Fw: Our chance for more bike capacity on Caltrain

[pat giorni]

On Sunday, April 1, 2018 7:59 PM, Bikes on Board <bikeso...@sonic.net> wrote:

Hello Bicycle Commuters and Supporters, The next Caltrain Board meeting is our chance to speak up to prevent Caltrain from decreasing bike capacity on electrified trains. When: 10:30 AM, Thursday, April 5 (note new time 10:30, not 10) Where: 1250 San Carlos Avenue, San Carlos, two blocks from the San Carlos train station We'll be speaking at agenda item 7b. Caltrain staff will report on a grant application to buy more rail cars to run eight-car electrified trains instead of six car. Six-car trains have lower capacity for both bikes and seats than trains today! If you would like to coordinate public comment with us, please reply to this email. We'll have "More Bikes, No Bumps" stickers to identify you as a supporter. If you can't make the board meeting, please click here to email the Caltrain Board and copy all the right folks. Suggested talking points: Emphasize that Caltrain needs more capacity per train, not less Thank Caltrain for applying for funding to launch electrified service with eight-car trains instead of six-car Explain that eight-car trains with 96 bike spaces per train are needed to satisfy the board's 2015 mandate for electrified train capacity Emphasize that seats within view of bikes help deter bicycle theft (proposed bike car layout has no dedicated seats within view of bikes) Include your city of residence after your name Caltrain Board's 2015 Mandate In 2015, the Caltrain Board unanimously approved an 8:1 ratio of seats-to-bikes for electrified trains with the expectation that there would be (a) more bike capacity per train than today, (b) no fewer seats per train than today, and (c) one more train per hour. Six-car trains meet the 8:1 ratio, but fail (a) and (b). Eight-car trains with 96 bike spaces per train would fully meet the board's 2015 mandate. Report all Bicycle Bumps Please report all bicycle bumps using Caltrain’s bicycle bump report form, which automatically sends a tweet @BikesOnCaltrain. Reporting bumps is critical to show Caltrain that more bike space is needed now and on future electrified trains. Job Opening at Caltrain for Bike/Ped Planner Want to work at Caltrain and be responsible for designing and planning bicycle and pedestrian access? This is the job for you! Relevant Documents Minutes from July 2, 2015 Caltrain Board meeting in which the board approved the 8:1 ratio of seats-to-bikes Capacity calculations for bikes and seats Caltrain modernization program on the Caltrain website Letters to the editor from concerned passengers Please forward this email to other bike riders and anyone who cares about bicycle commuting. Thank you for your continued support!   More bikes, no bumps, Shirley Johnson BIKES ONboard Project Contact us at bikeso...@sonic.net Ask other bike riders to email us to be added to our mailing list.   Thank you for supporting bikes on board Caltrain. Our mailing address is: Bikes on Board 4th & King San Francisco, CA 94107 Add us to your address book Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

[hogorni]

Shirley Johnson's Caltrain Board of Directors' Meeting

Apr 5

In a nutshell:

Staff presented the TIRCP grant application. Very good showing of bike riders making varied and pertinent public comments for seats within view of bikes and more bike capacity, specifically 96 bikes per eight-car EMU train.

Video: http://www.caltrain.com/about/bod/video.html

Details:

Eight directors present, Dave Pine absent.

Packed special meeting about the budget before the JPB meeting, standing room only. The room cleared out somewhat for the regular meeting, which finally started around 11am (was supposed to start at 10:30am).

General Public Comment related to bikes (01:50 on the video)

Vincent de Martel – more bike capacity, seats within view of bikes

Curt Relick – bicycles are part of the solution, don’t reduce bike capacity

Scott Yarbrough – appreciates bikes on board

Elika Etemad – public comment should be tracked, most comments have been for more bike capacity and seats near bikes

Shirley Johnson – what it’s like to be bumped (the car analogy), need sufficient bike capacity

John Aiken – he took his bike out of a thief’s hands, need seats within view of bikes

Lois Kellerman – if you get bumped, you should be refunded your ticket price

Chair Bruins asked staff to look into refunding tickets of bumped riders.

TIRCP Public Comment (50:55 on video)

Shirley Johnson – eight-car trains with 96 bike spaces per train meet 2015 directive

Scott Yarbrough – supports eight-car trains with 96 bike spaces per train

Maic Lopez – supports TIRCP and eight-car trains with 96 bike spaces per train, need seats near bikes

Curt Relick – supports Shirley’s comments, recommend every board member bring a bike on board

Jeff Carter – supports TIRCP, need longer trains, supports more bike capacity

Elika Etemad – supports what has been said, reminder majority of comments ask for more bike capacity and seats within view of bikes

Adina Levin – support seats within view of bikes, need some onboard bike capacity, but growth opportunity is offboard facilities

Correspondence (1:36:00 on video)

Roland LaBrun – correspondence packet is missing today [the materials for the JPB meeting never got put on the table, only the agenda was there]

Elika Etemad– Question: what are you going to do about my request to triage public comments? You can (1) accept the comment by changing your process (2) reject the comment with an explanation why (3) ignore the comment. Same question for all the comments about more bike capacity and seats near bikes.

Director Stone: This is a business meeting, not a public forum. This is the only time we get to talk to each other due to the Brown Act. We are all available multiple ways, some are elected officials with public email addresses. I read the correspondence file and so do the other board members. We don’t skim it. We are a representative democracy, not a direct democracy. If we spent our time triaging public comments, this board would grind to a halt. [Stone responded quite curtly to an email I sent awhile back. It was obvious by his response that he had not read my entire email!]

Thanks for coming, Vincent! Anything to add?