Biking to Work

Crap. I got the shaft this morning at the Broad/Market Blue Line. Right as I was about to put in my token into the turnstile, the booth attendant yelled at me. He said that I wasn't allowed to take my bike on the train. I said I had been doing this for the past two days. He replied saying "Not here" and I said, "Yep, here." He said that I'm not allowed to bring a bike onto the train from 6a to 9a "rush hour" he said. There are almost no people on the train going out to West Philly from Center City at 7.15a I said. He didn't care. Fuck.

I recalled seeing two transit cops standing right next to the booth on Monday morning when I hoisted my bike on my shoulders and walked through the turnstile, they didn't do anything. And if it was the same guy in the booth, he didn't either, for the past two days.

So, I biked it, about 3.5mi, to work. It wasn't too bad. But I was pissed off. So I went to SEPTA.org to check things out and sure enough:

Broad Street, Market-Frankford and Route 100 Lines Passengers may ride with bicycles weekdays before 6 a.m., from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and after 6 p.m. and at all times on weekends and the following major holidays (space permitting): Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Folding bicycles are permitted at all times, although they must be collapsed and stored away from passengers.

Crap fuck.

I don't understand why they need this rule on the outbound trains since there really isn't much ridership at all in that direction at that time of day. And this just gives me another reason to hate those stupid folding bikes. Grrr.

Comments

[addie]

in any other weather, i guess it wouldn't be a big deal to bike 3.5 miles. but today?? of all the days to crack down on you.

[albert]

i wasn't as disgustingly sweaty as i thought i'd be. granted, it was 7.15a or so, but a 3.5mi ride, mostly uphill, nevertheless. and still sweaty.