The Chainlink

@!#$% Metra

Metra BNSF line denied me passage with my bike today, even though the website clearly states:

 

For 2011, bicycles are permitted on all weekday trains arriving in Chicago after 9:30 A.M. and leaving Chicago before 3:00 P.M. and after 7:00 P.M., and on all weekend trains, with the following exceptions:
  • All days during Taste of Chicago (June 24 - July 4)
  • Lollapalooza (August 5 - 7)
  • Air & Water Show (August 20 & 21)

The conductor said it was because of "an event," and I'm assuming he was referring to the Jazz Festival.

I'm extra upset because:

-it was pouring rain

-the car was not crowded and i would have been fine in the empty stairwell

-it was 25 minutes late

 

Has this ever happened to anyone else (Metra just deciding to ban bikes without telling anyone)? I commute to the burbs for a new job and I was assuming the bike bans were over for another year...

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on September 3, 2011 at 5:17pm
It was outbound too? That's horrible.
Permalink Reply by jen on September 3, 2011 at 5:19pm

the website also states

*As a reminder, Metra reserves the right to prohibit bicycles if coaches are crowded or access is impeded, and makes no assurances that space will be available for bicycles.

 

. Train conductors will make the final decisions regarding the ability to accommodate bicycles on each train. All cyclists must follow instructions of Metra train crews.

 

Bicycles cannot block aisles or impede passenger movement. Cyclists must stay in the vicinity of their bicycles at all times.

 

So you in the empty stairwell would impede passenger movement

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on September 3, 2011 at 5:46pm

 Train conductors will make the whimsically capricious final decisions regarding the ability to accommodate bicycles on each train. All cyclists must follow instructions of Metra train crews.

Permalink Reply by Rich Scott on September 3, 2011 at 6:22pm
I think the Metra policy regarding bikes is half-assed. Every time I've taken my bike on the train the conductors have always seemed to have an attitude about it. They should make up their minds what they really want to do; embrace the idea 100%, make the proper accommodations for bikes (make it so you can do so during rushhour), or just scrap the whole idea. How can someone PLAN to use the train under this goofy policy??!
Permalink Reply by S.Presley☠ on September 3, 2011 at 6:26pm

@!#$%

Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on September 3, 2011 at 7:54pm

A folding bike in a bag NEVER gets refused, even on "bike blackout" Taste of Chicago days.  I've never had any problem riding Metra with my Dahon, no matter how crowded the train is.

Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on September 3, 2011 at 10:05pm

Listen to all these Metra apologists. The conductor didn't want to deal with it, plain and simple.

 

The Metra policy is half-assed. Leaving it up to discretion is horrible. I don't see them leaving up to discretion if they take on those huge strollers?!? I've seen them stacked up to the ceiling.

 

This is what drives (no pun intended) people to get cars. I can put my bike on the back of my car and drive it whenever it pleases me. People will only depend on transportation alternatives, if they can _depend_ on them. Not hope that they are accommodating that day.

Permalink Reply by Rich Scott on September 3, 2011 at 10:17pm
Right on, Cezar!
Permalink Reply by Rich Scott on September 3, 2011 at 10:23pm
Thunder Snow's comment about the folder reminds me of another Nazi conductor episode. I ride a folder, Bike Friday. I was pulling my suitcase trailer and needed to use the train. Initially the conductor wouldn't let me on saying there are no trailers allowed. "It's not a trailer, it's a SUITCASE"!! He then "let" me on the train. Oh how nice.
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on September 4, 2011 at 2:25am
One way to have an edge against this particular sort of situation is to print out everything from the Metra website relating to bicycles, including the blackout dates,  and carry it with you.  It's no guarantee the conductor won't just shift the excuse to "because I say so," but it has been known to succeed (you're unfortunately not the first this has happened to, and probably won't be the last.)
Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on September 4, 2011 at 9:59am

You make an excellent point but what is the solution?  Having hard rules that move the decision out of the conductors hands may not only make things worse for those of us on bikes but it is not going to improve things at all.

 

I have been lucky enough to not have had really negative experiences with Metra conductors and bikes less one guy who was less a jerk and more a simpleton, he was unable to tell our bikes were tied down properly and pitched a fit until showed that, so I may see this in slightly kinder light than you do.

 

So as the system sits now on several occasions I have seen the Metra car loaded with more bikes then the rules say is acceptable; if it is not left to the conductors they will have to cut off the bikes at a set number.  Same concept goes for train crowding.  However, those are minor things compared to the bigger issue:

 

Making it a dependable and reliable service for cyclists.  Well, I have bed news even with all the rules in the world there is no way to make getting you bike on the train a sure thing.  Even if Metra 'embraced the idea fully' and set aside a section it is still not going to happen because they are not, and cannot, set aside enough room for an infinite number of bikes.  They have to go with what he average is and, because an average is just that, an average, it is at times going to be exceeded putting the train over capacity and causing bikes to be turned away.

 

I mean, yeah, it sucks when you cannot get on the train and I agree that if it is not dependable service people are not going to use it but what is the solution?

 

On the upside we even have the service, look on the bright side, eh?

 

 

Adam "Cezar" Jenkins said:

Listen to all these Metra apologists. The conductor didn't want to deal with it, plain and simple.

 

The Metra policy is half-assed. Leaving it up to discretion is horrible. I don't see them leaving up to discretion if they take on those huge strollers?!? I've seen them stacked up to the ceiling.

 

This is what drives (no pun intended) people to get cars. I can put my bike on the back of my car and drive it whenever it pleases me. People will only depend on transportation alternatives, if they can _depend_ on them. Not hope that they are accommodating that day.

Permalink Reply by magomawe on September 4, 2011 at 10:06am

Metra shares the position with many others that see bikes primarily as recreation not transportation.  They assume you can just lock up your bike and go pick it up later by car.  

 

On a side note the last time I rode, I had no trouble with my bike, but they made a women with a pet bird get off the train AFTER we left her station.  They said people might be allergic to pets so she would have to get off at some other station than the one she got on at and "call someone who could give her a ride."  One conductor didn't seem to care about the bird, the other was adamant.  I guess that's how it goes when you leave it up to the whim of the conductor.

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