New Bike Policy: NJT Gives Back, Takes Away

Several months ago, NJ Transit modified its bicycle-on-board-trains policy to prohibit use of bicycles at stations that do not have high-level platforms; this ended bike use at many popular stations that lack high-level platforms, including the Hoboken Terminal.  An outcry from bicyclists ensued; now NJT has updated their policy).  However, the new policy, available as a press release on the NJT website and effective July 1, adds serious restrictions on weekends to the use of bicycles, as it simultaneously allows (once again) bike use at low-level-platform stations.  New Jersey cyclists, eyeing the massive program in New York City that makes city streets more accessible to bicycles, have been using NJT to reach Manhattan to explore the city, most often on weekends when city streets are less crowded with motor traffic.  Under the new policy, this will be much more diffficult, as NJT has now banned bikes from weekend trains arriving in Manhattan from 9 a.m. to noon, and leaving between 5 and 8 p.m.  New York cyclists who use NJT to reach the attractive cycling paths and roads of New Jersey (and who formed a main part of the opposition to NJT’s high-level-platform-only rule change) will be much less affected.  Overall, the result of the multiple rules changes will be to leave New York cyclists pretty much unaffected, while seriously restricting the use of the trains by New Jersey bicyclists.

The Lackawanna Coalition believes that all modes of transportation need to work smoothly together to ensure an effective transportation network.