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.

New Philly Bike Coalition Report Takes A Hard Look At Lower Delaware River Bridges

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia (BCGP) is well aware of the formidable barrier to New Jersey known as the Delaware River. They have collaborated with other organizations to advocate for the design and build of a ramp to replace a 39 step stair tower in Camden and to include a multi-use path on the proposed I-95 Scudder Falls Bridge in Ewing.

The new Report titled "Crossover: Bridge Ahead Impassable" takes a look at bicycle and pedestrian access on 12 bridges along a 60 mile corridor between the Washington Crossing and Commodore Barry Bridges. Only 5 of the 12 allow bicyclists and pedestrians to cross and all of them pose restrictions. 4 require walking your bicycle and while the Ben Franklin Bridge allows you to ride across it is only open during limited hours.

With this report, BCGP shines a new light on lower Delaware River bridges, and how their inaccessibility to pedestrians and bicyclists is stymieing trail networks being built on both sides of the river.

Crossover: Bridge Ahead Impassable