Brighton Bike Train

Many of you will have probably heard about this already but I thought it would be worthwhile setting up a dedicated thread.

The Bike Train is a scheduled group ride running from The Level up to Falmer every day with the aim of making commuting by bike safer and more sociable, whilst reducing the impact of traffic-related pollution at the same time. Many people are not confident enough to commute by bike because of the sheer amount of traffic on the roads, particularly in rush hour, so the Bike Train aims to encourage more people to commute by bike by creating a 'saftey in numbers' environment. And it is a lot of fun too!

There have been 'test runs' over the last few weeks but the official launch is this Monday (26th April) so it would be great if anyone can come along. Its on 8am-10am on The Level, there will be breakfasty bits and 'Dr Bike'. I am also informed there will be a flag-waving send off for first three trains too, what more could you ask for?

I've attached the flyer which has the full timetable, including scheduled afternoon runs back from Falmer to The Level.

A lovely man named Duncan organises The Bike Train and he is also interested in getting people from the Universities involved. I'm based at the Mouslecoomb campus and have been putting some posters and flyers around the place this week (if you have a flyer in your spokes that was me). I'm not sure exactly what he has in mind yet, he's going to give me a call later about it, but I imagine its going to be mainly canvasing cyclists, flyers and just general promotion of the scheme. If anyone is based at Mouslecoomb and wants to get involved, to any extent, please get in touch. The Bike Train has recieved a considerable amount of bad press (mainly from staff!) at the Uni so far so it would be good to try and get some more students on side.

This is a really great scheme but it can only continue if people support it. So if you're a regular commuter on the Lewes Road, or even if you find yourself riding this way one day, get involved and help support The Bike Train.

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is there a facebook event or anything? i know people that ride up the campus and stuff but arent on here

Sorry, I should've included that! The facebook group is the best way to keep in touch and find out about stuff thats happening, invite everyone you know!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=267346493939

good on you love keep it up.I dont live in Brighton, but this is exactly the sort of stuff that should be going on all over the U.K

I heard about the big e-mail row amoungst the Brighton Uni staff, what a bunch of idiots!
I've never seen the Bike-train taking 2 lanes ever, so some people are either blind or haters.

I don't join anymore because I'm always in a rush, I should though.

i never get up that early and i basically never go up to the campus, but i quite fancy coming along for the ride at some point

I was the same, I never got up early enough, and the times I did have to be in uni early I was always tearing round the house with 5 minutes to get there. But it is worth it, I use it as a reason to get in early now. Plus its a really fun way to start the day and it is loads safer when everyone is together, especially for people who aren't as experienced riding on the road.

Come along when you can, even if its not every day and only once or twice a week. The more people that take part the more people on the road will take notice so showing up just once a week if you can will make a difference.

Definitely come along to the launch on Monday though, even if just for some flapjack! Cedywedy, jackbepablo, are either of you at Mouslecoomb?

Oh and the emails circulating on staff mail at the university about the bike train were ridiculous. Another one in my inbox today from someone saying how the bike train is NOT safe, but in fact is more dangerous because motorists are getting so angry about the situation that soon, and i quote, they will have no choice but to rebel and force their way through the crowd of cyclists. IDIOTS.

Yeah I'm in moulescoomb. So how come you get staff e-mail? I thought you were a student?

Launch seemed to go very well this morning. Well done everyone!

Yeah I was impressed how grand they made it, well done

Yep, good to see you again mate.

Also, nice to meet you Ideal!

good to hear this went well this morning! i had no uni, so no way was I getting out of bed! anyone on it over the rest of the week though?

Today (Tuesday) there were around 25 of us by the time we got to campus. Went very well.... Join tomorrow peeps!

The bike train website is now up and running. It is available at www.biketrain.org/cms. You need to put the url into the address bar, as it doesn't come up in google yet.

If people would like to leave a message of support in the Guestbook, that would be great.

Also - Please twitter about the train if you have anything to report, as it really helps to build awareness of the ride.

Happy Riding!

J

Yeah, yesterday was really nice. The contention against the bike train is not felt by the sustainability co-ordination unit at UoB which is a plus. There are obviously some short sighted people at the Uni but there are many more who are really switched on to these things.

Great to meet you Rachel and Elvis (Paul?)

The penny farthing was a great touch on Monday too..

I wanted to have a go on that penny farthing so bad! It was really good to hear about the sustainability projects at UoB too, Tim, glad we ran into eachother. I'm going to be riding with the train again from next week.

Oh and the reason I'm on staff mail is because I'm a postgraduate student.

Sounds like a great project. Well done to all involved.