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Old 06-24-08, 04:56 PM
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murphstahoe
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Originally Posted by jimples
If you think about it, Caltrain is doing the sensible business thing. Their trains are already full of passengers, and since a passenger+bike takes more space than a passenger without a bike, every bike they let on means they lose money.

The "add more bike racks" argument only works when there's spare capacity on those trains, which there isn't. The solution is to add more railcars, but that's difficult when new railcars come with a several-years-long lead time and when Caltrain is hoping to toss out all of their equipment in five to seven years to switch to electric trains.
Question. Has a standing room passenger ever been denied boarding on Caltrain due to overcrowding on the train?

Answer? No.

For a minority of trains, the seats are full. Half with people, half with laptops, bags, newspapers, and lunch.
The rest of the trains have substantial empty capacity. The only true standing room train I have ever seen was a 4 car set (typical is 5 cars) before a Giants/A's game at rush hour on a Friday.

BART on the other hand is standing room only and packed. BART is "different?" How about Chicago Metra, MBTA Commuter Rail, NYC Commuter Rails - standard rail trains that are standing room.

You say that with gas at $4.70 in the Bay Area more people will be flocking to Caltrain and the seats will fill? How exactly are those people going to get to the stations? The parking lots are full.
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