SVBC and Caltrain management is committed to increasing on-board bicycle capacity
At the October 2nd Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (JPB) meeting, the board formally approved the Caltrain Bicycle Access and Parking Plan. In addition, and more important in the minds of many cyclists, Caltrain CEO Mike Scanlon committed to identify and deploy additional bike capacity onboard the trains. Mark Simon, Special Assistant to Mr. Scanlon, says in the attached letter to SVBC Executive Director Corinne Winter that, “The decision by Mr. Scanlon would not have been possible without the work of you and your organization,” and further, you “helped move key management at this agency to the position we have reached now of actively seeking to expand bike capacity on the trains.”
SVBC would like to thank Caltrain at this time for their commitment to making concrete improvements in terms of onboard capacity in the next several months, and in continuing discussions regarding how to handle cyclist customers moving forward. We look forward to continued collaboration with Caltrain and the SVBC membership.
This win would not have been possible without the concerted effort of many key SVBC members and staff, who made the following possible:
- SVBC spoke with all available JPB members to discuss the Caltrain/bicycle issues and met in person with several.
- SVBC met with Caltrain staff to discuss the Bicycle Access and Parking Plan as well as bikes onboard issues.
- SVBC served on the original Caltrain Bike Master Plan Technical Advisory Group and attended the workshops.
- SVBC initiated the Metropolitan Transportation Institute (MTI) sponsoring a study of the economic cost and benefit of carrying bikes on board trains.
- SVBC developed an official position and shared this with Caltrain management and the JBP.
- SVBC collaborated with the Bay Area Bicycle Coalition (BABC), the California Bicycle Coalition (CBC), the California Association of Bicycling Organizations (CABO), and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) on how to approach these issues.
Thanks all,
Corinne
