When you get to a certain age, you realize that you have things you’ll never use again.
The one I’m about to mention is small and its obsolescence, about which I have mixed feelings, but won’t pose any inconvenience for me. As of 7 September, the Long Island Rail Road (The LIRR still spells it as two words!) and Metro- North Railroad will no longer require a pass to bring a bicycle on one of their trains. The lines, part of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s suburban New York system, will offer a one-day “grace period” on 22 August (a week from Sunday) before the new policy takes effect.
Metro-North President Christine Rinaldi described the new policy as an “effort to welcome back as many bicyclists as possible.” I am willing to believe her, as train ridership plummeted early in the pandemic and is now approaching pre-pandemic levels. Also, suburban enclaves are, like New York City, trying to get people out of their cars. Making it easier and more convenient for people to combine bicycling with commuting by train would help to achieve this goal.
For a few cyclists, the abolition of the pass, and its $5 cost, might entice them to ride to the train. That fee, however, is a one-time fee: I still have the same passes I bought about a dozen years ago—to replace my old passes, which I had for about fifteen years, after I changed my name.
I think the real reason the pass and its fee will be eliminated is that administering it and enforcing its use was too difficult and costly. More precisely, it wasn’t enforced: I can recall only one instance in which a conductor asked to see my pass.
Also, all of the other policies regarding bicycles, which are more consistently enforced, will remain in place. They include a limit of four bicycles per train on weekdays and eight on weekends, except on specially-marked weekend “bicycle trains,” which will allow more. Also, the LIRR and Metro-North will continue to prohibit bicycles on trains during rush hours, on major holidays and on certain holiday weekends.
