Cyclcist11023131

It is time to ride the streets of LA again. I have been at the last few of these and really had a great time. The ride is exactly what you put into it. I have been skirting the main ride and running a street above or below to access places I've never seen before. Small eateries, big parties, beerfests. It seems like a bike and a smile allows access to all. It starts with two of us and riders keep joining as we expand our horizons. Some slammin little hills I never new existed have even turned these rides into real workouts. This is the shortest Ciclavia yet, a perfect excuse to bring a not so hardcore rider with you. I will be on the Cannondale Caffeine SS racing around having a blast. I know its blasphemy but it is still fun to be free and ride the streets of LA with thousands of others and know that they will pull in front of you, stop for no reason, fall over, and generally put on a great show of memorable acts of stupidity. All for our enjoyment. Does it get any better? Sunday 4/6, Figueroa/Wilshire or thereabouts. Look for the Thousand bikes and you are there.

CommuteCommando

They have been disrupting regular Metrolink service for the ClusterVia for over six weeks now. They have been taking bike cars out of service on heavily traveled runs to build feeder trains for this one day event.

Have fun, and think of us daily commuters who have to cram 10-15 bikes into spaces meant for two, because our bike cars were pulled out of service to get you all there for just one day!

calamarichris

A ray of sunshine as always, CC.

Date? Place?

Cyclcist11023131

Guess we got to crack a few Commuters to hatch a bike omelette. Should be nice to take a vacation from the trains and drive on our virtual paradise of roads and trails. I ride up there and back from Anaheim. Sunday rip snorter, North to Whittier and out to LA. No gas wasted here.

CommuteCommando

In the previous two years it was worse. They had initially built special trains with four bike cars to feed ClusterVia. Several of us complained to Metrolink and nothing was done. Last October they did it again, and it was worse than ever since commuter bike ridership on Metrolink had really increased. That was the last straw. I took my complaints very public by posting rants on the Cyclavia website, and Facebook page, Metrolink's Facebook page, and in here.

Two things happened as a result. This year they are only putting two cars on the ClusterVia trains, and I suspect that they are being very careful to insure that the line I ride gets minimal disruption. It still isn't a good thing since I know cyclists commuting on the other lines are getting screwed more. I would try to reach out to them, but don't have time. I have a job. (this is my lunch break).

TrojanHorse

You elitist you!

Focused1

While I applaud the fact that you do all of your commuting on a bike, I would think somebody that is so immersed in the world of two wheelers would appreciate the effort to get the cycling mentality out there into the general public. I see this event as a celebration of the bike...and no, I'm not one of the organizers. Just another rider encouraged by large groups of happy people

CommuteCommando

I am not disparaging the efforts to promote cycling. I am all for that. I, and my fellow commuters on the Metrolink, are irate that they disrupt service for weeks, and even months, to reassemble trains for it. I have said to Metrolink before, and will repeat it here. Cyclavia is a big money maker for the merchants of downtown LA. Some of that money could be used for overtime to reset the trains in a weekend. It takes them months to mosey the cars through the different yards. Doing it in a weekend will cost money. So be it. They have more than enough.

rubic

A short term sacrifice for the locals nets this, and it's worth it:

CicLAvia | Introduction to CicLAvia

CommuteCommando

Oh yeah! Have you ever been stranded fifty miles from home because you were denied access to the Metrolink due to not enough space because the bike car that is assigned to your train was pulled out of service for ClusterVia.

I hope you had fun on your one day a year on the train.

rubic

Come on now, CC. CycLAvia promotes cycling, which you like, and walking for that matter. Just live in the moment. It will help you relax.

CommuteCommando

Fine. Have Cyclavia. Do they have to f@#$% up the service they are trying to promote in oder to promote it?

No.

Hold CyclaVia. Just don't do it at the expense of those already riding bikes and trains on a daily basis. If they live close enough, they can ride to the event. If they live farther away, take the Metrolink, or the bus, and take your chances that there will be space available. If you get to the station and the trains are full, throw the bikes back in the car and drive!

How often do you commute to work on the Metrolink?

cruiserhead

CommuteCommando

Especially since they get $325 a month from me. You think I want something for nothing?

rubic

This isn't about me. It is about you as an individual going against the prevailing cultural practice of Los Angeles. Your anger only hurts you. So be it.

CommuteCommando

You are kidding, right? SCCRA, which runs Metrolink is a Government Agency. I and several others who are adversely affected by this pay up to $480/month to ride the Trains. Cyclavia is not a prevailing cultural parctice. It is a marketing event concocted to promote several things. I agree with the need to promote some of those things, like cycling and small business in the city core. They are also ostensibly promoting multi-modal transport. I am all for that too, but when they denigrate the service they are promoting in order to promote it, there is something wrong with that.

I am not going against "prevailing cultural practice". I am petitioning my government for a redress of grievances. It has been somewhat effective too. My very public complaints, along with complaints by numerous other Metrolink/bike commuters, did get them to scale back the service disruptions by half. That's not good enough.

Cyclavia actually makes boatloads of money for the downtown merchants. That is a good thing. A better thing would be if they reinvested a small part of that windfall to fund helping get people there without ripping me and my friends off. (did I already say I am paying 325/mo for a train that Metrolink explicitly staets will have a bike car)

cruiserhead

They are doing what they can with what they have. Maybe they will get more cars in the near future, or maybe the new contract will say "$480/mo and you may have your panties in a bunch during ciclavia"

My wife was stuck in midtown traffic today because of Ciclavia and we pay the state a lot more than $480/mo for use of those roadways.
She didn't go crying about it though.

calamarichris

+1

Rumpled

I gotta side with CommuteCommando on this. It should not take so long to rearrange trainsets.
I've done a couple of CicLAvia events and enjoyed them.
I don't commute by Metrolik, but I do ride it fairly often. I go to Ducks and Angels games and have brought my bike to ride the Fully loop, Tour de Fat, CicLAvia, and even a cyclocross race in downtown LA.
Metrolink's needs even more bike cars.

Garfield Cat

Are the MetroLink workers part of a union? If so, that would be where to start to get "instant action".

CommuteCommando

If democracy was simply a matter of majority rules, we would still have slavery in the deep south. Even if majority ruled, We who use the Metrolink a Majority of the time, and provide a majority of the funding should rule then.

CommuteCommando

I believe they are Teamsters, and are under the same contract as Amtrak. Having said that, not only am I not the only multi-modal commuter with his chones in a bunch, the conductors who have to deal with fifteen bikes on a car designed for two aren't happy with it either, and most of them side with me.

I know that some of those conductors have complained too.

CommuteCommando

Thank you. I was beginning to think no one was actually getting the point.

calamarichris

Sorry, wrong again.


And bicyclists in general do not provide the majority of Metrolinks funding. We're a pretty small chunk of their pie.
Ciclavia isn't just about enhancing bicycling awareness, it's also promoting Metrolink, since a good chunk of people are riding it for the first time to get to Ciclavia.

CommuteCommando

No they do not, but my commrades and I DAMN SURE provide more funding to Metrolink that those who ride it for one day to Cyclavia (Sorry, Wrong again. Pay attention to context.)