G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

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HyperHorse
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G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby HyperHorse » Thu Feb 01, 2018 10:33 am

Hey people...
I was taking my bike to 99 Bikes in Southport on the G-Link for a makeover as I didn't feel especially safe riding all the way...
So I get on and the driver tries to tell me that I can't take my bicycle on board.. So I ignore him.. No one ever told me that, and there aren't any signs stating bicycles aren't allowed on board. So I get home and I ring up Trans Link and they say this is true, and I ask why and they said "It's for safety reasons" to which I demanded an expansion on this stupid rule...
Anyway I'm only going to be on the Gold Coast a few more weeks, but I'd still like to have this stupid rule overturned...
What do you think I should do???
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Cheesewheel
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby Cheesewheel » Thu Feb 01, 2018 10:56 am

Its uniform rule from translink ... so good luck trying to change anything .... pretty sure you could grow hair quicker than they can implement change via customer feedback... ironically bicycles are allowed on buses if its a child by themself (due to safety reasons, children cannot be left behind) .... I think its not so much the safety issues of one or two cyclists but of many using that is the issue .... as a side note, surfboards, unfolded prams etc are allowed on the network. You can expect them to be layering new security protocols for commonwealth games, so thats another element of bad timing

Nb. A bicycle boxed or bagged up is no problem
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Thoglette
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby Thoglette » Thu Feb 01, 2018 4:15 pm

HyperHorse wrote:they said "It's for safety reasons" ..
What do you think I should do???
It will require the minister to overrule the bureaucrats. The minister will only do so if there's a photo-op (or similar).

The best chance is to get BQ (or some similar organisation) to convince the minister to bring QLD into line with the other states (or "world's best practice") in time for the Commonwealth Games.
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HyperHorse
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby HyperHorse » Fri Feb 02, 2018 9:59 am

Thanks for the input, gentlemen.
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PiratePete
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby PiratePete » Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:37 pm

Cheesewheel wrote:Its uniform rule from translink ...
Then why are you permitted to take them on the train?

Seems odd to be able to take it on the train from Brisbane, then not onto the light rail...
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby piledhigher » Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:40 pm

PiratePete wrote:
Cheesewheel wrote:Its uniform rule from translink ...
Then why are you permitted to take them on the train?

Seems odd to be able to take it on the train from Brisbane, then not onto the light rail...
Same as Melbourne, trams are a no go trains are all good. Sorry 'light rail'...

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Lukeyboy
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby Lukeyboy » Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:22 am

PiratePete wrote:
Cheesewheel wrote:Its uniform rule from translink ...
Then why are you permitted to take them on the train?

Seems odd to be able to take it on the train from Brisbane, then not onto the light rail...
Because one is a tram and the other is a light rail vehicle. Trains are wider and have more space than a light rail vehicle. They can also carry more passengers. It was designed to act as a main transportation route with it replacing many bus services.

myforwik
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby myforwik » Sun Sep 23, 2018 3:36 pm

The government should absolutely ban this rule, plus the rule that bikes can't go on trains during unfound motioning and outbound afternoon.

It's just crippling people from actually using bikes. Bikes and trains should be the perfect match.

At the very least just charge extra for it. And the safety reasons are completely made up. Remember that QR does a chartered train ride from brigand to sunshine coast for cycle of giving that over crowds a train with thousands of cyclists... Which apparently is perfectly ok. And wheel chairs are ok. Etc etc.

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Lukeyboy
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby Lukeyboy » Fri Oct 12, 2018 8:33 pm

myforwik wrote:The government should absolutely ban this rule, plus the rule that bikes can't go on trains during unfound motioning and outbound afternoon.

It's just crippling people from actually using bikes. Bikes and trains should be the perfect match.

At the very least just charge extra for it. And the safety reasons are completely made up. Remember that QR does a chartered train ride from brigand to sunshine coast for cycle of giving that over crowds a train with thousands of cyclists... Which apparently is perfectly ok. And wheel chairs are ok. Etc etc.
G-Link is a private company and they set the rules. Translink also can impose rules.

Bikes aren't permitted on trains during peak hour direction ie citybound in the morning and terminus bound in the afternoons. If you are going the other way there is no issue with taking your bike on a train. Safety isn't the main part of the reason and has never been. It has some effect but it's more so to do with capacity (how many people you can put on the train along with how fast you can get those people on and off the train) and timetabling (fitting them inbetween services, having express trains fit in between the all stoppers and slotting trains inbetween trains going the other direction ie at flat junctions such as Roma Street, Bowen Hills, Northgate and Park Road). You might say that it might add an extra 30 seconds to get on and another 30 seconds to get off. An extra 60 seconds during peak hour is a lot more than during off peak. During peak an extra 30 seconds can mean the train behind yours running on green signalling at full track speed or on yellows at a restricted speed (depending on the type of signaling system that can be as much as 50-75% of the posted track speed). The type of signalling also plays a factor such as an older type of signaling (the brisbane suburban area currently does not have ATP in operation) can mean you can only funnel X amount of trains through the inner core where as another type of signalling can pump X amount plus and extra Y trains with an potential for a maximum of Z (IIRC 24 trains per hour is the maximum output currently capable through the inner core on the mains). This is especially important when OTP, transfers (train-train, train-bus, train-tram), tight scheduling (ie slotting express services inbetween all stoppers) and express running to form additional peak hour services (some morning Ipswich/Springfield to Bowen Hills trains get cleared and then run out of service to Kippa Ring to form new peak hour Kippa Ring-Roma Street services. This is repeated on the Ferny Grove and Shorncliffe lines and also applies in the afternoon such as Kippa Ring, Shorncliffe, Doomben and Northgate terminators running dead to Bowen Hills to form new services to Cleveland, Manly, Kuraby, Beenleigh and the Gold Coast) are involved.

