Thursday, October 12, 2006

Thank you UTA, for making me feel like a criminal

A few Sundays ago
Mags and I took a ride on TRAX, our local light rail service. It was a quiet morning and the train car was
nearly empty except for Mags and me, three cyclists at the other end of the car
and about five other riders. We leaned
our bikes against the front of the car and sat down in one of the many empty
seats. In doing so we became criminals.



Cyclists are required
to stand with their bikes when riding the train.



Three stops after we
got on a Transit Police officer also got on. I saw her through the window but decided against hopping up and
pretending like I had been standing the whole time. That was my first mistake. The cop had an attitude. She reminded us of the rule we were breaking
like she was confronting a criminal she’d been pursuing for weeks.



Then I made my second
mistake. I told her that I did not feel
comfortable standing up with my bike while the train is moving. The trains can stop and start suddenly, and shake
from side to side. The rule requires
cyclists to hold their bike with at least one hand, which means they only have one hand left to hold onto a handrail. Sometimes holding the handrail with one
hand is not enough. Bikes move from side to side and front to back with the motion of the train.  It can take both hands to keep a bike under contol.  I have met cyclists
who have fallen when the train stopped suddenly because they were obeying the
rule. You can forget about reading a
book, making a phone call or even, heaven forbid, resting your legs, if you obey this
rule, because both of your hands will be full.



The cop didn’t
appreciate me talking back to her. So
she took our IDs, called for backup (she was also going to cite the three
cyclists at the other end of the car) and ordered us to get off at the next
stop, where she gave us $50 citations for ‘bicycle violations’.



To make a long story
short, rather than send in two checks for $50 each, we sent in letters
contesting the citation. In mine I
explained the circumstances of the citation and asked them to change my
citation to a warning because I had no previous citations. I also included the following paragraph:



Part of the mission
statement adopted by the board of trustees for UTA is to enable “individuals to
pursue a fuller life with greater ease and convenience”. Holding onto both a bicycle and a handrail on
a moving train is neither easy nor convenient. If I am required to put myself in an unsafe situation every time I ride
the train with my bicycle then I will be forced to find another means of
transportation, and UTA has failed in this part of its mission.



We got responses to
our letters last week. Here are a few
highlights:



“Trains were designed
to move people not bicycles”



OK, so apparently UTA
doesn’t consider cyclists to be people. It’s not like we’re loading the train so full of bikes that nobody else
can get on. We’re just people who want
to ride the train instead of driving our car. We do it for financial, environmental, or social reasons, but we’re
still people. We just happen to bring a
bicycle along because UTA doesn’t go everywhere we want to go. Combining a bike with the bus and train
system really is a great way to get around, which brings me to the second
highlight:



“We are doing what we
can to accommodate bike riders”



That’s a lie and they
know it. Accommodating bike riders means
allowing them to sit down when seats are available. It means allowing more than four bikes per
train car. It means equipping busses to
carry more than two bikes at a time. It
means treating cyclists with respect because we’re doing our part to alleviate traffic
and pollution. Strict enforcement of the
rules for bikes discourages people from riding bikes, and worse, from riding
public transportation.



What does
accommodating bike riders mean to you? Please   write to UTA and tell them. In the meantime, I’ll still be riding the train in one of the
comfortable seats while keeping one eye out for the cops. Thank you UTA, for making me feel like a
criminal.







1 comment:

  1. I just have to say that that is one of the dumbest rules ever! I may not ride on trains with bikes often, but I can realize how uncomfortable it would be to have to stand up and hold your bike. Plus you literally fly forward when the train stops. I wouldn't mind giving the UTA a piece of my mind. So I think I just might write them. By the way did you actually have to pay the fine Chad.

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