CHESTERTON | A ban on allowing bikes on South Shore trains will be lifted this coming spring under a newly approved pilot program.
The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District board on Friday approved a one-year pilot program, on weekends only, starting in the spring.
The consensus from a "bike on trains" advisory committee formed to study the issue and input from the public has been to not delay in allowing trains on bikes, according to NICTD General Manager Michael Noland.
Bicycle enthusiasts at the Indiana Dunes Visitors Center were told at a July 16 meeting on the topic that bikes wouldn't be allowed on South Shore trains until 2021.
Bicycle advocates protested the delay. The Active Transportation Alliance gave NICTD a satiric "Broken Spoke" award for it efforts. The six-year delay drew incredulity from some members of the NICTD board at their May meeting.
"The consensus was that they'd like to see a way to accelerate that," Noland said of the earlier plan.
Noland said the pilot program was devised along the same lines as the introduction of the gallery cars, purchased in 2009, which initially had some bugs to work out.
"Last year the gallery cars anchored the fleet," Noland said.
In order to make room for the test bike racks, three cars with three seats on one side of the aisle and two seats on the other will be used, with some of the three-seat sets removed.
From 25 to 30 bike racks will be installed on each of those cars, which will be used on several trains throughout the day.
A schedule detailing which trains and which stations will be used will be determined later this fall and a complete list made public prior to the start of the spring pilot program, said NICTD Planning and Marketing Director John Parsons.
Noland said plans are to purchase the bike racks from Sportworks of Seattle, Wash., at a cost of approximately $500-$600 per unit.
That doesn't include the cost for labor for installing the racks on cars, a figure not known at this time, Noland said.
"We'll work with the manufacturer this fall and start the program by next spring," Noland said.
Mitch Barloga, of the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC), said the bikes on South Shore train movement got started in 2005, when NIRPC issued a ped and pedal plan for the region. Last year, a bike on trains advisory committee secured funding for a study of the issue.
The results of that study were the subject of the July 16 public hearing. Bill Otter and Dan Schulte, of Quandrel Consulting, presented the study to the audience of about 50 in the visitors center's auditorium.
Otter told the group the NICTD cars were designed to carry people and that there is very little space for anything else.
The South Shore is believed to be the only commuter rail system in the United States that has a total ban on bikes on trains.
After the pilot program was approved, NICTD board members praised the efforts of all who had pushed to get bikes on trains on an earlier schedule.
"I commend you for listening to the people. There'll be bugs to work out but we can work it out," board member Michael Repay said.
"This is a great thing," board president John Evans said.
LeAaron Foley, Midwest Senior Outreach Coordinator, National Parks Conservation Association, issued a statement praising the move.
"Currently, the South Shore line is the only commuter rail line in the country that does not allow passengers to bring bikes on their trains however today’s news, coupled with the recent study commissioned by Northern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, offers great momentum for making bikes on trains a reality, " the statement read in part.