Caltrain JPB Meeting Brings Mandate for Increased Bike Capacity

Notes

Feb 9

On Thursday, February 5th, several SVBC Caltrain Workgroup members attended the Caltrain Joint Powers Board (JPB) meeting to speak in favor of the SVBC position for increasing bicycle capacity on trains and improving the onboard accommodation system.

Caltrain staff presented a plan that was developed out of operational capabilities and constraints and influenced by community input and meetings with both SVBC and SFBC members. The result will be a 50% increase in the capacity of Bombardier cars (from 16 to 24) and a 25% increase in the capacity of Gallery cars (from 32 to 40). The solution was widely publicized, including articles in the <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_11642351">Mercury News</a>, <a href="http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Caltrain-makes-concessions-for-bike-toting-riders39182882.html">SF Examiner</a>, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/05/BA5C15OF4N.DTL">SF Chronicle</a>, and <a href="http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=105246">San Mateo Daily Journal</a>.

The solution isn’t everything we hoped for, but it’s a significant short-term improvement for the capacity problem, and since these improvements can be made relatively quickly, they help provide the immediate relief that is needed. We appreciate staff’s willingness to work with the community and the JPB’s leadership in asking Caltrain to move forward on this important issue. We specifically want to thank JPB member Ken Yeager for crafting the motion that was adopted.

Caltrain staff will revisit this incremental change in the next few months to see if further improvements can be made. Caltrain will also work on formalizing bicycle community input and engagement through the creation of a BAC and collecting data on bicycle system usage.

The JPB also asked that Caltrain staff work on a plan to get two bicycle cars on all rush-hour trains and study how to provide realtime information on bicycle capacity, particularly to notify waiting cyclists of the existence of two bicycle cars on an arriving train.

The SVBC Caltrain Workgroup will continue to work with Caltrain staff to improve the situation. Current goals are to get two bicycle cars on all Bombardier trains and to address subtler system issues such as destination tagging, education, car placement, and boarding priority. We continue to welcome input and hope you’ll let us know what’s most important to you now that the first step has been taken. Please use our contact form at https://bikesiliconvalley.org/contact.

The SVBC Caltrain Workgroup position statement is at https://bikesiliconvalley.org/content/612.