Eurostar's new bike carrying policy gets complicated

Well they're not making it any easier are they.

Having done Eurostar with a bike bag, I certainly wouldn't do it again via Paris, and getting on with a bike bag and finding a place for it at Ebbsfleet was also a nightmare. Doing it with a box would be even worse. Via Lille would be ok

This year I flew with BA to Lyon, 2 years ago with Easyjet, but they've bumped up the charge for bike boxes. With BA it was £118 return, with a 23kg hold luggage allowance, plus a cabin bag up to 23kg! So I just about managed to fit enough kit & clothes for a week between the 2. No extra charge for bike boxes, so long as it was under 23kg.

Then hire car from Lyon to St Jean du Maurienne, its an easy drive.

But I did wonder if its really worth the hassle for a weeks riding, even though I'd had a 931 steel frame converted with S&S couplers, so my bike box is within normal suitcase size limits, so would go on Eurostar, if I chose to use the train.

You can get decent carbon & Ti hire bikes in Bourg d'Osains & St Jean de Maurienne (Sport 2000) or rent one from Bike Rentals France, who will deliver to where you're staying.

A chap had a nice carbon Trek, with full 105 for his week, after seeing it, I did think why bother with bringing my own.

He'd travelled by Eurostar, without the hassle of bringing his own bike.

The planes quicker, but I found the train a bit more relaxing and there are more trains to catch, whereas there are only 2 flights a day to Lyon, whichever airport you fly from. Plus they can't change where the trains go from, unlike the planes, where they switched from my nearest & convenient, to one that wasn't!

Great. Eurostar sucks. The quicker their terrible service and confusing policy is out of business, the better.

I always preferred taking the boat anyway. The bar is cheaper.

discounting ryanair, I've flown with a bunch of airlines and just rolled my bike into the airport and given it to them. granted I've got no other serious luggage, but I've never had an issue.

Great experiences with airbaltic, finnair, lufthansa. the rest of the time is goes in a scicon bag and I swear blind it's just luggage (and it's under the 20-22kg limits)

I flew with Alitalia London to Milan, the boxed bike was classed as my one piece of hold luggage, (boxed it was less than the (I think) 22kg limit), and included as part of the std ticket price. I put a few sundries in with it, and took the rest of my luggage as hand luggage, so it worked out quite well. The only downside was outbound my flight was changed due to industrial action. Went on East Mids trains, East coast, London underground and DLR with it in a box, and although a bit of a lug, it was alright. Disabled access on the underground, ramps & lifts were helpful.

Very similar to Lufthansa's "free bike carriage" policy, which I very nearly fell for. Free bike carriage on a plane..? The guy on the helpdesk said it was to promote bike users to fly with them. Incredible, I thought, until I realised I'd struggle to carry the wheels alone to fit with their luggage size policy. When I explained that their offer of free bike carriage was useless and that no bicycle will fit with their measurements, I got the answer only a German could provide: "A small bike would fit, Sir".

It seems most new trains we introduce in this country are designed with zero luggage space.

It's going to be terrible when the new Intercity trains are introduced on the GWML and ECML, gone will be the days of HSTs and DVTs with luggage space.

The new trains (Class 374/E320, 16 Carriage Siemens Velaro-D) being introduced from December, have no "baggage room" on them. The baggage capacity on the new trains is simply the racks at the ends of the carriages a seating plan is here. I'm not sure where they're putting these checked-in bikes- maybe there's some space in the cab area? They've basically designed out the outsize baggage capacity (the trains carry about 150 more passengers)

This would seem to be at odds with the Eurostar Environmental Groups raison d'être. Maybe Road.cc could ask them directly why this move is going ahead?

1) Inclusive of fare 16 places per day Folkestone to le Frethun (2 x 8) fare (inclusive of carrying assembled bike) £25 each way.