As you said the Cycle of Giving is a chartered train. It runs or used to run Express Roma Street to Landsborough stopping only at Carseldine and Caboolture. Brisbane to Gold Coast is a similar boat but with an extra few stops. The return services usually share the load evenly with revenue services as everyone doesn't finish the 100km at the same time or uses the train to get back.

You also mentioned wheelchairs. They indeed do slow the trains down. But most wheel chair users have pre arranged/regular services and station staff are there on hand to help with boarding and disembarking. Same thing on the opposite end with guards relaying to control that they have a wheelchair user going to Albion from Banyo. Control relays via the CSA network that the staff member at Albion is needed at on platform 1 to meet train XXXX to assist with that passenger disembarking. You can see something similar with staff at stations where the current NGR trains. Staff have a list of what and when the NGR trains will be coming their way. Since its a DOO designed train there is no guard able to assist with any boarding and disembarking so the PSA do these duties.

Sorry if OTT. But I thought I'd let you know the actual reasons.

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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:45 pm

You need to talk to G-Link, and in detail. Work out their issues.

I can see safety being an issue on a bus in case of the need to evacuate quickly. Not common but then safety rules are not always about daily occurrences.

The speed at which you can get on and off is an issue during peak times. Delaying 1500 other passengers on a train will not win any friends.

On crowded transport, moving in and out with greasy chains and powdery brakes are an issue for other passengers crammed in with you.

Most such restrictions have a sound basis and the chances are, you will not get what you are after. But with the right will by both parties and sound reasoning it MAY happen. The starting point is to find and talk to the RIGHT people in the bureaucracy, and that's NOT bicycles.net. "Demanding" explanations from some servant in no position to do anything will get you nowhere.

I managed to have the Bikes on Transperth policy modified for myself (unicycles) on buses and after that trains but each time it took around three months. I put considerable effort and thought into what their problems were and how I could address them. It was effort well rewarded.

Good luck but time is against you methinks.
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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Mon Oct 15, 2018 2:01 pm

Thoglette wrote:
HyperHorse wrote:they said "It's for safety reasons" ..
What do you think I should do???
It will require the minister to overrule the bureaucrats. The minister will only do so if there's a photo-op (or similar).

The best chance is to get BQ (or some similar organisation) to convince the minister to bring QLD into line with the other states (or "world's best practice") in time for the Commonwealth Games.
Huh? You are assuming that the bureaucrats will not consider any proposals. The bureaucrats do these things all the time. In my case I never had to get close to a politician or even a media hack.
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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Mon Oct 15, 2018 2:14 pm

wrt limits imposed during peak times on trains, a train during peak time is a rapid transit high volume package. If a cyclist at every second stop has to delya departure by thirty seconds as a bike wedges it's way tot he door, then there is 2000 people held up. And, being peak hour, with trains timed to be some minimum distance behind (say, three minutes), then every other train behind, with their thousands, will also have to hold up.

I agree with the sentiment that bikes and public transport should be symbiotic. But to disrupt a service during the hours that it is returning maximum benefit to the community is not the way to do it.

There is a solution used elsewhere - a half carriage on, say, every second train for bikes only, suitably hung with easy access to the door. It costs money and may require some platform works but it doesn't affect the timely running of an essential service.

LukeyBoy gives a good explanation of the "why".
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myforwik
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby myforwik » Mon May 31, 2021 8:51 pm

Bikes now allowed on translink trains during peak commencing 1st July.

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Cheesewheel
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby Cheesewheel » Mon May 31, 2021 10:14 pm

myforwik wrote:
Mon May 31, 2021 8:51 pm
Bikes now allowed on translink trains during peak commencing 1st July.
The light rail (G link) operates under different guidelines. Unless they specifically mentioned trams(which I highly doubt .... but it would be nice ro be proven wrong), its still a no go for bikes. As far as the GC side of the train network, the policing of the non peak hour ban was pretty loose .... but then I never caught the train during the thickest of the peak time.
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azazel
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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby azazel » Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:17 pm

myforwik wrote:
Mon May 31, 2021 8:51 pm
Bikes now allowed on translink trains during peak commencing 1st July.
And https://bq.org.au/news/full-steam-ahead ... on-trains/

We would also like to be able to bring bikes on the G-Link tram on the Gold Coast, and a more liberal allocation for bike storage on the Tilt Train service from Brisbane to Bundaberg and Rockhampton,” Ms Randazzo (Bicycle QLD CEO) said.

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Re: G-Link.. Not allowed to take a bicycle on??

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Tue Sep 21, 2021 9:00 pm

azazel wrote:
Tue Sep 21, 2021 3:17 pm
myforwik wrote:
Mon May 31, 2021 8:51 pm
Bikes now allowed on translink trains during peak commencing 1st July.
And https://bq.org.au/news/full-steam-ahead ... on-trains/

We would also like to be able to bring bikes on the G-Link tram on the Gold Coast, and a more liberal allocation for bike storage on the Tilt Train service from Brisbane to Bundaberg and Rockhampton,” Ms Randazzo (Bicycle QLD CEO) said.
I'm mildly surprised.

At the same time I am disappointed to see that e-scooters are not allowed in the first place. They are not particularly bulky and they are easy to bring on and off the train within the time that it takes for a train to load/unload other passengers.
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