Full-sized bicycles are now officially banned on Luas, going against government policy. To date the RPA — the state agency in charge of Luas — and its contracted operator Veolia Transdev had used a more informal operational ban on bring bicycles on board trams.
The national cycle policy firmly commits to allowing full-sized bicycles on Luas, but the RPA previously cited safety reasons as to why they have dismissed this government policy. They only allow fully covered folding bicycles.
While it is common to have rush-hour restrictions, a range of tram, metro and train services worldwide allow bicycles on board.
The new light railway bylaws or bye-laws drafted last year and enacted on Tuesday. The new bylaws read:
5. (1) A person shall not on a light rail vehicle or a light railway—…
(q) board or attempt to board a light rail vehicle with a bicycle unless it is folded and fully encased.
The national cycle policy says:
Bicycles and LUAS We will provide for the carriage of bikes on LUAS when services are of a frequency and at a capacity that allows for it. i.e. when it is considered possible to carry bikes on carriages when they do not interfere with the capacity for pedestrians.
The policy also includes Dart, commuter services and any planed metros:
Bicycles and Sub-Urban Rail We will permit the carriage of bikes on DART and other suburban rail services at off-peak times and on counter peak services at peak hour, following a more detailed study which will recommend suitable devices / facilities for the proper restraining of bikes on the trains. This will include all future Metro plans in Dublin (or anywhere else they may be planned).
Irish Rail now allow bicycles on Dart and Commuter services off peak, but the RPA also dismissed that section of the policy and had been planning the now stalled multi-billion Metro North without any provisions for carrying bicycles.
In Bordeaux, where the same model of tram is in operation, bicycles are accepted off-peak. Veolia’s contract to operate Luas terminates in 2014.
Thanks Ossian, I did not know that.
If that’s of any interest, for the situation in France, where most lines have Citadis trams (the same as in Dublin), there’s this http://www.fubicy.org/spip.php?article262 (not very recent, but surely accurate for the lines that existed at the times – there’s an amazing number of lines that opened or that are under constructions since then, including in small cities, i.e. as small as Ireland’s cities other than Dublin).
For your info the Citadis is the reference in terms of low-floor trams built by Alstom in La Rochelle, France, and Barcelona, Spain. More than 1140 Citadis trams in use in over 28 cities on every continent
Luas is well used all day – the space is needed for pedestrians…