No cyclist likes taking their bike on the train, but we should have the right to do so. It’s really useful in situations like flat tire, bad weather, super long distance.

As the city bike infrastructure continues to improve and ridership goes up maybe they should consider removing half the seats from the last and first cars to make room.

Bikes and rights would reign supreme under a Rev. Billy administration.

And don’t get me started about people who won’t fold up strollers before they board the train.

Second, Bloomberg takes a fleet of SUVs 22 blocks from his home to the subway station. He is not a typical subway user. I’m guessing some political PR flack decided that putting a billionaire on the subway would make for good copy and create the impression that Bloomberg is an everyman. A lot of people seem to have internalized the idea that he’s a “huge supporter” of the subway for no clear reason.

Third, the subway is sometimes the only option for a bicyclist with a mechanical failure, or in the event of bad weather. I hate having to take my bike on the subway because it is an inconvenience to me and other riders, and only do it when I have no other options. But when I do, I always wait to make sure I’m getting on a non-crowded car to limit any inconvenience to other riders. I realize that some inconvenience may be unavoidable, but we live in an imperfect world, and this is a case where a little empathy from other subway riders will go a long way.

Finally, I just wanted to say that part of the magic of living in NYC is seeing a 5 foot girl with a cello case twice her size on the subway. Stuff like that brings a smile to my face, and I’m happy to be inconvenienced by it. Have a nice day all!

I also think that cyclists have a responsibility to minimize their impact on others. For that reason I encourage people to look into purchasing a folding bike if they use bike + subway to commute. The folding bikes take up A LOT less room and are much easier to get around. Observe. Another option is to alter your work schedule so that you don’t commute during rush hour, if that is possible.

I think they should offer to sell or long-term rent folding bikes to people on the subway, and sell them to people on the subway. Rail and bikes do have a symbiotic relationship in a well-developed transit system, so you need to encourage this and get the best equipment into the hands of the people.

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#46 – Great point, LN! If cyclists who occasionally take the subway used to always take the subway, then they are heroes.

A big packages, bikes… and dogs (see below) area could be useful.

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There have been three-bike front racks available for over two years. It is good to remember that they aren’t just for hills or long stretches — they simply let a traveler be more flexible. As with the subway, this can mean bad weather, a breakdown, danger on the street, drunkenness or another physiological condition… or just for when you mean someone who is walking and you want to get on the bus with them!

Large pet dogs – leashed and muzzled – are allowed on urban transit in Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto and most European cities. Would it be possible to at least accommodate them off-peak on some subways and ferries in order to form a mobility chain which hooks up with Metro North? See my website for more ideas and info.

Considering how hamstrung the MTA is from years and years of underfunding, that’s true, but a little misleading.

There’s clearly a larger demand for transit service than the MTA can provide. Cyclists are therefore natural allies for straphangers in keeping people off over-stuffed trains. Allowing cyclists to use transit when needed (and as others have pointed out – when cyclists use the train it’s always a worst-case scenario.) is essential towards promoting cycling as a viable transportation alternative.

But in the big scheme, this is yet another unfortunate instance of responsible commuters needlessly fighting over resource crumbs. The larger outrage here is that we have an over crowded transit system, held together with chewing gum and rubber bands. It’s an overtaxed system that our leaders have failed to sustain – much less expand to keep pace with the increasing demand for additional service…

That the subways can not handle the occasional bicycle is yet another failing of our shortsighted elected leaders.

The MTA allocates service based on daily ridership. I doubt occasional ridership factors into MTA’s calculations unless it follows some regular pattern. Therefore riding your bike “most days” doesn’t free up “space on the subway,” it induces service cuts, to the detriment of everyone who lives in your neighborhood.

The transit systems needs both bodies and fares to survive, especially now that it’s radically underfunded. There’s no reason why the electeds should move heaven and earth to find funds to serve nearly nonexistent riders.

Check next film up later today on a BRT system in L.A. that has THREE bike racks on the front of their buses!

re: annoying, I think it actually embarrassing too. I visit the city monthly, and just noticed two days ago that something was really missing from the front of all those buses in Astor Place.

Better yet, he could offer several cyclists a lift, as there’s plenty of room in a Suburban emptied of the Mayor and his security detail to stash several bicycles and their cyclists. And since they’re City vehicles, they may not be inconvenienced by having to stop at red lights, making the trip downtown all the more zippy.

Other commenters have already hashed out the pros and cons, and perhaps the Mayor was voicing something that boils down to an issue of common sense — something that’s frequently in short supply in New York City. But more often than not, when Mike Bloomberg speaks, it just sounds like an impatient scolding from NYC’s richest man.

I think it is also the place where they would be the most easily be accepted. Although I would love to see them on buses in Manhattan too, there would probably be quite a bit of difficulty with some lines.

Put them in Eastern Queens, South Brooklyn, most of the Bronx, all of Staten Island, they are greatly needed and I think would help slowly nudge them to more populus regions of NYC. It is amzing, every large city except New YOrk has bike racks on buses. SF, LA, Boulder, Portland, Seattle, why is so NYC behind the times on this issue? It frankly has become annoying.

I’m surprised you think the fare is the point here, but I would happy to pay extra to bring my bicycle into a train at whatever hour unexpected circumstances require it. It hasn’t happened yet and I hope doesn’t. If fare were the topic we would be talking about off-peak discounts to reward that shift worker, a premium price for peak trips to encourage bicycling and walking, and (to be utterly dismal) escalating surcharges for any object bigger than a briefcase.

But what I am saying and what I think LN is also saying (and you are striving to logically impale with unsuitable gusto) is that our bicycles, the physical objects, have been directly responsible for saving quite a lot of space on the subway. Because and only because of the bicycle I’m able to avoid (underpriced) rush hour trains that I don’t want to take and people on them don’t want me to take either. I can’t change shifts. I don’t want a handout, or whatever you think I want. But it’s narrow-minded to be in up arms about this object—which on the whole saves a great deal of subway space—being occasionally brought on the subway. Accommodating bicycles on public transportation expands bicycle use and has the potential to net-lighten the load of our subsidized (yet under-subsidized) public transportation. It’s in the public interest.

“admiral” should be admirable

“gratuitous digital signage” are not really gratuitous as they do help to use the system.

“frequent meaningless messages” are not really meaningless and have been implemented to calm passengers in many instances of uncertainty.

But overall, the improvements should be much more dramatic in the midst of economic and climate change crisis and subsequent rapidly changing times.