A great problem to have

 The front page story in today’s
Ogden Standard Examiner reads:

Too many bikes on commuter rail cars built for two

The article describes what some see as a problem in that bikes are stacked like
dominoes at each end of the train cars. 
I rode FrontRunner on Tuesday and added my bicycle to a pile of six
bicycles, and that was before rush hour. 

You can read the whole article
here, but, following the example of Rush Limbaugh, who pays attention to the
news so you don’t have to; I’ve taken the liberty to highlight some sections
and provided my own comments below.

The train is equipped with enough
straps to secure two bikes per car. That number is far short of the space and
straps needed to accommodate the 30 to 60 bikes brought aboard the train daily
during peak riding hours.  "[That many bikes] is an
unexpected surprise. But it is a good surprise," said Utah Transit Authority (UTA) spokeswoman Carrie
Bohnsack-Ware.

They’re surprised because the people who make these decisions at UTA don’t ride
bikes.  If they did they wouldn’t have
such restrictive rules on TRAX, and busses would be more accommodating of
bicycles.  And they'd realize that bikes and trains are the perfect combination for getting around the Wasatch Front.

Bohnsack-Ware said one thing UTA is
trying to keep in mind is not making the trains so convenient for those with bikes
that they are inconveniencing other passengers.

Shouldn’t that be the point?  By other
passengers, she means people who drive their cars to the station and catch the
train for the rest of their journey.  Commendable
sure, but still polluting.  Shouldn’t we
be making driving a car more and more inconvenient?  These people are inconveniencing us with
their exhaust, their traffic congestion, and their greenhouse gases.  Shouldn’t we have a right to inconvenience
them back?

Officials with UTA are aware of the
bike overcrowding problem aboard the trains, and they are trying to create the
balance needed between bike riders and non-riders alike.

That's because UTA does not consider cyclists people.  I have the letter to prove it.

The rail car coaches now in use also
are being modified to make room for more bikes by taking out a row of seating
along one of the walls.

Are we really supposed to believe this?  Cyclists have complained about the lack of
bicycle facilities on TRAX—the light rail line—for almost ten years and UTA has
done absolutely nothing about it.

In the "early planning
stages" is a bike service center at the UTA Intermodal Hub in
Salt Lake City to provide
bike rental to commuters, Bohnsack-Ware said.

What about those riders that aren’t going all the way to Salt Lake City?

One thing they have gleaned from rider
input is the need to offer for a small monthly fee bike lockers at the
different rail stop stations.

This would be OK if UTA also offered parking spaces for automobiles “for a
small monthly fee.”  Currently parking is
free.  Bike lockers should be free too.

The Salt Lake Tribune also gave a very brief mention to the story.  I suggest you read some of the comments to that story.  I also suggest you write UTA and tell them how you think they should go about accommodating bikes on trains.