NorthernDave
Never used Über Member
- Location
- The real Northern Powerhouse
Exactly this - Northern don't take bookings (which would be near impossible to organise if you were commuting) and stipulate two bikes per train.
There are two issues with this - firstly that if two cyclists are already occupying the space it's down to the type of train that turns up and the discretion of the guard. To be fair most guards take a sensible approach that if you can get the bike on and keep it out of the way then they'll let you travel. Unfortunately that's not a given and on some services at the peaks they're crush loaded with passengers standing in the designated bike spaces meaning you've no chance of getting a bike on board.
Which ties in with the other point that depending on the type of train the bike spaces can be a dedicated space in the vestibule, a dedicated area at one end of the train (which can have room for 4 or more bikes, despite the two bike rule), or fold up seats by a door. Sods law dictates that the fold up seats generally have people sat in them as they're by the door - so then you have the faff of asking people to move and the complications that brings, especially if the train is busy.
