Things you like to see invented

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Ming the Merciless

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
Railways carriages that can take bikes of all shapes and sizes without giving owners a hernia trying to get them in and out.

An online railway booking system where if buying tickets for a journey requiring multiple trains, you can book the bike spaces for the trains that need it. Needing to go to the ticket office to get a matching reservation is not cool or encouraging.
 
tyred

tyred

Legendary Member
Location
Ireland
I haven't got a railway!
 
chriswoody

chriswoody

Legendary Member
Location
Northern Germany
Ming the Merciless said:
Railways carriages that can take bikes of all shapes and sizes without giving owners a hernia trying to get them in and out.
Click to expand...

You mean like this?

train (1).jpg


It's the lower deck of the double decker carriage that takes me to work everyday. At both ends of the carriage is a ramp that goes up to platform level, so for the most part it's a simple case of wheeling your bike in and out onto the platform.
 
a.twiddler

a.twiddler

Veteran
Bike friendly trains in the UK were a side effect of something else: the need to carry parcels, pigeons, newspapers, even milk traffic. When that traffic dried up, trains continued to have a guard's van until new rolling stock was designed. I remember being able to carry a small motorbike by train in the 70s for half fare. Bicycles were always something of a side line, an afterthought. When the InterCity 125s came along there was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth about the small capacity of the guard's accommodation but by modern standards they were big enough. So really someone needs to invent sufficient traffic for a bike friendly passenger vehicle to be included in a train again. If that pressure comes from enough people wanting to travel with bikes, so much the better but it's a vicious circle. While it's made difficult, less cyclists will use trains, because we're still not a big enough incentive for train companies to create the space. We have to fight it out with other travellers' luggage. There's a ray of hope on the West Highland Line, and Transport for Wales on the Central Wales Line planning an extra coach with more capacity for bikes on some services but outside tourist areas, everyday trains are still iffy for cyclists.

So we need someone, somewhere to invent a reason for that extra capacity.
 
Last edited:
sleuthey

sleuthey

Legendary Member
Location
South Gloucestershire
Screenshot_20240605-171615~2.png
 
OP
OP
Ming the Merciless

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
chriswoody said:
You mean like this?

View attachment 733096

It's the lower deck of the double decker carriage that takes me to work everyday. At both ends of the carriage is a ramp that goes up to platform level, so for the most part it's a simple case of wheeling your bike in and out onto the platform.
Click to expand...

Are you living on Earth 2 in a parallel universe? 😳
 
chriswoody

chriswoody

Legendary Member
Location
Northern Germany
Nope, just an enlightened country.

To be fair it is the best provision I've seen on German trains, it is quite special, I think the trains are built by the Canadian company Bombardier. During the summer it's not uncommon to have this carriage completely packed with all manner of different bikes.

In the Winter due to reduced demand, they actually fit a double row of seats in the middle, leaving either end free for a dozen bikes or so.
 
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