This Thursday, CAA got a first glimpse of what riding Auckland’s future electric trains (with your bike!) will be like. Auckland Transport organised a presentation / workshop with advocates and transport experts to engage on how the interior of our future rolling stock will look like.
Apart from a lot of slides showing off the modern and stylish features & amenities train passengers will enjoy from 2014 on (wide open interiors! smoother rides! onboard wi-fi!), we also got a first look at how bikes will be able to be taken on board. While the future rules around bicycle carriage are still being finalised, there will definitely be a bicycle area in every 3-car set (trains will run with either one or two such 3-car sets). The bicycle areas will be located in the central low-floor area carriage, which will make wheeling your bike in and out a breeze. The seating areas will also be designed so that you can easily slip luggage (including your folding bike!) under the seats.
One of the key elements – the shape and form of the bike racks or bike restraint systems for standard bicycles – will still have to be determined, but Auckland Transport was very forthcoming and open for discussion, and will engage further directly with CAA to discuss which system will best fit users. Other issues also to be discussed in more detail will be the interaction with wheelchair areas, and the multi-functional areas (which could contain flip-up seats to provide more flexibility). One of CAA’s concerns was that the “starting point” configuration did not show all that many bike racks per train – however, we hope to be able to find a solution where the multi-functional areas can provide for a much more substantial number of bikes, especially in off-peak hours.
Sometime in the middle of 2012, Auckland Transport intends to showcase a 1:1 size mock-up of various train sections, which people (including the general public) will actually be able to enter and “test-use”, including the bike areas. So whether you only intend to ride to the station, or want to take your bike with you, there’s some great things to look forward to with the new electric trains.