2) Bike in bag or box with (official) limit of 1 piece of baggage weighing no more than 32Kg - but no dimensions set (may be refused if too big?) and through journeys to many European destinations. (advance fares from £1/€1 plus booking fee), plus overnight services (departing London c.21.00)

3) Investigating - London-Dusseldorf via Antwerp Overnight only dep c.21.00 arr c.07.30 FSSuO

In theory the EC rail regulators are required to permit Open Access and competition on International Services - now - and in France OuiGo is an example of the services being offered. The option for other operators to run trains in competition with Eurostar has existed since 2010, and DB has Class 407 IC-E trains which are permitted to use the Tunnel. Political/security issues are holding matters up and it seems unlikely that DB will operate trains before 2016. NS has also expressed an interest, but has not got any trains lines up (although these may be available to lease (the OuiGo trains were built for the Eurostar services from Glasgow and Edinburgh, but are now leased for use in France))

In 2007 the launch of the improved cycles service by the concessionaires who operate the baggage van services for Eurostar saw a doubling of cycle numbers every year for 3 years. However at the same time an increasing number of 'Grand Tour of Europe' groups began checking in their caravans of baggage with Eurodespatch (which is where the coaches unload at St Pancras, and pile the bags directly on to the conveyor). 1) they pay well and usually travel first class 2) the baggage vans are getting rather full, with expensive luggage, and this is not compatible with naked bikes.

The shopping trips traffic has lead to Eurostar getting out of step with almost every other EU train operator AND the UK services by reducing the permitted size of suitcases to 85 cm x 85 cm (most operators accept 120 cm x 90 cm).

Just as CTC was the key organisation to deliver the 2007 opportunity they are working with other ECF members to deliver the alternatives to Eurostar, where clearly the welcome for cyclists has all but evaporated - especially for those boarding in London and Paris (Brussels and Lille have always been more welcoming with or without a bike).

So options can include pressing your MEP's to ask why the competition that has been delivering across Europe (including new OBB FLIRT trains with 6 bike spaces per train as standard) seems to be stalled for nearly 5 years, leaving Eurostar as the exclusive operator on this route, and pressing DB and NS on when they might start running trains through to London, and possibly beyond?

Because it is hard to get bikes on TGV to south of France I have always used Groundeffect Tardis as it is c.120cm max which is easy on Eutostar and also is small enough to take on as carry on on both 1st and 2nd class TGV

Tight fit and some dismantling required for either of my bikes (63cm cannondales).

even brought back on direct Avignon eurostar.. no one checks at Avignon and the bag is small enought to go through the x-ray machine at Euro Lille. This does not work the other way (London to Avignon..) though...

still all a faff though

I'm struggling to work out why you wouldn't box it yourself and check it as a piece of regular outsized luggage and strenuously deny that its a bicycle.

I hope this loses them plenty of custom.

Our last trip by Eurostar was absolutely awful. The trains were filthy, the toilets were a health hazard, no leg room in the seats, no where near enough storage for baggage. The waiting area at Paris is a joke and it's not much better in London.

I'll never use Eurostar again. It may be fast but that's about it.

"The spokesperson said: "This is not about space on the train, but about how we use the available space to the benefit of the majority of our customers, taking into account feedback from those that use our service overall."

Translation:

The new trains have more seats, so less space for luggage...

Rules on folders as luggage apparently unaltered- makes even less sense when you can end up with a bigger package than a boxed bike yet still carry it on, and at no extra charge.

Way to put off existing and potential customers alike. Was planning to use them for a cycle holiday to the continent, but am now going to look elsewhere.

Seems daft. Recently went with my son down to near Alpe d'Huez. There are apparently no summer flights to Grenoble, new regulations make hiring a car a PITA. We drove (well, I drove - the boy is too young to drive).

They (used to?) run trains in the winter down to the Alps where you could bung in your skis/board/boots with no issues. Ferry + fuel + peage adds up to quite a few quid. There is money to be made by Eurostar out of the cycling market if only they weren't so dense.

If it were a security thing, then a bike hung on a hook is less likely to conceal a bomb/drugs/offensive French cheese than a bike in a box. Idiots.

That size restriction (if they insist on enforcing it rigidly) excludes many folding bikes too. Even better....

"Eurostar announce increase in cycle traffic"
and
"This is not about space on the train, but about how we use the available space to the benefit of the majority of our customers,..."

So the more customers that request a service, the less provision for them there will be?

Not a smart way to run a business, is it!

Is this a way of banning them without the associate bad PR of banning them?

I spent two weeks in the French Alps recently and had a bit of a palava getting back due to Eurostar not allowing bikes on direct services from Lyon, and their partner company not collecting the bike as arranged.

I get the feeling that Eurostar really dont want cyclists travelling with them.

It's only £70 return on the plane, they've just lost my custom

Good news for the ferry companies then

So the service gets worse, but the price stays the same? Sounds about right. Banning bikes by stealth.