High Speed Rail Thinking About Bikes

High Speed Rail is slowly moving forward in California and the state is now studying how bicycles can be incorporated into the mix.

The High Speed Rail Authority has reached out to several groups, including the California Bike Coalition, for suggestions on integrating bikes into the transit system. The Authority’s Annie Parker says suggestions have included building dedicated bike lanes to make it easier to get to stations, as well as creating secure places to lock up bikes at the stations and on trains.

"We also heard some really cool ideas about potential bike sharing and rental availability and other outside-of-the-box ideas that I think are really going to be very popular with our riders," she says.

Parker says around the world, including parts of California, it’s common for commuters to either bike to a rail station or use a bike to travel the final few miles from a station to an office. She says accounting for bikes in station designs meets the Authority’s goal of reducing greenhouse gases and providing alternative modes of travel.