Update on Caltrain and bikes

[Steve Vanderlip]

 

> > Hello Bicycle Commuters and Supporters,
>
> CONTENTS:
> 1. Report bikes bumped from trains
> 2. Warm Planet Bikes at risk of closing
> 3. Attend Caltrain Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting January 19, 6:45pm
>
>
> 1. REPORT BIKES BUMPED FROM TRAINS
> Passengers with bikes are still getting bumped, especially from Bombardier
> trains. If we don’t let Caltrain know about it, the decision makers in the
> Caltrain offices won’t know there is a problem. Please report bumped bikes
> using the handy email link near the top of our web page, where you can
> also find a graph of your bump reports: http://www.sfbike.org/bob
>
> Please report the following:
> + number of bumped cyclists (even if you are not one of them),
> + day,
> + station,
> + train number or time plus travel direction,
> + train type, i.e., old or gallery vs. new or Bombardier, and
> + any additional information such as how getting bumped affected your day.
>
> Please attend the Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting on January 19 to make
> public comment and encourage Caltrain to add another bike car to
> Bombardier trains (see item 3 below for meeting details).
>
>
> 2. WARM PLANET BIKES AT RISK OF CLOSING
> Warm Planet Bikes, the staffed bicycle parking facility at the 4th & King
> Caltrain station, is very popular and overcapacity. Warm Planet Bikes is
> at risk of closing, because the building is too small to support both bike
> parking and retail (retail revenue pays for the bike parking operation).
> The solution is for Caltrain to provide interim funding in the short term
> and build a larger building in the long term.
>
> Here’s how you can help save Warm Planet:
> + Attend the Caltrain Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting at 6:45pm on
> January 19 and make public comment (see item 3 below for meeting
> details).
> + Mark you calendar to attend the next Caltrain Board meeting, 10am,
> Thursday, February 2 in San Carlos (I’ll send details about a week
> before the meeting)
> + Send an email to the Caltrain Board before February 1. If you have
> already sent an email, thank you!
>
> Please send your email to the following addresses:
> To: bo...@caltrain.com
> Cc: bikeso...@sfbike.org, b...@caltrain.com, duf...@samtrans.com,
> lind...@samtrans.com, c...@caltrain.com
> (The cc list includes us, Caltrain Bicycle Advisory Committee, Caltrain
> public affairs, Caltrain customer service, and Caltrain Citizens Advisory
> Committee.)
>
> Here are some suggested talking points for your email:
> a. Explain how you get to work, and why you use Warm Planet.
> b. Share why you appreciate that there is a bike shop attached to the
> bike parking. (Caltrain is considering other options, so we want to
> emphasize the benefit of staffed bike parking combined with a retail
> shop.)
> c. Say how your commute would change if Warm Planet closed.
> d. Emphasize how important it is for Warm Planet to stay open.
> e. Thank the Board for their support of bicycle commuting.
> f. Include your city of residence after your name.
>
> A couple things to avoid saying:
> + Turn bike parking customers away. (The bike parking facility was
> established to encourage cycling, so this is counterproductive and would
> hurt the retail business. Caltrain has told Warm Planet to turn
> customers away, the same way Caltrain bumps bikes from trains. Warm
> Planet is resisting Caltrain’s directive.)
> + Charge for bike parking. (Charging for bike parking is unfair, because
> Caltrain hugely subsidizes car parking at station parking lots. Cyclists
> should get their fair share.)
>
>
> 3. ATTEND CALTRAIN BICYCLE ADVSORY COMMITTEE MEETING
> Please attend the next Caltrain Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting to make
> public comment.
> Date: Thursday, January 19, 2012
> Time: 6:45pm
> Location: 1250 San Carlos Ave, San Carlos. This is about a block from the
> San Carlos Caltrain station. Bike racks are in front of the building.
> Agenda:
> http://www.caltrain.com/Assets/__Agendas+and+Minutes/BAC/pdf/01-19-12+BAC+Agenda+Packet.pdf
>
> To ask for a third bike car on Bombardier trains, please make a comment at
> agenda item 6. To support Warm Planet Bikes, please make a comment at
> agenda item 9.
>
>
> Isn’t it great that so many people are bicycle commuting! As always, thank
> you for your continued support. Caltrain listens to public opinion, and
> you’ve been wonderfully vocal.
>
> More bikes, no bumps,
> Shirley Johnson
> BIKES ONboard project
> San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
> http://www.sfbike.org/bob
>
> Please forward to other cyclists and anyone who cares about bicycle
> commuting.
>
> To unsubscribe from this email list, please reply with “Unsubscribe” in
> the subject line.
>
>

