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news
Brompton - folded up.jpgGloucestershire man not allowed on empty bus because his Brompton wasn't in a bag
A Stroud man had to pay for a taxi last weekend after a bus driver told him he wasn’t allowed on his empty bus with his folding bike because it wasn’t in a bag.
Wiltsglosstandard.co.uk reports that Paul Dyer, from Rodborough, often breaks up longer cycle journeys by taking his Brompton bike with him on the bus.
On Sunday, on his way to Cheltenham to visit a friend in hospital, he was told by a Stagecoach driver that he wasn’t allowed to bring the folded bike aboard the bus because it was not in a bag.
"There was only one other person on the bus," said Dyer.
The newspaper reports that the bus company has previously been involved in a similar incident with Graham Stanley from accessible transport organisation, Ring and Ride.
The firm subsequently amended its policy so that fold-up bikes are allowed on its routes, so long as they do not cause an issue for other passengers.
"I believe that the bus driver in this instance was not following usual procedure adopted by drivers to allow the fold-up bike, but seemed to have followed to the letter a Stagecoach requirement that the bike needs to be transported in a bag," said Dyer, who wrote to complain.
"Stagecoach replied sending me a section of their policy document which stated full-size bikes are only allowed on very few routes. Obviously, this does not relate to fold-away bikes which fold up to a third of their extended size."
Dyer is currently awaiting a reply. "I just want to help clear the way for others," he said.
In 2011, a man suffering from cerebral palsy was prevented from getting on a Stagecoach bus in Cambridge because the folding bike he uses to get around was not in a bag. Paul Norman had taken the bus into Cambridge from Bury St Edmunds carrying his bicycle, but when he came to make the return journey he was told he would not be permitted to board with the bicycle out of a bag.
Stagecoach East subsequently apologised to Norman, saying that while it was a requirement that folding bikes be put in a carrying case, common sense should have been exercised by its staff.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- mark1a 4 hours 27 min ago
I'll put you down as a no then.
- Boopop 6 hours 39 min ago
I find it deeply jarring and disappointing that Sir David agrees with these people not wanting a cycle lane. Whenever I watch one of his excellent...
- chrisonabike 6 hours 48 min ago
May need insurance, tax and a licence. No problem with the lights though.
- Simon E 7 hours 4 min ago
Yes, they look just like the Lezyne Zecto model. My club bought a couple of sets from the LBS for our midweek TTs so if someone turns up without...
- Hirsute 9 hours 36 min ago
If you can't see a %^$&ing large tractor what ^%$£"!*ing hope is there that you will see a cyclist ?...
- chrisonabike 9 hours 54 min ago
Well if you *can* interview the original riders at all surely they worked, at least?...
- David9694 10 hours 23 min ago
Live: Car plunges over wall and lands on beach rocks...
- biking59boomer 10 hours 29 min ago
Looks like yet another bike share service that's going to fold because of selfish idiots.
- brooksby 15 hours 36 min ago
And finally: I wonder how many of the "more than 3,000" signatures on that petition are actually locals, who live or work there (and are not just...
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14 comments
I had a recent Twitter discussion with Metrolink Manchester (trams) on the same subject ... Their fallback was to constantly hold up their Bye-Laws as some sort of 10 Commandment tablets that are unchangeable.
So I looked at their Bye-Laws, which make no mention of folding bikes. It does mention that gramophones are not allowed though.
Maybe worth carrying a large binbag 'in-case-of jobsworth'
The point about chain oil does make a bit of sense.
Have occasionally gone on over-ambitious bike rides, decided I can't face riding all the way back again, gone to get a train, found there's a 'replacement bus service', which, of course, you can't take a bike on. But I feel it's probably for the best becuase it gave me the incentive to cycle home instead - and thus avoiding the guilt of having wimped out.
I sometimes get the bus to work. And many times when I've gone home, there's been the same bloke with a folded Brompton. Not in a bag or anything, just a naked Brompton.
(And that's on a First Group bus! IIRC, First are thought to make Stagecoach seem like paragons of social virtue...).
Had similar thing trying to board the CalMac car ferry from Brodick to Ardrossan. Stroppy staff member tried to insist I go round to the stern doors and board through the vehicle deck. I’ve reported the folly and am hoping CalMac will change their ‘all bikes must travel in the car deck’ to a more nuanced one that acknowledges the existence of folding bikes.
Rodborough, Stroud - those well-known Wiltshire locations.
It's probably to do with a perception that oil from chains has the potential to get onto the bus furnishings and from there onto passenger's clothing. Wheelchairs and buggies don't generally have the same issue*. It doesn't seem entirely unreasonable to ask that bikes are bagged.
In US cities that I have visited, local buses have external racks for bicycles.
*Dogshit on wheels maybe.
Why's it got to be in a bag anyway? Surely folded up is sufficient. Do they demand folded-up pushchairs be put in a bag, or wheelchairs? Who makes these nonsense rules?
THIS ^^
Well said.
That’s the point, as well as the hypocrisy, when it comes to dealing with cyclists or cycling.
It may be a stupid rule but there it is. To some extent I can understand the reasoning that they don't want dirty chains to contact other people or their luggage/train upholstery (not totally excluded even with a folded Brompton). I once had to race around Paris gare du Nord for a bin bag to 'pack' my Brompton. In France it needs to be packed on any train that you take it on. In Belgium it doesn't but it needs to be folded and stowed away like luggage or you have to pay a 10 Euro bike fare, gives rise to endless discussions. In Germany it depends on the type of train.
Comes as no surprise - Stagecoach bus drivers around here are officially known as the most miserable people in the known universe
Should have had one of them big blue IKEA bags, or a bin liner, problem solved
I once fell foul of an identical Eurostar policy. Fortunately, in St Pancras, you can source a large carrier bag from Hamley's and some packing tape from WH Smith...
Bus-driver-is-a-jobsworth shocker.
Actually, what would be a surprise would be a bus driver enforcing any other rules on their buses, such as no loud music or phone calls, or no hot food. You know, things that actually do irritate other passengers (OK, me.)