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Thameslink cycle policy: Is Kentish Town a "central London station"?

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AndyY

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The cycle carriage policy of Thameslink says bicycles are not allowed "on trains travelling towards London south of Luton Airport Parkway that are timed to arrive at or pass through any central London station between 07:00 and 10:00 Monday to Friday, except on public holidays".

The 09:43 train from Mill Hill Broadway passes Kentish Town at 10:00 and London St. Pancras International at 10:03. Kentish Town is in zone 2. Is it a central London station?
 
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button_boxer

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I would think it's safe to assume it means stations that are part of the "London Thameslink" destination, i.e. St Pancras to Elephant/London Bridge inclusive.
 

asylumxl

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As button_boxer said, it means London Thameslink stations. But as your train arrives St Panvras after 10, there should be no issues taking your bike.
 

stut

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The planner on nationalrail.co.uk will tell you whether or not cycles are permitted on any given service. Click on 'details', then look down to the 'additional info' section, and hover over the bike icon. It reckons the 09:43 doesn't take bikes. Whether it's right or not...
 

AndyY

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Thank you everybody for their responses. I will give Thameslink a call to clarify and then report back.
 

ComUtoR

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Thank you everybody for their responses. I will give Thameslink a call to clarify and then report back.

Ask about the difference between a fold down cycle and a full cycle :)
 

FlippyFF

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I overheard a conversation between a fellow passenger and an On-Board Manager on a 395 early one morning - it would have been an 06:13 departure from Ashford towards St Pancras. The passenger, who had a folding bike, queried why another passenger had been allowed on with a non-folding bike which was blocking a vestibule. The OBM's response was that non-folding bikes were only banned on peak services and that service wasn't a peak train. The passenger then queried why he had to pay a peak fare to travel on that train.....
 

Mutant Lemming

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There are many off peak Thameslink services where cycles should be banned - there just isn't the space on them especially when they are reduced to 4 cars (like at the weekends).
They need to either sort out a designated cycle area and direct cyclists only to that area or impose a ban on the busiest off peak trains.
 

jopsuk

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First Capital Connect had a map- can't find a high res copy of it any more, just thumbnails.
 

stut

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web.archive.org is your friend:

cycle_restrictions_map.jpg
 

Abpj17

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There are many off peak Thameslink services where cycles should be banned - there just isn't the space on them especially when they are reduced to 4 cars (like at the weekends).
They need to either sort out a designated cycle area and direct cyclists only to that area or impose a ban on the busiest off peak trains.

Yeah - it's all very unpredictable though - especially with the unplanned reductions. Trains out of sequence and certain 'after pub shuts' trains are too crowded for bikes on a regular basis. The sensible commuters have fold ups.

Not sure there is space for a designated cycle area though - unless it came at the cost of all those empty first class seats ;)

(and so from the map it's fine - Kentish Town is zone A but not B)
 

AndyY

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Sorry for the lack of update about this. I got a response from the train company:

Although I appreciate that you have previously been able to take your non-folding cycle on board the service, but staff can ask you to remove your bike at any time, especially if the service is overcrowded and if the bike will cause an obstruction.

We have been suffering a few delays on the Thameslink route recently and if staff are told the service is overcrowded, then they are able to stop you from boarding the service, and I am sorry that this inconvenienced you.


It does not really answer the question. I think I made it clear in my original email that the refusal was not due to overcrowding. Staff at the station simply said bicycles are not allowed on the train under any circumstances because it "passes through a Central London station before 10:00" (which is a blatantly incorrect statement). In any case, I will take a printed copy of the response, show it to the staff if challenged, and contact Customer Services again if I am refused again when the train is not overcrowded (which from experience is rarely the case unless previous services have been overcrowded).
 
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