Page 1 story in May 28 Hartford Courant - Dateline: New Haven

Hartford Courant, Wednesday, May 28, 2008 A1
Railing Against A Bicycle Ban
Pedal Commuters' Wish: Rush Hour Lift from Metro-North


PATRICK GAVIN walks his bike through the tunnel at Union Station in New Haven after taking a Metro-North train from Bridgeport earlier this month. Facing a nightmare automobile commute between his Hamden home and his job at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, he opted for a bicycle. But his morning commute falls in Metro-North's peak hours, when bikes aren't allowed. Photo by JOHN WOIKE / THE HARTFORD COURANT

By Kim Martineau | COURANT STAFF WRITER

NEW HAVEN — - As he pedaled down Route 1, Patrick Gavin ignored the honking horns, rumbling trucks and big-box stores. An hour and a half later, he rolled through the gates of scenic Sacred Heart University.

The train would be a faster, probably safer, ride to work. But Metro-North Railroad doesn't allow bicycles on rush-hour trains. And without his bike, Gavin has no easy way to get to the New Haven train station from his home in Hamden, or to the Bridgeport station from his job in Fairfield.

The dilemma facing suburban commuters like Gavin is one reason Metro-North is finding its bicycle policy under attack. In March, a group of cyclists stormed Metro-North's annual public forum to demand that its new trains include bike tie-downs and that the railroad reconsider its rush-hour restrictions.

The push to make commuter trains more bike-friendly comes amid rising gas prices, epic I-95 traffic jams and concern about the health problems caused by air pollution.

A state lawmaker from Wallingford who tried this spring to lift the peak-hour ban on bicycles has vowed to try again next year.

Until the rules change, Gavin, 32, is on the road by 6:30 a.m. to ride the 30 miles to Sacred Heart, where he works as a librarian. At the end of the day, he rushes to catch the last off-peak train home.

As his endurance grows, he hopes to extend his morning rides from two days a week to four. The other days he drives.

"I don't want to deal with the frustration of getting stuck in traffic and the money," he said.

If one man has become a spokesman for the bikes-on-trains movement, it is Richard Stowe, an environmentalist from New Canaan who holds a driver's license but has never owned a car. Wiry, with thinning hair, Stowe is seldom without his cherry red, custom-frame bike.

In 2002, Stowe moved back to Connecticut and scored his first victory: getting bikes on Shoreline East's New Haven-to- New London line. Metro-North has been a tougher sell.

In recent years, Stowe has circulated petitions, befriended lawmakers and penned local newspaper columns. This spring, he learned that Metro-North was backing away from plans to provide bike storage on its new trains, to maximize revenue.

Stowe and other bike activists complained to the Connecticut Rail Commuter Council, a volunteer advocacy group. To their surprise, the council refused to adopt a resolution calling for bike storage on the new trains and lifting the rush-hour ban.

In March, the cyclists took their concerns directly to Metro-North at the annual "president's forum" in Manhattan. Their biggest critic, it turns out, is not a railroad bureaucrat but another mass-transit advocate.

Jim Cameron is a retired TV anchor who heads the commuter council. For years, he has complained about overcrowding and commuters left standing because they can't find seats. In the last five years, the number of commuters headed to Grand Central Terminal on the New Haven line has grown 13 percent, to 62,000 daily.

"Bikers have no more 'right' to bring bicycles on crowded rush-hour trains than I have to haul aboard a steamer trunk," he has proclaimed in his newspaper column, "Talking Transportation."

He has labeled the cyclists "well organized, very vocal and relentless."

Some of that pluck can be seen in Stowe's newspaper column, "Eco Man," which has responded to Cameron. If Metro-North has room for bar cars, Stowe has argued, it should have room for bikes.

And if cyclists could bring their bikes on during rush hour, he claims, ridership would grow. Caltrain, the commuter line in California's Silicon Valley, now serves a record 2,400 cyclists daily and often has to turn some away at peak times.

On a recent Saturday, Stowe led a celebration for "National Train Day" at New Haven's Union Station, the city's beaux-arts gateway.

Rep. Mary Mushinsky, D-Wallingford, spoke about a second attempt to pass legislation letting bikes on peak Metro-North trains, particularly the new M-8 cars purchased almost entirely with state money.

As gas prices hit $4 a gallon, she told the group, she hopes the bill will pass in the next session.

"Your best friend is the price of oil," she told them. "We're looking at $150 a barrel this summer and $200 next year. It will be unaffordable for some people to commute to work next year."

Jason Stockmann, a graduate student at Yale, quietly took notes. He works on medical imaging at Yale and recently put his car into storage. Bike tie-downs are critical for the new trains, he said later.

"If we miss this opportunity it could be a really long time until someone musters the will to install these things," he said.

