This latter arrangement is the sort of thing you'll find on most inner suburban commuter services around London and the South East.

So you can stop shouting that everyone is wrong in capital letters now