No bikes on NJ TRANSIT trains Christmas Day. Eve?

Here we go again!  The Grinch is coming to NJ TRANSIT to kick you off the train on Christmas Day.  It's is another bike blackout day on NJ TRANSIT but not today Christmas Eve which seems backwards because today is a much busier travel day.  Considering that reality don't be surprised if crowded trains today force conductors to kick you off today too.

In case you haven't memorized the rules:

Bicycles are not permitted on trains (with the exception of the Atlantic City Line) on New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, day after Thanksgiving, Sunday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. Bicycles are not permitted on the day before Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but are permitted on the holidays themselves.

So if you didn't read this in time and you wind up stranded somewhere remember that you can take your bike on the Atlantic City Line, most buses, ferries, PATH and NJT light rail. Bolt Bus will accept bicycles if space is available.

We still feel that if NJ TRANSIT added vertical bike racks to all of its rail rolling stock like that found on the German made RiverLINE lightrail cars, the space efficient storage of bikes would make the need for blackout dates a thing of the past.  RiverLINE trains have no blackout times or days which we feel is in part due to the well designed on-board vertical bike racks.  Connecticut DOT is doing just that and is paying for Metro North RR to install racks on trains serving the New Haven Line.

Bike racks on the NJ TRANSIT RiverLINE.  When not in use
passengers can fold down the seats and sit down.  This space
efficient design could easily be retrofitted to most NJ TRANSIT
heavy and light rail rolling stock.

NJ TRANSIT along with Metro North/Long Island RR and Chicago's METRA are the only commuter rail lines with black out dates. However recently we heard that METRA is narrowing its rush hour restrictions and eliminating black out dates.  With bicycling more popular then ever the time is now to modernize NJ TRANSIT's bike on rail policies.

Welcome to Blackout Friday Bike On Rail Passengers

Welcome to Day 3 of NJ TRANSIT's Holiday Bike Blackout! If you haven't been turned away or kicked off a half empty late evening train after a long day in the salt mines then your conductors are just not doing their job. But seriously I'm not bitter, because I live in South Jersey, where none of those rules apply.

Bicycle passengers get a reprieve tomorrow, but this punitive policy takes effect again on Sunday. If you're fortunate you may still be able to take it on one of NJ TRANSIT's light rail trains or bike accessible buses. If you are not then I would ask Santa for a folding bicycle.

Finally a Trip Planner That Includes Taking Your Bike on Transit and Bike Sharing

An open source transit routing app known as Open Trip Planner calculates routes and times for intermodal bike and transit trips and CitiBike Bike Share stations. The code was integrated with local transit information by developers that introduced the NJ/NY/PA/DE site at the Code For Philly hackathon earlier this fall.

Try it out for yourself at http://opentrips.codeforphilly.org. I am sure that the developers would love to hear your feedback.

Bike and Transit trip from New Brunswick to Hopewell

Note - "rental bike options" only came up with walking directions in Manhattan. If you are a developer and wish to help improve Open Trip Planner then feel free to contact codeforphilly.

Do the DVRPC "Bike to Transit Stations" survey

The very nice yet exceptional sheltered bicycle
parking at the Hoboken NJ TRANSIT Station.

If you live in, or travel with your bike in the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) service area, please take a moment to fill out the Bike to Transit Stations survey.  In New Jersey DVRPC services Mercer, Burlington, Gloucester, and Camden counties and this survey is investigating bicycle parking conditions at all rail transit stations in these counties.  These include all RiverLINE and PATCO stations, SEPTA's West Trenton Station, and NJ TRANSIT's Princeton, Princeton Junction, Hamilton, Trenton, Cherry Hill, Lindenwald and Atco Stations.  This is a map based survey.  Simply scroll over to the station or stations that you use, click on the button and give your feedback about the bicycle amenities (or lack there of) at that particular station.

The survey is open until December 1st and when I looked at it today many New Jersey stations had not been surveyed even once.  So if you get board watching football between courses at Thanksgiving dinner, do the survey instead and fill in those blanks!

More about this survey can be found in this write-up by Silva and our friends at the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance.

No Bikes on NJ TRANSIT Trains Til Sundown

Today is the Eve of Yom Kippur and as such no bikes are permitted on NJ TRANSIT trains (sans Atlantic City Line). You may (or may not) be able to take your bike on the train after Sunset (6:50 PM) depending on your conductor's interpretation of the bike on rail rules.

Light rail trains and buses are not subject to the holiday restriction and folding bikes are always permitted on trains at all times as per NJ Statute 27:25-5a.

NJT Ruling - Low Platform Access Restored. Weekend Access Restricted. Did we really gain anything?

As expected the NJ TRANSIT Board of Directors reversed its restriction on bicycles at low platform train stations. The decision came out of the findings of a bicycle policy committee that looked at bike access. The findings were released to the public several weeks ago and bicyclists were encouraged to show their support for the findings. In a single vote bike access was restored to more than half of the NJ TRANSIT rail stations.

That open transparent process (and the feel good cooperation) was negated by the second recommendation - A back room add-on that appeared for a vote with little public notice, NJ TRANSIT announced new weekend restrictions for bikes. Trains that destine for New York Penn Station between 9 and 12 AM and Trains that depart NY Penn between 5 and 8 PM will no longer allow bicycles. Note that trains that start and terminate at Hoboken and Newark are not subject to the weekend restrictions. We can thank NJ TRANSIT board member Regina Egea for making the new rule slightly less onerous. She successfully moved to shave off two hours of weekend restrictions.

For a look at the complete draft policy (with original hours) see page 28 of the NJ Transit Board Meeting draft agenda.  

The crazy quilt of NJ TRANSIT Bike on rail rules can make an attractive pair of Christmas Stockings