[Mark Eliot]

Re: Warm Planet Bikes.

The place provides a great parking service.  HOWEVER, I don't think they run a great business.  I've tried to order tires from them twice -- the exact same set of tires.  They've completely lost my order each time.  By completely, I mean "who are you again?" every time I walk in to check on the order's progress and discover that, no, there's no record in their computer.  Apparently, the one guy who orders things works funny hours, the guys in the shop have trouble with computers, and communication amongst them all is difficult.  I'd love to give them my money, but they don't seem to want it.  If my experience is indicative, it's tough to see how the "retail revenue pays for the parking."

-M

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[pat giorni]

They can't handle retail at this point because they cannibalized the space needed for retail to park 70 more bikes per day than the building can hold  and the business model outlined and the Caltrain contract called for, and they will not turn away bike parkers.  If they turned away those 70 extras per day, think of the great increase in bumping, or the fact that those folks would just get in their cars to commute.  Come to the Caltrain BAC meeting and listen to the long-delayed discussion on Thursday at the Samtrans bldg at 6:45-9:00 in San Carlos. 

---

From: Mark Eliot <ma...@eliotlabs.org>
To: bikesmc <bik...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2012 12:29 PM
Subject: Re: [BikeSMC] Update on Caltrain and bikes

[Adina Levin]

"(Charging for bike parking is unfair, because Caltrain hugely subsidizes car parking at station parking lots. Cyclists should get their fair share.)"

I understand why bike parking should be favorably priced compared to car parking.  I don't understand why it should be free. I've parked there and was surprised it was free - I was expecting to pay something.

[pat giorni]

At first glance, it may seem like charging for bike parking is a good idea, but there are a few things to consider.

 

As a public agency, Caltrain is not in the business to make money. Caltrain is in the business to serve the public. They are subsidized by your and my tax dollars, and they need to spend our money wisely to give the public what it wants and needs.

 

Caltrain charges for car parking, but the small fee is not even enough to cover maintenance of the parking lots, and it doesn’t begin to cover lost revenue if the land were leased for another purpose. Right now, prime real estate in downtown areas on the Peninsula is taken up by Caltrain parking lots. If Caltrain chooses to subsidize car parking so heavily, then why not bike parking?

 

All public transit is subsidized, and bicycling keeps people off transit reducing the need for additional routes and buses, so it makes economic sense to subsidize bike parking. In Caltrain’s case, the “free” shuttles are not free at all, and those shuttles cost more subsidy per passenger than city buses. The subsidy needed to keep Warm Planet open is less than the per trip subsidy of most, if not all, transit. For more information on subsidies, see http://www.sfbike.org/download/actions/caltrain/Plan_Bikes_on_Caltrain_SFBC.pdf

 

The reason Warm Planet opened is to encourage people to ride bikes. If Warm Planet charged for bike parking, then fewer people would park there. Charging for something we actually want people to do is counterproductive. We should charge for things we don’t want people to do. That’s why forward-thinking cities like London have congestion pricing to discourage people from driving in the city center.

