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.
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.
Labels: bicycling, bikes-on-trains
posted by Richard Stowe at 6:54 PM
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