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I am suffering from a severe overabundance of red tape. The very short version of this is: the majority of the UK rail companies have a rule of "no tricycles" because of space - they are much wider than normal bikes. This seems fair enough most of the time, especially on suburban trains - in fact, cycles of any type are prohibited on peak hour services, unless folded and in a bag.
However, this rule applies at all times of day and night, including 6am on Saturday mornings and other such antisocial hours. How many people will be on the train at that time of day to be inconvenienced by it? I would be willing to do things like pay for a ticket for the tricycle, call them a minimum of 24 hours before I travel so they know about it and can dictate what train I'm allowed to be on, and travel at really obnoxious times of day when there won't be anyone else on the train: but they just say no. The DDA doesn't apply because I don't need the trike to travel. The crazy thing is if it was powered, I could claim it was a mobility scooter and then it would be allowed, even though it would be even bigger and take up even more space.
I just can't get my head round rules that are so inflexible, you can't even travel at obnoxious o'clock at the weekend, and even if I bought a ticket for the trike. That would be two extra fares they'd be getting on the obnoxious o'clock train that wouldn't usually be used. How is this ban in anyone's best interests? But remember, the head of one of the UK rail companies (Silverlink, iirc) actually said "I don't understand why people would take one form of transport and put it on another". So that's the kind of wrong-thinking we're dealing with, here.
Bah.
However, this rule applies at all times of day and night, including 6am on Saturday mornings and other such antisocial hours. How many people will be on the train at that time of day to be inconvenienced by it? I would be willing to do things like pay for a ticket for the tricycle, call them a minimum of 24 hours before I travel so they know about it and can dictate what train I'm allowed to be on, and travel at really obnoxious times of day when there won't be anyone else on the train: but they just say no. The DDA doesn't apply because I don't need the trike to travel. The crazy thing is if it was powered, I could claim it was a mobility scooter and then it would be allowed, even though it would be even bigger and take up even more space.
I just can't get my head round rules that are so inflexible, you can't even travel at obnoxious o'clock at the weekend, and even if I bought a ticket for the trike. That would be two extra fares they'd be getting on the obnoxious o'clock train that wouldn't usually be used. How is this ban in anyone's best interests? But remember, the head of one of the UK rail companies (Silverlink, iirc) actually said "I don't understand why people would take one form of transport and put it on another". So that's the kind of wrong-thinking we're dealing with, here.
Bah.
