Comments on: Bikes on BART — keeping people in check?

By: Diane Voce

Diane Voce — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 16:41:37 +0000

When is BART going to begin enforcing the “no full bike” rule in the morning headed to San Francisco? Got on the SF Millbrae train (which was 10 minutes late) at 19th Street this morning…the train was crowded and there was this idiot/guy with a full bike taking up two seats and at least 3 standing room only spaces with his bike. When I asked him to adjust the bike to allow me to stand in the little space between trains he said “the bike won’t move, what do you want me to do lady”??? The he began glaring at me when my laptop bag accidentally brushed up against the bike, at one point my body brushed up against the bike when the train stopped suddenly at the West Oakland station and he became very hostile. “Don’t touch my bike” I am an avid cyclist and advocate people riding their bikes to commute to work/school …but idiots like the guy this morning make it bad for all cyclists on BART. Thanks

By: Slush

Slush — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 23:51:53 +0000

Had to print the Bike BART hours from the BART website to figure out when I could get hom with my bike. It’s not very clear. There has to be an easier way to communicate the restrictions. I would favour bike trains during commute hours, BART is limiting it’s ridership and forcing potential BART bikers into autos with the commute restrictions. Btw I can’t get on a EBay train until 6:41 pm. Anyone want to get coffee for an hour?

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:06:17 +0000

There is a petition and study to get the commute-hours restriction lifted, and I hope it happens. Really, with so many cars on the road, we should be embracing bikes and the people who ride them to work. I understand people being annoyed if a BART car is crowded, but c’mon — it’s a subway. Have you ever been on one in New York, London or Tokyo? Often times, you can hardly move. So if there’s enough room for a bike, I really think people can put up with a little bit of crowded-ness in place of more auto pollution.

I just started a new job where I was planning to bike to BART, then bike from BART to my new office, which would have been Civic Center BART to North Berkeley BART. But I’ve been driving so far because of the bike on BART restrictions that make it ridiculously complicated to save the planet.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:07:38 +0000

The way you state the bikes rule is a bit confusing. The easy way to remember the rule is that bikes aren’t allowed in the direction of the main commute during rush hours. This means toward downtown San Francisco in the morning and away from downtown San Francisco in the evenings. The reason they’re not officially allowed at Civic Center towards the East Bay in the mornings is that there are still Powell and Montgomery stations to go before the heart of downtown. Montgomery Street is the busiest station since it’s in the heart of the Financial District where the most commuters get off in the morning and on in the evening.

The general rule is that people, whether bikers or non-bikers, can be a-holes. I agree the documentation about the rules for bikers isn’t that obvious, but on the other hand many of the bikers on BART around the time of the morning and evening commutes are regular riders and are well aware of the rules. I’m actually having a hard time deciding which is more annoying in this situation, the woman or the guy with the bike.

The woman is annoying because she’s asking pointed questions and doesn’t just come out and say what she means. Passive aggressive BS.

The guy with the bike is annoying because he almost certainly knows the rules and decided they didn’t apply to him. He’s somehow more important than everyone else and decided to bring his bike on BART anyway. Then when he’s confronted about it he just plays stupid which is passive-aggressive in his own special way.

And I suppose this bike rider wouldn’t have shoved his way on if there hadn’t been room? I’ve seen rule breaking bike-riders during rush hour that force there way on and then standing commuters cant get on somewhere else. Whether you like it or not, a full sized bike and rider takes the space of about 3 or 4 passengers (depending how they decide to position themselves).

If a bike rider really needs to take their bike for rush hour commute regularly, then getting a folding bike is much better than simply trying to sneak on the train and then playing dumb. They’re allowed by BART rules and if a passenger hassles the bike rider, the rider is completely within the rules and doesn’t need to worry about it.

Of course the best solution would be bike-only cars where the bikes could be stored in a much more space efficient way.

Given that BART has made things less than ideal since the budget cuts for everyone, I don’t see this happening. Bikers aren’t the only ones hurting from the reduced BART service and length of trains. Crowded trains from reduced length make normal passengers less tolerant of bikes that take up room. People who use BART outside of rush hour are bothered since frequences has been reduced from 4 times an hour (15 minutes) to 3 times an hour (20 minutes).

Sadly, given the state of BART I don’t realistically see anything getting better for normal or bike-riding passengers anytime soon.

By: DR

DR — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:34:02 +0000

My bike-on-BART commute just got horrible since the train-length cutbacks went into effect this week. I already adjust my hours to accommodate the bike blackouts. Do I have to find another job now? This bites.

By: gd

gd — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:58:34 +0000

Keep in mind I write all this as someone who brings a bike onto BART often enough. BART needs to do a better job educating all commuters – bike riders and those who don’t ride – about how to deal with bikes on trains. Mainly for riders, they need to educate about the simple stuff – don’t bring a bike onto a crowded car or a car likely to get crowded (i.e. a middle-car for those getting on commute hour trains at stations where they can board with a bike), don’t take up extra seats with your bike when a train is getting crowded. The only rule ever really enforced is “no bikes on lead cars”. The other rule that needs some enforcing is “no bikes on escalators”.

Non-riders need to know when bikes are/aren’t allowed so they don’t wrongly hassle rule-abiding riders.

By: Anna

Anna — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 16:46:39 +0000

Wow, isn’t Dan a ray of brilliant sunshine!

Sheesh.

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 06:56:21 +0000

Jesus. SF would be a nice town if it weren’t so full of waspish cunts.

By: Mr. Read

Mr. Read — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:32:06 +0000

Don’t forget they also have the no bikes rule cycling(unintentional pun!) through those signs that say when the next train is coming. As well as posted in select BART cars and highlighted on the schedules posted in the stations. I always get forced into reading all that crap when I forget a book.

I also agree with Erik, well said.

By: jeff

jeff — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 21:15:19 +0000

ha! yes, and nice “both sides”-ing of you ;)