BART Votes to End Rush-Hour Ban on Bikes

The BART Board of Directors voted 6-3 Thursday night to allow riders to be able to take their bicycles on trains at peak hours, as long as they obey a rule that restricts the bikes from any train cars that are overcrowded.

The new rule goes into effect on July 1, and will be reevaluated by BART  in November.

The three directors in dissent – Tom Radulovich, James Fang, and Robert Raburn – wanted to lift the ban outright and dispense with the reassessment in November.

So, when it came to allowing the bikes on board at peak times, the vote was essentially unanimous.

The majority of those who contacted BART prior to the meeting or spoke Thursday night favored dropping the ban.  BART said that an overwhelming 95 percent of the roughly 400 people who sent letters or emails prior to the meeting urged that the ban be lifted.

That follows what BART says was a successful one-week pilot in March in which a majority of riders surveyed favored lifting the restrictions.  According to BART, 76 percent of riders had a favorable reaction, and said that bicyclists did "not impede or delay service."