Anyone take their bikes onto trains for travelling

Johnmcl7

I'm curious about people's experience taking their bikes on the train which seems a perfect topic for a forum section on public transport and cycling.

I've been trying to get my bike booked on a train today but had to give up and I find it very difficult to even check for free bike slots specifically with Scotrail and Virgin East Coast. The Scotrail site does seem to show availability but only when you go all the way through to seat reservations and even then I'm not sure that information is correct.

Virgin East Coast don't seem to show any information at all about bike availability so I got in touch with them and they claimed every train I asked about in May and July was fully booked for bikes which I also find hard to believe.

I did also try the Trainline which I know isn't recommended to use in general to see if they'd perhaps show more information about bike availability but they don't seem to show anything.

I'm wondering if there's a better way to do it or if going through the operator's website is as good as it gets.

John

Nasqueron

I've seen the option when booking on Trainline but I suspect they don't want bikes on the train outside of a storage area which is probably very limited. You might have more luck on a very quiet time and just taking it on and sticking it near fold down seats/toilet

esuhl

Yes -- I take my bike on trains, although not very often. Most of the suburban services round here allow bikes at any time without a reservation. Sometimes they can be quite busy, with standing room only and you get some evil glares! :-)

Once or twice I've taken the bike on a suburban service in peak hours where bikes weren't allowed -- there's one line out in the middle of nowhere that has restrictions that I always forget about. Never had a problem -- the guards have always been fine about it.

A few times I've taken cross-country services... and that's where I've had a few issues. You have to make a reservation for the bike, but even then spaces are on a "first come, first served" basis. And each train only has space for FOUR bikes!

A few times I've arrived at the station early, then had to race other latecomers with bikes to the guard's carriage. I once missed a train because, despite having a bike reservation, there were no spaces left.

The area for storing bikes is really poor too. Mountain bike tyres don't fit in the slots, so the bike isn't held still, and people are expected to just lean all the bikes on top of each other! As a result, unless you want your gears trashed, wing mirror broken and frame scratched, you have to stand with the bike the whole time. Not great on a 3-hour journey when you deserve a seat.

So... I always try to book an off-peak train that will be the least busy. But that doesn't always work out.

---

Once, an eight carriage train arrived. I couldn't see where the bike section was, so I used the wheelchair/buggy/luggage space. I was the only person in the entire carriage, and there was room for 2 or 3 wheelchairs, a buggy, luggage, AND 5 companions on fold-down seats. My bike was safe, I had a seat, an no one was inconvenienced.

The guard came round and told me I had to move my bike at the next station. I said I'd be happy to move it if the space was required, but he insisted.

So I got off, ran almost the length of the train to a carriage that was 3/4 full. I opened the door and saw four other cyclists standing with their bikes, a cycle rack overloaded with bikes, and people standing in the aisles guarding their oversized luggage. It took a few minutes calling to people to move down the aisles before I could get the bike on.

Not only did I have to stand for two hours, I had to get off, with the bike at every single station along the way (often with other cyclists and bikes), as people got on/off, climbed over the bikes, cyclists, and luggage... And then had to stand on platform calling for everyone to move down the aisles before we could get back on.

To make matters worse, the cycle rack itself was opposite the toilet. So people were trying to queue amongst the cyclists, bikes, and luggage. At every stop, people wanting to get off the train would mistake the toilet queue for a line of people getting off, so I'd get back on and the doors would close... then someone would barge past everyone and call out to open the door... and the cyclists would get off again, people would move their luggage out of the way...

And in-between stops, the toilet was constantly in use, with everyone having to shuffle themselves, bikes and luggage with no room to move. By the time I got off the train was running over 20 minutes late. The front two carriages were still busy... and the end carriages with plenty of space were almost empty.

It was literally the worst journey I've ever been on in my life.

Phew! Sorry for the rant! :-)

Owain_Moneysaver

The train operator's website is as good as it gets (unless there is a phone reservations service)

For ScotRail in particular they have a shortage of DMUs until new electric trains come unto service and many 3-coach services are being run with 2 coaches, which may affect the number of cycle spaces.

Johnmcl7

Nasqueron wrote: »

I've seen the option when booking on Trainline but I suspect they don't want bikes on the train outside of a storage area which is probably very limited. You might have more luck on a very quiet time and just taking it on and sticking it near fold down seats/toilet

Definitely no sign of bike reservations on Trainline.com now so I guess it's been removed, the Virgin site definitely had the option last year and doesn't now. I was planning the trip around the bike so I couldn't risk not being able to take it.

