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Can you take bikes on replacement buses?

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ashkeba

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And why would you offer to pay for a service that is free?
Maybe because you come from a country where bike tickets are sold and you suddenly suspected that the person who told you bikes go free here with no ticket required was mistaken or misleading, because it just seems so unbelievable that rail replacement services don't replace only this service of rail?
 
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Flying Snail

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The ideal solution would be to invent a bike storage rack that fits in the under storage lockers of all coaches. It needs to be easily removable so can be taken out of the coach when not on RRB work and foldable so doesn't take up lots of room when stored out of use at the coach depot. It needs to be very cheap for coach companies to buy, or funded centrally for them by TOCs of DfT. I think everyone would agree that is an excellent idea. All that is probably, relatively, easy to do. The hard part is getting someone to sign the cheque. And therein lies the issue. And that's why the rule is "Bikes can not be conveyed on Rail Replacement services" (paraphrased)

That is not going to happen, things that appear easy for a quick internet post are rarely that way to actually put into practice in any useful way.

Lockers on coaches are not a standard size, nor are the locker doors. None are big enough to fit an adult bike upright*, so at best it would be a cage to put bikes in lying flat.

Any cage would also need some sort of fixed attachment and levering mechanism, or are you expecting a coach driver to lift a fully loaded cage with multiple bikes from the pavement to the coach?

Most of the coaches I drove were fitted with large powered doors, one each side, it was easy to put in a bike laying flat lengthways but any subsequent bikes could only be carried if placed on top of the first one. As the luggage loads I carried were usually moderate I would normally only use the nearside lockers so the offside was available for the infrequent occasions I had people with bikes. It worked OK but I didn't drive any routes with large bike demand, colleagues who did drive a route that would get peaks of people wanting to take bikes (without any sort of pre-booking) had regular issues with lack of space and bikes being stacked on top of each other.

From observation, coaches from private hire companies mostly have manual doors which are smaller with several per side making it much more difficult to fit in any bikes, depending on the design of the coach bodies.

*Overdeckers may just be able to fit smaller adult bikes upright but there are very few of these in the country.

All that only applies to traditional full-size high-floor coaches, smaller coaches or ones with mid-mounted wheelchair lifts have even less space for bikes.
 

Robertj21a

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Don't bikes in coach luggage compartments also drop oil or dirt on to other passenger's luggage?
 

Bletchleyite

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Maybe because you come from a country where bike tickets are sold and you suddenly suspected that the person who told you bikes go free here with no ticket required was mistaken or misleading, because it just seems so unbelievable that rail replacement services don't replace only this service of rail?

Do RRBs provide for bikes in any country?
 

ashkeba

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Do RRBs provide for bikes in any country?
Yes, there is at least one using low-floor buses with multifunction areas between the front and next wheels, maybe articulated ones, where you wheel your bike on and hold it for the duration. It is not perfect and bike travel during replacement bus service is discouraged. I think by restricting number of bike tickets. I think not every bus used is equipped but even one can avoid leaving people stranded or with their bike locked at a vulnerable station for several days.

Don't bikes in coach luggage compartments also drop oil or dirt on to other passenger's luggage?
It is possible, but usually bikes are stored away from other luggage. My luggage has been far more often dirtied by the luggage compartment or other passenger's filthy luggage and never by any bike on the Oxford Tube!
 

Ediswan

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Don't bikes in coach luggage compartments also drop oil or dirt on to other passenger's luggage?
Not road or utility bikes. I have put those in or on cars many times, never found any dirty drips.

Also, to drip on other passengers luggage, the luggage space would have to be tall enough to put bikes on top of other luaggage. I have not seen any mention of luggage spaces tall enough to allow that.
 

jon0844

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That is not going to happen, things that appear easy for a quick internet post are rarely that way to actually put into practice in any useful way.

Lockers on coaches are not a standard size, nor are the locker doors. None are big enough to fit an adult bike upright*, so at best it would be a cage to put bikes in lying flat.

Any cage would also need some sort of fixed attachment and levering mechanism, or are you expecting a coach driver to lift a fully loaded cage with multiple bikes from the pavement to the coach?

Most of the coaches I drove were fitted with large powered doors, one each side, it was easy to put in a bike laying flat lengthways but any subsequent bikes could only be carried if placed on top of the first one. As the luggage loads I carried were usually moderate I would normally only use the nearside lockers so the offside was available for the infrequent occasions I had people with bikes. It worked OK but I didn't drive any routes with large bike demand, colleagues who did drive a route that would get peaks of people wanting to take bikes (without any sort of pre-booking) had regular issues with lack of space and bikes being stacked on top of each other.

From observation, coaches from private hire companies mostly have manual doors which are smaller with several per side making it much more difficult to fit in any bikes, depending on the design of the coach bodies.

*Overdeckers may just be able to fit smaller adult bikes upright but there are very few of these in the country.

All that only applies to traditional full-size high-floor coaches, smaller coaches or ones with mid-mounted wheelchair lifts have even less space for bikes.

Given countries where cycling is very common don't allow all this, I am amazed some think this will somehow encourage more cycling. Fair weather cycling perhaps, where people can simply give up at any moment and jump on the next bus/train.

I think people in the UK would also be far more precious of their bikes, compared to people in other countries where they ride bikes that could be 40 or 50 years old and often look battered - but are simply used as a tool to get from A to B (and, as mentioned, people most likely own more than one).

Just imagine when someone here gets upset that their bike got scratched or scuffed because someone else put their bike on top of it, and tries to make a claim for damages. I have no doubt this alone would put paid to any idea of stacking lots of bikes up on a bus.
 

Deafdoggie

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29 Sep 2016
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That is not going to happen, things that appear easy for a quick internet post are rarely that way to actually put into practice in any useful way.

Lockers on coaches are not a standard size, nor are the locker doors. None are big enough to fit an adult bike upright*, so at best it would be a cage to put bikes in lying flat.

Any cage would also need some sort of fixed attachment and levering mechanism, or are you expecting a coach driver to lift a fully loaded cage with multiple bikes from the pavement to the coach?

Most of the coaches I drove were fitted with large powered doors, one each side, it was easy to put in a bike laying flat lengthways but any subsequent bikes could only be carried if placed on top of the first one. As the luggage loads I carried were usually moderate I would normally only use the nearside lockers so the offside was available for the infrequent occasions I had people with bikes. It worked OK but I didn't drive any routes with large bike demand, colleagues who did drive a route that would get peaks of people wanting to take bikes (without any sort of pre-booking) had regular issues with lack of space and bikes being stacked on top of each other.

From observation, coaches from private hire companies mostly have manual doors which are smaller with several per side making it much more difficult to fit in any bikes, depending on the design of the coach bodies.

*Overdeckers may just be able to fit smaller adult bikes upright but there are very few of these in the country.

All that only applies to traditional full-size high-floor coaches, smaller coaches or ones with mid-mounted wheelchair lifts have even less space for bikes.
My post really was to highlight the fact that, if you paid someone enough, they'd find a solution. The problem is, no one is going to pay.
 
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