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Re: Tandems on Public Transportation

Jack Fell2007-12-22 00:27:50

Jack Fell
We are flying in from Canada. I would like information about moving from location to location on public transportation with our tandem in Great Britian, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France. Is it possible to take the trains between locations and or countries with a tandem?
Thanks for any information
Jack

wkb212007-12-26 11:46:32

: Jack Fell
: I would like information about moving from
: location to location on public transportation with our tandem in Great
: Britain, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg and France.

A general point; in mainland Europe you will find that you are treated like a human doing something reasonable and logical if you travel by public transport with a bike or tandem. In the UK you will frequently be treated as an irritating eccentric to be tolerated at best, and thwarted at worst.

In mainland Europe, we have travelled (with tandem) without trouble, and at very short notice, on inter-city expresses, the Munich underground, Rotterdam - Amsterdam commuter trains in the rush hour, escalators, elevators, and many other services. We have been treated courteously and with great help in all cases.

In the UK, the obstacles frequently thrown at you are formidable, and you will get the impression that you are an undesirable alien. Stick with it though, persistence and pre-planning can prevail.

Always seek local knowledge and assistance from the experts.

martyn aldis2007-12-30 16:21:56

: A general point; in mainland Europe you will find that you are treated like a
: human doing something reasonable and logical if you travel by public
: transport with a bike or tandem. In the UK you will frequently be treated
: as an irritating eccentric to be tolerated at best, and thwarted at worst.

: In mainland Europe, we have travelled (with tandem) without trouble, and at
: very short notice, on inter-city expresses, the Munich underground,
: Rotterdam - Amsterdam commuter trains in the rush hour, escalators,
: elevators, and many other services. We have been treated courteously and
: with great help in all cases.

: In the UK, the obstacles frequently thrown at you are formidable, and you
: will get the impression that you are an undesirable alien. Stick with it
: though, persistence and pre-planning can prevail.

: Always seek local knowledge and assistance from the experts.

I don't think the sweeping generalisation about UK rail staff being against cyclists is at all justified or fair. We've had just a very few unhelpful experiences with rail staff in the UK and the same in France. In both countries we been given the benefit of a very slim doubt and travelled when and where a strict application of the rules would not allow.

Many rail staff have sharpened up excellent responses to "I'm the customer so I'm YOUR BOSS" kind of attitude and I'm glad they have, especially on the platform and on the train were the staff must be clearly in charge and not grovelling to the loudest and most selfish passengers how ever much they are paying.

How much you will enjoy casual unplanned train travel with a tandem depends on your feelings about waiting several hours for a different type of train or cycling off to another town say 50Km away when required. If you want to stick to a schedule and can't settle into a book or your thoughts when your plans are thwarted, you need to do all the homework you can - the internet is a good place to start but of course pages do go out of date. One difficulty is that information about the kind of rolling stock used for each service is not always published very clearly, presumably to allow the operators flexibility, but this level of knowledge is needed for totally reliable tandem carriage. Sometimes it can be deduced from other descriptions of a service such as offer of 1st and standard class.

A tandem can be a considerable pest in the passenger part of a train unless there is a very spacious vestibule area at the end of last carriage. We decided not to try to travel on the smallest modern trains in France because we had become concerned that the staff were too liberal - allowing us on board when the size of the bike made it a nuisance and potential risk to other passengers.

The recent success with First Great Western HST trains shows that there is good sense and flexibility at higher levels in that company at least and let's hope it can be built upon to get more companies to accept our bikes and to get the tandem rider's point of view into the picture earlier when new or updated rolling stock is planned.