John

Johnmcl7

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

The train operator's website is as good as it gets (unless there is a phone reservations service)

For ScotRail in particular they have a shortage of DMUs until new electric trains come unto service and many 3-coach services are being run with 2 coaches, which may affect the number of cycle spaces.

Scotrail's site does show bike information but it doesn't appear to be accurate as it frequently shows trains as being fully booked that show as available when you phone. Also I travelled several times on fully booked trains with no free slots and there wasn't a sign of any other bikes.

Ironically I could get the bike booked onto the Scotrail leg but none of the Virgin trains which same as last year, were all fully booked.

Hopefully it will get better with the new HSTs as they've six spaces in the power cars (for people going the full journey) in addition to two spaces in the carriages. Although it's a shame it's well short of the 20 they promised and they're not going to bother converting the toilets which are not going to be in use (will be permanently locked)

John

Johnmcl7

esuhl wrote: »

Phew! Sorry for the rant! :-)

No, feel free to rant as I've been getting very frustrating trying to book my trip and after a good few hours of getting nowhere I've had to give up. I created this topic in the hope there was a better way to do it but seems not.

I've bought a new road bike so thought I could add a rack and mudguards to the existing bike and take it with me, it would trade off the higher train cost for being able to get about without needing public transport. I've also bought a cycle computer with turn by turn navigation that would be very useful as well. At one point I was that fed up with the train websites that I looked into maybe trying to do one direction on the bike (500 miles) but it's bad timing as I have a race the week before and the week after plus the real nail in the coffin was I couldn't take the train one direction either.

I've ended up taking the plane and then hiring a car for five days which overall was cheaper than the train, annoyingly it was almost the same price to get the car as it was just to take the bike on the plane. I did look into that but it has to be packed up which would be a hassle particularly on the return journey.

John

Nebulous2

It's an issue if you are tied to a specific train / day, but it is often possible to just blag it.

It seems to be very common on Scotrail to turn up with a bike without booking. A lot of short-hop commuters seem to do it every day. I've done quite a few journeys without booking, but timing wasn't always crucial if I got bounced. I've also booked a bike just before boarding by going to the ticket office with my ticket and getting a bike ticket.

Virgin is more difficult. They dont let you on without booking. The only time I've done it, Stonehaven - Aberdeen, they let me on but gave me a talking to and told me not to do it again. They like bikes locked away in areas not accessible to general public.

A bike box may well be a worthwhile purchase. I bought one last year to go to Gran Canaria. Decent roadbikes were about 30 euros a day to hire and I got my bike on the plane for £25 each way. It is fiddly to pack them, but it gets easier when you repeat it.

Kernel_Sanders

Nebulous2 wrote: »

A bike box may well be a worthwhile purchase. I bought one last year to go to Gran Canaria. Decent roadbikes were about 30 euros a day to hire and I got my bike on the plane for £25 each way. It is fiddly to pack them, but it gets easier when you repeat it.

But will the airport store it for you ready for the return flight?

Nebulous2

Kernel_Sanders wrote: »

But will the airport store it for you ready for the return flight?

I very much doubt it!

We took a bus from the airport to our apartment where I reassembled my bike. The box stayed in a corner of the room until I was ready to go home. It has wheels and a strap to pull it along.

[Deleted User]

I've done quite a lot of train travel with the bike, esuhl has it about right, it's frequently a PITA.

Watch out for the Virgin Pendolinos, you can't get the bike off without the guard to unlock the door. It took me 20 minutes of searching to find someone at Euston because all the crew had already pee'd off before I found that out.

Sometimes the door/passageway is not wide enough for the bike with panniers. That's fraught: you have to take the panniers off and load them separately, with worry that the train will go whilst your returning to fetch the bike.

Tuts and icy looks from passengers are par for the course.

I rarely book. I can be flexible, and wait for the next train with space, but I've never had to. Staff can be difficult though, I remember arguing with the guy in the ticket office at Aberystwyth who said I had to give 24 hrs notice. After he pulled the blind down in my face, I walked over to the guard by the train, and he said "yes there's plenty of space, hop on".

Trying to book in advance for Penzance, my local station said the had the wrong type of computer. Six miles away, on the main line, the guy didn't know how to make a bike booking, so after half an hour trying, his embarrassment got the better of him, and he just told me to go away, pointing to the sign on the wall saying "special tickets will not be sold on a Saturday".

On another occasion, trying to book a ticket home from Basingstoke, the guy on the phone said that it's not possible to book in advance unless you leave enough time for them to put the tickets in the post.

Be prepared for carrying the bike up & down flights of stairs, there won't always be a lift.

Are you going via London? The Underground is another kettle of fish, there's no booking, but bikes are not allowed on the deep tunnels, and not allowed during the rush hour.