As you have read here, and no doubt experienced if you’ve ridden the light rail Gold Line, there are problems with the new low-floor Siemens S700 rail cars (light rail vehicles, LRVs).

We have two suggestions for the bicycle capacity issue. Dan has been on trips with eleven bicycles in one rail car, and many trips with fewer but in excess of the SacRT ‘policy’ of four per car. On this one trip, it was gridlock inside the car. Regular passengers couldn’t get off or get to seats. People with wheelchairs had a hard time getting on, and an even harder time getting off, with at least one missing a stop. The bicyclists were bumping into each other and several got angry. A mess! So, two possible solutions:

1. Remove the single seats between the doors and the accordion section, on two rail cars, and install bicycle hooks in these spaces. Four seats per car. This option was rejected by SacRT during the design refinement and public input phase. It is true that hanging bicycles extend part way into the aisle, and therefore reduce the ability of mobility device users to freely travel the middle section of the cars. SacRT would then observe the benefits and problems with this configuration, as well as accepting feedback from riders, bicyclists and all others. If the experiment does not offer more benefit than cost, the hooks can be removed and the seats re-installed.
2. Have both fare police and ambassadors communicate with bicyclists about the best places to store bikes on the cars (there are only two signed spaces, and depending on which direction the cars are running, may be on the side that most often opens), how to help make the rider experience optimal for everyone, and the requirement to vacate the priority seating area for passengers that need it. At no time on light rail has Dan seen staff communicating with bicyclist about this.

The other suggestion is about the deployable ramps. On each new platform there is a single door location marked with detectable strips (similar to detectable warning dots, but as bars). Significant delays to the train occur when a regular rider presses the door button before the disabled user presses the ramp button. The doors must first close, then the ramp deploys and retracts, then the doors close again before the train can move. If the forward door on the first car, the one matching the detectable location, responded only to the ramp button, these delays would be greatly reduced. It is not suggested that any other than the first door be treated this way. We do not know if this is even possible, with the controls the train operator has to use, but if it is possible, it should be experimented with. Of course if fully implemented, signs would need to be posted on the deployable ramp doors that the forward-most doors are only for ramp deployment.

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