Bikes Board First Pilot Extends to Sunnyvale, Hillsdale and 22nd Street Stations

By Dan Lieberman, @LiebermanTweets On Monday, June 11, Caltrain will expand the Bikes Board First program to three additional stations: Sunnyvale and Hillsdale on the northbound platform, and 22^nd Street on the southbound platform. From 6-9 a.m., bicyclists at these locations will be allowed to board bike cars first. Passengers with bicycles are encouraged to board the bike cars at the southern end of the platform. Caltrain staff will be on hand at those stations to enforce the policy, which would prevent bicyclists from having to navigate through a crowd of riders blocking the entrance. These boardings will be timed and compared to the standard boarding process to determine if this new approach could make overall Caltrain service more efficient. The initial pilot began in April on northbound platforms at the Mountain View, Palo Alto and Redwood City stations, where boarding times often took well over one minute. During the pilot, those times were decreased to within a desirable range across these stations, with some trains shaving more than a minute from their boarding times. The Bikes Board First policy remains in effect at these stations. Caltrain carries more bikes than any other rail system in the country, so it’s our hope that this will make the riding experience more efficient and get everyone to where they’re going faster. Please do your part to speed up everyone’s commute and let bikes board first!

###