Bike Traffic - June 2005

July 2005

Next Metra Stop: Friendlytown!
A Commuter and His Bike Ride Ride Metra for First Time

By Brian Hopkins

I attended a recent press conference at the Northwestern Metra Station, where we celebrated the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation’s victory in the long campaign to overturn Metra’s ill-advised ban on bikes. I wasn’t one of the scheduled speakers; nevertheless, I was hunted, caught and brought down by Susan Carlson, the traffic reporter from CBS Channel 2 News.
She interviewed me at length for a brief segment that later aired on the 6 p.m. news. Here are a few of her questions that didn’t make it on the air.

SC: “What do you say to all those angry Metra passengers who don’t what to share their space with your bike?”

SC: “Many believe bikes on trains are dangerous, and you will cause injuries.”

SC: “How can you justify taking away seats from people in wheelchairs?”

SC: “Bikes will leave the seats all dirty for the next person. What do you say to that?”

There were many things I wanted to say to that; but, since I was in front of a TV camera, I kept them to myself. What I did say was that all public transit riders — with or without bikes — have a responsibility to ensure that common courtesy does not become uncommon.

Riding that train: A Metra commuter takes advantage of the rail service’s new Bikes on Board program. (Randy Warren photo)

So there we were: Day One of the kinder, bikey-er Metra, and already I was being goaded by someone who makes a living telling us how similar our roads are to the arteries of an 80-year-old, lifelong cheeseburger addict. From Susan’s point of view, an angry Metra commuter seethes behind the sports section of yesterday’s Tribune he found on an empty seat, anxious to unleash his rail rage, ready to mess up my meticulously greased chain with his pantscuff.

Well, Susan, sorry to disappoint both him and you, but I’m not taking your bait. I’m riding the Courtesy Train ... next stop, Friendlytown. All aboard, and bring your bike.

Riding any form of public transit requires a measure of tolerance. I’ll tolerate your swinging backpack; you tolerate my bike. I will pretend I can’t smell the drum of Chanel No. Phew you apparently bathed in this morning; and you won’t say anything about my sweaty T-shirt adorned with 500 corporate logos that event sponsors naively thought you would read. Don’t glare at me if you can hear the bass line from my iPod, and I’ll act like I didn’t hear your cell phone call to the doctor, discussing bodily functions that the 25 people within earshot of your foghorn voice don’t need to visualize.

If this is going to work — and eventually be expanded to all trains at all times — it will require an effort from all cyclists during these first few months to avoid confrontation with Metra cops, conductors and other passengers.

We must all share the space and play nice with others. And that goes for bikes as well as the things Metra has always allowed: folding chairs bound for Ravinia, boxes and bags from shopping trips downtown, golf clubs and skis on the way to O’Hare. People have been loading up with all that and more for years without much fuss, so bikes are merely the next logical step.

Let’s not get so emotional about each other’s non-emotional baggage.

This clever sound bite did not occur to me until minutes after Susan and her camera crew left the station. I dashed outside after them, just in time to watch the Channel 2 newsvan bolt from the handicapped spot where it was parked, do a quick U-turn on Madison, then run the red light on Canal.

Brian Hopkins is assistant to Cook County Commissioner John Daley.