Thursday, September 10, 2009

Bike capacity increased on Amtrak Capitol Corridor

The popular Capitol Corridor train route -- Amtrak's 3rd busiest with 1.7 million riders last year -- has added more bike racks to the older 1995 cab cars, increasing bike capacity by 34% with seven bike racks now in the older cars. The Capitol Corridor Joints Powers Authority plans to retrofit the newer 2002 cab cars in the near future to further increase bike capacity.

More than 150,000 cyclists -- about 9% of riders -- bring their bikes on board the train each year.

The Capitol Corridor is primarily a commuter train service with 32 daily trains running between San Jose, California and Sacramento, with stops in Santa Clara, along the East Bay, and along I-80 to Sacramento. Capitol Corridor is managed by BART. Incidentally, onboard the train is the only place you can buy discounted BART tickets. Amtrak Capitol Corridor is funded entirely by the state of California.

Nancy and Mike on Amtrak Capitol Corridor

Mike and Nancy unload their bikes from the Amtrak Capitol Corridor in Berkeley. Photo by Richard Masoner.

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3 comments:

  1. It would be nice if they would add bike racks to the Eastern Seaboard trains too. As of now if I want to take a bike between Richmond, VA and Charleston, SC it has to either be a bagged folder or a boxed up bike as sent as luggage.

    I have sent a couple of letters to Amtrak but with no response other than the standard form letter in reply.

    Aaron

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  2. i take this train every morning, from san jose to oakland. i'm glad they're adding more racks, but i continue to be happy with the conductors being very accommdating to riders when the racks are full.

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  3. We did a family bike/Amtrak trip from San Jose to Sacramento earlier this year. My family took up one cars' worth of racks. Later, when more bikes got on, I talked to some to see if they ever got bumped. They didn't even know the concept. Apparently there's always room. One guy had his bike perched in a seat.

    I'm ready to take the Coast Starlight on the next free weekend.

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