CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

Using buses with a folding bike

(8 posts)
  • Started 13 years ago by Tulyar
  • Latest reply from wee folding bike

  1. Tulyar
    Member

    I'm discussing the likely impact of promoting the opportunities for combining folding bikes (and conventional bikes) with buses & coaches.

    Any regular users? I've used Lothian with folder since 1980.

    Notable carriage is in NE (Banchory) where kids going to BMX track text and join coach-operated services to get to BMX track reported to be up to 10 bikes in the hold. Official line for bikes on coaches (Natex/Citylink/Stagecoach) is to cover them and pack as flat & small as possible, but for rural/local routes as long as no damage bikes often loaded directly as ridden. Potential for Fife-Edinburgh/Glasgow commuting (uses coaches).

    Bikes also officially on bus services in Argyll

    Posted 13 years ago #

  2. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Any regular users?

    I'm highly irregular. I've never actually taken (that is, dared to take) a folding bike onboard a double-decker bus, but I had a Dahon aboard a single deck 22 once or twice, and my Brompton on a rattling old service bus out of GLC. I was going to suggest contacting someone who's used a folding bike almost exclusively for ages, but I think you might already know him. :-)

    As for full size bikes, I've never tried it. I've had grief taking a recumbent on a train once or twice too, although as we all know, they're deviant contraptions and just asking for trouble.

    If and when the Forth Road Bridge closes to private vehicles, and is then periodically closed to cyclists during high winds, that'll be worth investigating in advance.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  3. Min
    Member

    I've taken my folder on the bus a few times but have bagged it up (as that is what the LRT website tells you to do). I don't think I would want my bike folding or otherwise shoved in the boot of a bus.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  4. wee folding bike
    Member

    That's me reached 10 years of Bromptons this month.

    I don't remember taking a Brompton on a service bus but I've seen other people do it. I'd usually just ride for the sort of distance that people do on a bus. I've taken one on O/N coach to London and it just went in with the luggage.

    Trains are not an issue but it doesn't always fit between the seat backs. The 334 class on the Queen St - Waverley via Airdrie line seem to have a problem there.

    I take them into pubs, restaurants and the cinema. Today it was in the gents at Glasgow Science Centre as I couldn't think of any suitable facilities of that nature in the area. Nobody bothers.

    Brompton do a zipped bag which fits quickly and can be unzipped from either end so you can reach into the bag to pick up the bike or you can use an IKEA DImpa bag, square one.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  5. Tulyar
    Member

    Thanks for replies to date - good guess Arellcat - 1952 was a good year for stallions especially Tulyar.

    In 1963 SMT provided a converted Leyland Tiger Cub half cab to ferry cyclists and pedestrians across as the Forth Bridge opened initially without the side paths finished (I have pics of the bus but no really good ones of bikes being loaded). This was the key reason cycle carriage began in the US, to offer a safe and legal way for cyclists to cross long bridges or go through long tunnels. SMT carried bikes on all rural services - officially - up to 4 bikes on a 49 seater, up until late 1980's.

    There seem to be a few regular commuters on Citylink E-G coaches, and the Challenge for Change that ran in March had the Bike Station hire Bromptons proving very popular for use with Lothian buses.

    I was doing some work out at Loanhead a few years ago and worked on the basis that I'd cut across from Haymarket to Newington Road, and if a likely bus was in sight, get in front of it and get aboard at the next stop. This cut out the effort of sweating up Liberton Brae - but if no bus was in sight it was generally as quick to ride all the way.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  6. kaputnik
    Moderator

    but it doesn't always fit between the seat backs. The 334 class on the Queen St - Waverley via Airdrie line seem to have a problem there.

    The 334 is classed as a "suburban" unit, with high density 3+2 seating and the seats closer together. Unlike the 2+2 luxury afforded by the Turbostars and Sprinters. It was only SPT that specified units with this configuration.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  7. Tulyar
    Member

    Class 334 - use middle carriage - pantograph end. Space to lash to rails by the toilet (takes up complete bay of saloon) and bit area with tip up seating both sides by same doors.

    Class 380 (soon to be N Berwicks) one end carriage has big luggage rack - end door the other has bike space (5 tip up seats) I think its the 'pantograph end' for bikes. and Pantograph over accessible toilet (middle coach) - whole section of saloon with tip up seats - plenty of bike space if no wheelchairs.

    Posted 13 years ago #

  8. wee folding bike
    Member

    Ahhh, look for the pantograph. The disabled sticker can be hard to find when you're in a hurry. Not like the ones in Denmark.

    Posted 13 years ago #

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