 

If Warm Planet charged for bike parking, then some people would just bring their bikes on the trains for free. The bike cars are already overcrowded, so it's better to save bike space on the trains for those who really need their bikes at both ends of their commute. Additionally, according to the common carrier code, it is illegal in the state of California to charge for bringing a bicycle onboard a train. Besides, strollers and luggage can be brought onboard for free, and bikes are no different.

 

Biking is a green commute method, which is good for everyone. If we want more people to bike, keeping bike parking free is positive behavior reinforcement for the sake of everyone.

---

From: Adina Levin <aldei...@gmail.com>
To: pat giorni <hog...@yahoo.com>
Cc: Mark Eliot <ma...@eliotlabs.org>; "bik...@googlegroups.com" <bik...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 7:38 PM

[Mark Eliot]

Nice article about this on streetsblog yesterday.

http://sf.streetsblog.org/2012/01/25/caltrains-warm-planet-bike-station-in-jeopardy/

This explains a few more things for me.  First WPB had a grant to handle bike parking and it expired.  That's a bit different than a subsidy.  Second, WPB is a for-profit company.  Third, according to Kash “This facility doesn’t exist so I can run a bike shop. This facility exists so that people who want to get on Caltrain can park their bikes.”

Taking this into account, I'd say, yeah, we need good parking facility at 4th/King and the cost for this should be borne by Caltrain for the reasons stated below.  Caltrain can budget the cost for this and contract via grant with a non-profit organization devoted to this if they like.  That may be the problem.  Kash doesn't want to run a for-profit business and it shows. Would the business be successful without the grant?  If not, then the grant truly is a business subsidy. Subsidizing *businesses* isn't Caltrain's deal.  And I'd say a business that relies on a single grant to stay afloat has a bad plan. That may be what's playing out right now.  Subsidizing *parking* is something Catrain can do (and, as pointed out, does do for auto parking).

This whole thing is screwy. A successful business would look at free parking and the space it occupies as a cost center and try to minimize it. Time spent parking bikes is time that could be used selling stuff and charging for labor.  It wouldn't be looking for more parking unless it could charge for it.   It would be looking for more paying customers and trying to use the parking space for more product inventory, etc.   That's not what we want, right?  We want more parking.  In fact, we can have that.  The retail space of the business could be turned into more parking.  The whole building could be for parking only.  But that eliminates the business.  Fine.  Hire an organization that can just manage the parking  -- the real mission.  Then, go farther.  Build incentives into the grant so that the organization really wants to find creative ways to park even more bikes and provide good service.

-M

[Jym Dyer]

> This whole thing is screwy.

=v= I've been focusing on Caltrain for a few decades, and it's
even screwier than you describe.

> Hire an organization that can just manage the parking -- the
> real mission. Then, go farther. Build incentives into the
> grant so that the organization really wants to find creative
> ways to park even more bikes and provide good service.

=v= The focus on "grants" is half the problem here. It's not
possible to strategize transportation when you have to cobble
things together from grants, so the Bay Area in general and
Caltrain in particular suffer from unworkable disconnects.

=v= The "incentives" notion is the other half of the problem,
one that extends nationwide. Since the Nixon years, passenger
rail has toiled under the ideology that it should be run as a
business, paying its own way, its meagre subsidy begrudgingly
dispensed amongst much grumbling. Everything it competes with,
of course, enjoys higher subsidies and massive bailouts, and
various amenities are expected to simply exist, no questions
asked. Kind of like rail in other countries.

=v= Warm Planet should be considered such an amenity, as if
we were anywhere else in the world where rail is correctly
seen and supported as a social benefit. And, ideally, the
model should be the Netherlands, where bike+train intermodal
commutes are wisely considered the most beneficial of all.
<_Jym_>

P.S.: I didn't respond to your earlier message complaining
about ordering tires from Warm Planet. I don't agree "it shows"
that it's not run as a proper business. I'm sorry you ran into
some bad service, but my own experience has been pretty much
the exact opposite.