Metra Blackout Dates

the taste of chicago is upon us, and starting tomorrow (Friday 24th), bike will not be allowed on metra through the 4th.

 

make alternate plans.

 

even though the fest is in the afternoon, and herds of people dont go outbound to the 'taste', metra has blocked all bikes on all trains, including a.m. outbound. this of course, makes no sense to me. they just created a blanket 'no' statement to avoid any questions. 

 

last year, i took daily photos of both outbound in inbound trains to show the vast vacancy at the ADA seats where bikes go.  only friday pm inbound was there any major ridership - but no more than your usual cubs or sox game ridership.  unfortunately, metra does not accept emails and i could never forward those pictures.  i wish they would reevaluate their stance on the blanket 'no' statement.

 

luckily, im outta town for next week.

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Permalink Reply by Melanie K on June 23, 2011 at 3:43am
It would be nice if Metra would reconsider it's blanket "no bikes on trains" policy and allow bikes on trains during restricted hours, like they do for the rush hours, but make them "festival hour restrictions"  not sure how they would do that, but a good start would be to take a study during the Taste to see how packed they are during what times of day during the festivals. Or maybe have every other train allow bicycles. I am thinking there could be some kind of compromise. To disallow bikes completely on trains for an entire week seems a bit excessive.  I don't take the Metra, but I could imagine for those that do this will be a complete pain in the butt.
Permalink Reply by Tank-Ridin' Ryan on June 23, 2011 at 4:15am

*crosses fingers for no mechanical problems this weekend*

 

I remember those pictures from last year Iggi.  Pretty ridiculous with the blanket blackout dates, but I guess it prevents people trying to convince the conductors to let them on with their bikes. 

 

Could printouts of the pictures be mailed to Metra?

Permalink Reply by igz on June 23, 2011 at 4:17am
im forced to round trip the treacherous roads from the near west side to wood dale, and back.
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 23, 2011 at 5:17am
If I go to the north side in the next week and a half, it will be a long slow trip - CTA red line.  The south side is now an area of infinite slowness.  :(
Permalink Reply by igz on June 23, 2011 at 8:10am
rush hour.  wont be able to take the bike.  and im only really affected tomorrow.  i dont feel comfortable leaving my bike anywhere for that long.
Permalink Reply by Adam "Cezar" Jenkins on June 23, 2011 at 9:19am

Metra blackout dates anger me more than I thought it would. Where I live Metra is the only public transit, and without a bike on board, it pretty much becomes unusable for anything but going in and out of the city.

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 23, 2011 at 10:38am
Sometimes I use my folding bike during Metra blackouts, but it's not the perfect bike for all trips.  For some trips, I need the carrying workhorse capacity of my mountain bike - which won't be an option except on CTA.
Permalink Reply by Eric on June 23, 2011 at 11:37am
Thanks for letting us know iggi....I would have gotten to the train and embarrassing told no dice.
Permalink Reply by Kelly on June 23, 2011 at 12:01pm
It seems unfortunate that a week after we celebrate bikes and commuting using them, Metra goes and pulls this act. What sort of messages are they wanting to send?! ATA help us resolve this!
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 23, 2011 at 12:37pm
To give ATA some credit here, they have worked with Metra in the last few years to get the number of blackout dates reduced.  We have a lot LESS blackout dates than we did last year, thanks to ATA.  It's still not a perfect situation, but it IS an improvement.

Kelly said:
It seems unfortunate that a week after we celebrate bikes and commuting using them, Metra goes and pulls this act. What sort of messages are they wanting to send?! ATA help us resolve this!
Permalink Reply by Duppie on June 23, 2011 at 1:29pm

The criticism of Active Trans and Metra seems somewhat misplaced. Lots of improvements have been made over the last few years.

See a recent post from Active Trans specifying the improvements here:

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/metra-blackout-dates-in-20...

Kelly said:

It seems unfortunate that a week after we celebrate bikes and commuting using them, Metra goes and pulls this act. What sort of messages are they wanting to send?! ATA help us resolve this!
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on June 23, 2011 at 1:44pm
Thanks for finding that detail.

Duppie said:

The criticism of Active Trans and Metra seems somewhat misplaced. Lots of improvements have been made over the last few years.

See a recent post from Active Trans specifying the improvements here:

http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/metra-blackout-dates-in-20...

Kelly said:

It seems unfortunate that a week after we celebrate bikes and commuting using them, Metra goes and pulls this act. What sort of messages are they wanting to send?! ATA help us resolve this!

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