Western Canada - Bikes Banned on Skytrain during Olympics

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/2010wintergames/Bikes+banned+SkyTrain+Olympics/2451839/story.html

For the last month or so. Vanoc has been telling people to use alternate transportion to get to work and reduce vehicalar traffic into vancouver. The ban on bicycles is for all the expo, millenium and canada lines.

Translink takes the Gold Medal for the Failness Category.

How can they ban bikes when they don't even have turnstiles or operators? Strange city that Vancouver is.

Folders are still allowed on skytrain during the olypmics, provide it is in the folded position that can be stored in a bag (not sure if it HAS to be stored in a bag).

"Ordinarily, up to two bikes per car are allowed on the Expo and Millennium Lines (except during rush hours in the peak direction) and up to two bikes per train at any time on Canada Line. Cyclists are still encouraged to ride to SkyTrain stations between February 8 through March 3 as they will have the continued option of renting bike lockers next to almost all SkyTrain stations, subject to availability. Stadium-Chinatown Station is the only station where lockers will be shut down for the duration of the Games due to the unique queuing activities at that location. Folding bicycles that can be stored in a bag will still be permitted on SkyTrain and bikes will be allowed on SeaBus and West Coast Express, as usual."

Post secondary education was also banned during the olympics, for what amounts to the same reasons, so I'm not sure why anyone is suprised the bike ban on skytrains.

I tried taking my bike on the Skytrain for the first time a couple of weeks ago. There's no way to do it without getting in someone's way - especially on the older traincars. It totally sucks, but I can see why they made that decision.

my wife and i took our folded dahons on a busy Friday night last week, and we just took up the little closet space in one of the old trains (the space with the popup chair). the train we were on got packed, but no one even knew we had bikes until we got off at our station. putting ourselves out of the way meant having to push a bit to get back out, but we heard some comments about how surprised they were that our bikes were on board and they didn't even notice.

but even though folded bikes are allowed on skytrain during the olympics, i wouldn't bring it on board during that time just for the amount of controversy it will create. it's not necessarily the skytrain staff that will look at you funny (even though they should be aware of their own policies) but rather all the other commuters that will not understand the difference between a regular bike and a folder.

I dont really buy the Idea that people Don't realize the practical difference between a folding bike and a regular bike In public transit situations. It should be obvious that A folding bike takes up little more room, if any, than a suitcase, while manouvering a full size bike on a crowded skytrain.....well you get the idea. I say bring on the controversy!

I don't even own a folding bike myself, I live in victoria and can just ride everywhere, But It would certainly appeal to me In Vancouver.

I believe Translink would view folded bike the same as a folded wheel chair. So that's just fine.

In retrospect it seems to have been a reasonable call, though not exactly fair. The trains were very packed all day long, at least as far as I could see.