Brightline Bike Policy

Looks like there's an update: [url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/bike ... s-17772671[Miami News Times[/url]

Third Wheel: Brightline Banishes Bikes From Trains
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As of Sept. 5, fully assembled bicycles and electric bikes are no longer permitted on Brightline trains, the company announced.

"Bicycles and e-bikes, due to their size and configuration, have presented challenges in terms of space within our train compartments," a Brightline representative tells New Times. "The new bike policy will help alleviate these concerns, resulting in a more enjoyable experience for all passengers."
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It boggles my mind that a company that bought all its equipment new in the last few years--when they could have seen that bike-train-bike commutes were a thing in, say, Salt Lake City, not a huge biking town-- didn't think to specify a bike-rack section. There go some potential passengers, and some potential allies--advocates for car-free transportation-- will be pissed at the company.

"The new bike policy will help alleviate these concerns, resulting in a more enjoyable experience for all passengers."

Except, of course, passengers who want to bring their bikes. (Insert 'banghead' here.)

umtrr-author wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 6:42 pm "The new bike policy will help alleviate these concerns, resulting in a more enjoyable experience for all passengers."

Except, of course, passengers who want to bring their bikes. (Insert 'banghead' here.)

Why do intercity passengers need the ability to pack their bikes on a train? Just about every city in the USA have automated bike and scooter rentals near their central business and entertainment districts. And there is always some public transit available. I'm certain most, if not all, of these modes of transport are available at every station stop Brightline trains visits. Do you really need to pack your bike onto the train?

electricron wrote: ↑Fri Sep 08, 2023 7:00 am

umtrr-author wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 6:42 pm "The new bike policy will help alleviate these concerns, resulting in a more enjoyable experience for all passengers."

Except, of course, passengers who want to bring their bikes. (Insert 'banghead' here.)

Why do intercity passengers need the ability to pack their bikes on a train? Just about every city in the USA have automated bike and scooter rentals near their central business and entertainment districts. And there is always some public transit available. I'm certain most, if not all, of these modes of transport are available at every station stop Brightline trains visits. Do you really need to pack your bike onto the train?

According to one of the articles , there is only bikeshare at one station, and no public transit near any of them, except Miami.

Bikes and people come in different shapes and sizes. It's a lot more comfortable to ride one's own bike, one that's built and adjusted for that person.
People put bags, baskets, and other attachments on their bikes that make them more useful for their particular needs (like carrying a duffle bag, briefcase, groceries).
If one owns a bike, using it is cheaper than bikeshare.
If one is coming to a new city, using your own bike is easier than getting set up in an unfamiliar app.
People often want to bike for longer than the local bike share allows, or they want to be sure that there's still a bike available for them when they finish their errand.

There are car rentals in most cities. Why should we have roads that let people drive their own cars between cities?

Treating intercity trains like planes is not the only way to think about them, and it leads to overlooking some of the convenient things that trains can do that planes can't.

Do I think it's immoral for Brightline not to carry bikes? No. Do I think they should be required by law to carry bikes? No, unless a city had made that a condition of some kind of zoning variation or other government help to the company. But really, why would a company whose real-estate + rail travel business model would be helped if more people were trying to drive less choose to turn away people who want to do bike-train-bike trips (commuting or intercity)? Cyclists are, or should be, an easy ally of any public or private mass transportation. I really wonder if Brightline just didn't bother to think when they ordered the coaches, or if they actually did an analysis and decided that putting in some bike racks and charging an extra couple bucks for a bike ticket wouldn't increase their ridership and profits. Sadly, I'm kind of guessing it was the first.

Amtrak charges a fee for bikes, right? And limits the number per train. Seems like a good solution.

Unless Brightline removed the bike racks from the coaches recently, there is space for 2 bikes per coach. (source).

This makes me wonder if their allowing bikes onboard was causing other disruptions.

Yeah, now I'm wondering, too, if they actually did plan for bikes and then changed their minds. Those look like pretty OK racks. All I can think of is that maybe having space-saving vertical racks like that led to cyclists blocking the aisle for too long while trying (sometimes struggling, especially if they weren't tall cyclists) to hang their bikes up?

I can see why they banned e-bikes - most electric scooters and bikes use questionable quality batteries, some of which have straight up exploded randomly, and a lithium fire is very difficult to put out. Not something you want to happen on a train, that's for sure.

For regular bikes, that doesn't make sense, given bike accommodations have been built into their trainsets for a while now. Only thing I can think of is many e-bikes now look like the regular leg powered bikes, so people could easily skirt the e-bike ban

Jeff Smith wrote: ↑Fri Sep 08, 2023 2:42 pm Amtrak charges a fee for bikes, right? And limits the number per train. Seems like a good solution.

Does not Amtrak require you to place your bike into the baggage car?
Brightline trains have no baggage cars.
As for the bike storage areas, they also make a great place for installing more wheelchair passenger spaces or luggage racks. Maybe Briightline plans to repurpose those bike storage spots.

Extremely short-sighted. The ventures have good bike racks, especially compared to the laughable ones that convert from luggage storage on the Amfleet Is. I don't know what Brightline's move is here.

Our fine customers can afford an uber to the Brightline train station...

That's not the point, and rideshare is actually really expensive these days. The point is there are racks on the cars, so why ban them? Bikes complement train service extremely well.

BandA wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 2:03 pm Our fine customers can afford an uber to the Brightline train station...

I think you misunderstand the full demographic profile of people who want to take bikes on the train.