Tom Kehoe, a Democratic lawmaker and marathon runner from Glastonbury, also was at the rally.

He was instrumental in the recent passage of a new bike-safety law requiring cars to leave a 3foot buffer when passing cyclists.

"People are starting to get the message," he told the group. "The roads are not just for cars."

Gavin's conversion to bike commuting came earlier this year after a crash on the Merritt Parkway made him two hours late on his first day of work.

Determined to find a better way, he mapped out a bicycle route on the Internet.

On a recent morning, Gavin ate breakfast, slid his dress shoes and clothes into a pack, said good-bye to his wife and hopped on his road bike.

As he detoured through New Haven's Edgewood Park, a wild turkey darted into the trees. On Route 1, a middle-aged man in work boots pedaled by.

The two men, who often pass on the route, nodded to each other. Pedaling on, Gavin crossed five highway on-ramps and, in a terrifying blur, one highway off-ramp. Biking past a house cat, partially flattened in the next lane, he averted his eyes.

A few drivers honked but Gavin kept his mind on the road and on his plans for work that day.

When he arrived at Sacred Heart, he hopped off his bike and walked to the gym to shower, exuding a Zen-like calm.

By late afternoon, Gavin would be back in the saddle for the 4-mile ride to the Bridgeport station. Back in New Haven, he would pedal another 4 miles home. Round-trip workout: 38 miles.

If Metro-North let bikes on during peak hours, he said, he would leave his car at home every day. He envisions a system like Belgium's, where some train cars are reserved for bikes and remote stations offer bikes for rent.

"It's just part of the culture there and has been for a while," he said. "It's hard to create that here."

Contact Kim Martineau at kmartineau@courant.com.

State of New Jersey bikes-on-trains statute on the books

N.J. Stat. � 48:12-108. Transportation of bicycles as baggage; penalty for refusal

TITLE 48. PUBLIC UTILITIES
CHAPTER 12. RAILROADS
ARTICLE 20. CARRYING PASSENGERS
A. GENERAL PROVISIONS

The holder of a ticket issued by any railroad company entitling him to transportation on its railroad or ferries as a passenger shall have the right in lieu of other baggage, to the transportation as baggage without further charge of one bicycle to and from the place designated in such ticket. Such transportation shall be on the same train or boat with the passenger where facilities for the transportation of baggage then exist on such train or boat.

The passenger shall remove any lantern from such bicycle but not any usual bicycle bell or cyclometer nor need he crate, cover or otherwise protect the bicycle. No railroad company transporting bicycles pursuant to this section shall be liable for damage done to any bell, cyclometer or like attachments.

Any railroad company refusing to accept for transportation or to transport bicycles as baggage as required by this section shall pay to such passenger ten dollars for each offense, to be recovered in an action at law in any court of competent jurisdiction.

realizing a modal shift to reduce profligate carbon consumption

Philadelphia Inquirer, Friday, May 9, 2008 Page A27

Rail overhaul, investment vital to Northeast Corridor and nation

Richard Stowe is founder and director of Rail*Trains*Ecology*Cycling, a nonprofit advocacy group
Home to 56.3 million people, the nation's capital, and powerful financial, media and academic institutions, the Northeast region produces 20 percent of America's GDP and 27 million jobs, but is only 2 percent of the nation's landmass.

The mega-sprawlopolis is most clearly defined by the intensity of its sky glow at night, light pollution symbolic of the profligate energy consumed by short-haul flights and millions of automobiles.

Amtrak owns and operates the Northeast Corridor from Washington to Boston. The energy-efficient electrified corridor generates half of Amtrak's riders nationwide and serves 80 percent of America's commuter-rail passengers.

In all, 540,000 passengers travel daily on Long Island Railroad (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad (MNR) from suburban region-to-city center (including reverse commute); 440,000 passengers board seven other commuter-rail lines daily.

Amtrak, which carries 32,000 passengers daily, accounts for 50 percent of corridor train miles and 10 percent of corridor trips.

Therein lies the paradox: Amtrak, a quasi-private corporation, owns and operates all but 15 percent of track miles on the Northeast Corridor without transparency, public accountability, or a dedicated funding stream, but generates only 4 percent of Northeast Corridor riders.

Over its 37-year history, Amtrak has been the recipient of declining rates of congressional subsidies, increasing politicization, and no aggressive growth strategy plan.

In this vacuum of vision, local rail agency fiefdoms engage in poor planning, Amtrak provides compromised service, expansion of commuter-rail service is stymied, and rail freight movements into New York and New England are thwarted.

That calls for a transfer of ownership, oversight and management of the Northeast Corridor coupled with a sound strategic vision that focuses on Amtrak's strengths, commuter-rail growth, and rail freight shipments through the Trans-Hudson Express tunnels.

