Will Chuck Harvey tell us they needed to get this approved by the FRA? One thing he will do is parade this around at the JPB meeting.
Somehow Caltrain staff has always seemed allergic to anything semi-formal or low tech that their customers would suggest, as if Caltrain were the Pentagon.
This was brought up in the March JPB meeting, but I don't remember who brought it up -- was it actually Caltrain staff who came up with this low tech solution?
I was on 383 which had 2 bike cars but I decided to "trust" the Caltrain web site and lined up down platform, and magically the second bike car was there. I was very happy to not be running down the platform dodging passengers in my cleats. But this meant I didn't see the sign if one is there.
Harvey did in fact denote that they were going to do something like this in the March meeting.
I know for sure that someone (a customer) brought it up at the March 2008 Public outreach meeting in Mountain View. Paul Schreiber mentioned this in his public comment in February.
Good stuff. I'm not complaining too hard: thanks to Caltrain for moving in the right direction. The more cynical view was that they intentionally want cyclists to be poorly served, so they'll go away. Recent events contradict this more cyclical interpretation.
I'm reminded of someone who said "George Bush isn't corrupt, he's just incredibly stupid."
Anyway, Caltrain is no George Bush. Nice job on this one.
Most of the platform crew seem pretty cool, and would really like to see things work for passengers.
Then there's some who seem kinda anally enthusiastic about enforcing stupid rules.
There must be a few reasonably smart people at the top, because what CalTrain accomplishes on its shoestring budget is impressive.
In between are staff who, I'm sure do plenty of good stuff, but in the issue of bike capacity have only been able to come up with even trivial solutions when dragged to them kicking and screaming.
your photo is deceptive. This thing is very small, and very low. They should put it up higher. frankly it should be something that clips to the ladder or something so they can take it on and off because consists will change.
It would be small, but they do have slots for three numbers in the mirror but they only use two of them. The engineer could slide in a special yellow one on top for 2 bike cars. It's not explicit but the riders would figure out soon enough, and though it's small the visibility is better because it's higher up. With this sign, the only way to spot it from a distance (with people on the platform) is to lean over the tracks...
9 comments:
Hah!
Will Chuck Harvey tell us they needed to get this approved by the FRA? One thing he will do is parade this around at the JPB meeting.
Somehow Caltrain staff has always seemed allergic to anything semi-formal or low tech that their customers would suggest, as if Caltrain were the Pentagon.
This was brought up in the March JPB meeting, but I don't remember who brought it up -- was it actually Caltrain staff who came up with this low tech solution?
Where / when did you see this?
It was on my train home yesterday (NB 261, 4:03 @ MtV).
I was on 383 which had 2 bike cars but I decided to "trust" the Caltrain web site and lined up down platform, and magically the second bike car was there. I was very happy to not be running down the platform dodging passengers in my cleats. But this meant I didn't see the sign if one is there.
Harvey did in fact denote that they were going to do something like this in the March meeting.
I know for sure that someone (a customer) brought it up at the March 2008 Public outreach meeting in Mountain View. Paul Schreiber mentioned this in his public comment in February.
Good stuff. I'm not complaining too hard: thanks to Caltrain for moving in the right direction. The more cynical view was that they intentionally want cyclists to be poorly served, so they'll go away. Recent events contradict this more cyclical interpretation.
I'm reminded of someone who said "George Bush isn't corrupt, he's just incredibly stupid."
Anyway, Caltrain is no George Bush. Nice job on this one.
CalTrain's a real mixed bag.
Most of the platform crew seem pretty cool, and would really like to see things work for passengers.
Then there's some who seem kinda anally enthusiastic about enforcing stupid rules.
There must be a few reasonably smart people at the top, because what CalTrain accomplishes on its shoestring budget is impressive.
In between are staff who, I'm sure do plenty of good stuff, but in the issue of bike capacity have only been able to come up with even trivial solutions when dragged to them kicking and screaming.
The front of my train this morning (#231) had two bike cars but no sign on the front. I think I'll catch #266 tonight to see what they have.
your photo is deceptive. This thing is very small, and very low. They should put it up higher. frankly it should be something that clips to the ladder or something so they can take it on and off because consists will change.
It would be small, but they do have slots for three numbers in the mirror but they only use two of them. The engineer could slide in a special yellow one on top for 2 bike cars. It's not explicit but the riders would figure out soon enough, and though it's small the visibility is better because it's higher up. With this sign, the only way to spot it from a distance (with people on the platform) is to lean over the tracks...
I caught the 4:37 NB at MtV yesterday which did *not* have a sign but to my relief had 2 bike cars.
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