Bicycle Network: Where to Ride

The current situation – 2010

At the moment it can be very difficult and even sometimes impossible to take your bike on some regional public transport services in Victoria.

Recently, standard bikes have been banned from V/Line Coaches. Folding bikes are still permitted.

You may be turned away if you want to bring your bike on rail services if the train is full of passengers and luggage. This is more likely to happen on the purple VLocity and yellow Sprinter services, which are common on all lines and often have larger volumes of commuters and less luggage space available.

A group of riders can find it hard to get all their bikes on a train service due to limited space at the best of times.

This situation makes it difficult for people to rely on being able to get their bike to cycle tourism destinations in regional Victoria; to use their bike for transport on a visit to regional Victoria and to bring their bike into the metropolitan area.

Clearly the current situation is unsatisfactory.

Working with the agencies

For many years Bicycle Network Victoria been making representations to the Department of Transport and V/Line to improve the situtation.

By working closely with these agencies solutions are being developed.

The problems are complex and there is no one inititiave that will solve all or most of the problems.

The aim

Set out below is the range of initiatives being pursued to improve the situation:

1. Increase the use of the existing ‘bike friendly’ services
• Tell riders how to follow the star on the V/Line train timetable so they easily find services that have extra storage capacity. This increases the likelihood of getting a spot for your bike on the train.
• Have a bike symbol affixed to the timetables along with the ‘first class star’
• All the first class carriages should have a bike stencil on the outside of the storage compartment, most have this already.
• Promote these services.

2. Trial a ‘tourist’ service for groups where popular rail trail destinations are served by low capacity VLocity trains and coaches
• Trail Transporter trial to Ballarat and Leongatha - completed
• Longer trial over the whole of the summer season

3. Enable, by regulation and fit out of coach luggage spaces, the carriage of 2/3 bikes on each V/Line coach
• Develop a system that protects the bikes and passengers luggage
• Develop an easy and effective booking system

4. Improve the storage/carriage of bikes in VLine locomotive-hauled trains
• Develop a system that protects the bikes and passengers luggage

5. Improve existing space on current and new VLocity trains
• Develop a cost effective retrofit of luggage space that is currently available
• Investigate flip up seat area as on metro trains

6. Sprinters
• Support the replacement of Sprinters

7.  Regional commuter services
• Support installation of Parkiteers at regional home stations
• Develop public bike option in the Melbourne CBD for inbound regional commuters
• Develop bike parking at CBD rail stations for inbound regional commuters

8. Ensure that the trains that replace the locomotives have equivalent space, if not more, than current stock.