To achieve that: Transfer ownership of track, infrastructure and right-of-way to the eight corridor states - Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts - and the District of Columbia. Management should operate under a joint power authority and include regional stakeholders such as Amtrak, commuter-rail operators, state governments, District of Columbia, rail freight carriers, and members of the public. The authority would establish a corridor master plan; oversee procurement and operation contracts, which conform to and exceed the highest green standards; set policy (provide bicycle parking on trains) and monitor measurable goals.

Providing four-city Acela Express service (Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington) without 15-minute Penn Station layovers, low-cost New Haven-originated commuter trains running nonstop or one-stop from Penn Station to Washington, and express commuter-train service from Philadelphia International Airport to Penn Station would allow a much-needed shift from congestion-choking and delay-inducing short-haul air trips to fast, high-speed rail trips.

Rail investment helps reduce oil imports, global warming, overcrowded skies and traffic-related deaths. A vibrant Northeast Corridor is critical to our national interest.

Richard Stowe lives in Connecticut and rides Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line regularly. Read his blog at http://ecoman.wordpress.com. E-mail him at bike.rail.politics@gmail.com.

bikes-on-trains is state law in new york!

New York State bikes on trains law has been in effect since 1896 when the League of American Wheelman successfully fought for bicycle access on trains. Section 66 of New York State Railroad Law, to quote the New York Times, mandates "free transportation of bicycles as baggage."

Section 66 of the NYS Railroad Law

§ 66. Checks for baggage. A check, made of some proper substance of convenient size and form, plainly stamped with numbers, and furnished with a convenient strap or other appendage for attaching to baggage, shall be affixed to every piece or parcel of baggage when taken for transportation for a passenger by the agent or employee of such corporation, if there is a handle, loop or fixture therefor upon the piece or parcel of baggage, and a duplicate thereof given to the passenger or person delivering the same to him. If such check be refused on demand the corporation shall pay to the passenger the sum of ten dollars, and no fare shall be collected or received from him; and if he shall have paid his fare it shall be refunded to him by the conductor in charge of the train. Such baggage shall be delivered, without unnecessary delay, to the passenger or any person acting in his behalf, at the place to which it was to be transported, where the cars usually stop, or at any other regular intermediate stopping place upon notice to the baggage-master in charge of baggage on the train of not less than thirty minutes, upon presentation of such duplicate check to the officer or agent of the railroad corporation, or of any corporation, over any portion of whose road it was transported. Bicycles are hereby declared to be and be deemed baggage for the purposes of this article and shall be transported as baggage for passengers by railroad corporations and subject to the same liabilities, and no such passenger shall be required to crate, cover or otherwise protect any such bicycle; provided, however, that a railroad corporation shall not be required to transport, under the provisions of this section, more than one bicycle for a single person.

This language is specific to individuals traveling specifically for personal non-motorized bicycle travel - not the transport of bicycles - "more than one" for commercial purposes.

This language contained within the law does not appear to suggest that it applies only to trains that have baggage cars, nor does it appear to in any way hinder the establishment of a bike car, or a section of a passenger car to be set aside exclusively for the use of bicycle parking. In fact, it describes that bicycles shall be brought on and off trains in a manner that a reasonable person would expect - uncrated & uncovered.

The language herein stated of Section 66 of New York State RR law, in my opinion, does not authorize periods of time in which bicycles may be excluded, or prohibited.

In fact, one may interpret that any time a cyclist is refused entry onto a train with his bicycle in New York State, the railroad corporation is liable to paying a sum of $10 to each cyclist who is denied the opportunity to board his or her bicycle on the train and the specific harm that is aggregated by that denial qualifies the cyclist to reimbursement for the fare he or she paid to travel on that train. There is no specific language contained within the law, which confines that to private corporations, in other words it appears that this law applies to public corporations, too.

This also calls into question the bicycle permit policy and whether it must be revoked since there is a charge associated with being granted that permit, however small that permit fee is.

Design New Haven reports on bikes-on-trains

Posted the following comments to the Bicycles on Trains: Updated ... Again on the Design New Haven site (http://www.designnewhaven.com/)

Really excellent thread on bikes-on-trains. Bikes belong on trains at peak hours. Its crowded, but we should keep buying MNR trains. Still have 80 cars outstanding on the Kawasaki Rail Car contract. With regard to Jim Cameron, his Talking Transportation column runs in the New Canaan Advertiser. The New Canaan Advertiser runs my Ecoman column and I wrote a refutation to his" Bicycle on Trains?", which ran in the New Canaan Advertiser as "Fit people on trains before bikes." Next time you update "bikes on trains" feel free to link to http://ecoman.wordpress.com