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Why add a logistical nightmare and delays when you don’t have to? I just moved from Japan to Europe and the difference in reliability of the schedule is night a

Why add a logistical nightmare and delays when you don’t have to? I just moved from Japan to Europe and the difference in reliability of the schedule is night and day. And aside from timing of one train leaving, there are express Shinkansen trains that overtake local shinkansen trains at minor stops, I would think it’s not trivial to propagate delays to these timings.

logifail 4y ago
> Why add a logistical nightmare and delays when you don’t have to? I just moved from Japan to Europe and the difference in reliability of the schedule is night and day. I'm still struggling to understand why accepting bicycles for travel would necessarily introduce "[a] logistical nightmare and delays".
- deleted 4y ago
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- ehnto 4y ago
  I would love for you to experience the boarding process so you can get a feel for it, and the social stigmas around it too which is where I think you could get an answer to that question. Maybe watch an FPV youtube video of a traveller using the service and take note of the line to board and disembark, take note of the entry way and the luggage area and think about how it would all work with a bike. I think I would bore you writing it all out but my point is just that there is no room for the bike within the train or the social process of participating in the train service. More than one bike and it wouldn't work, so no bikes.
  - logifail 4y ago
    > I would love for you to experience the boarding process so you can get a feel for it, and the social stigmas around it too which is where I think you could get an answer to that question. Maybe watch an FPV youtube video of a traveller using the service and take note of the line to board and disembark, take note of the entry way and the luggage area and think about how it would all work with a bike. Q: How does it work for passengers in wheelchairs? (That is a genuine question, I was recently travelling by tram in Basel, Switzerland, and along with another random stranger pitched in to assist an elderly woman in a wheelchair who was struggling to board, partner wasn't strong enough to manage on his own. The tram doors were nice and wide, but given the height difference between the tram and the platform, a ramp sure would have helped...)
    - ehnto 4y ago
      Yep, good question. Not amazing, there are one or two seats available per train. It can be difficult to board, and not all wheelchairs sizes are able to be accommodated. Japan in general has a lot of challenges for wheelchairs, there are places that you just couldn't go, or live in, and infrastructure you can't use. A lot of Japan's infrastructure was built in the 80s and 90s, before there as many regulations about accessiblity. Especially things like walkway bridges and pathways. Lots of stairs. Houses are very often split level townhouses with staircases. I am sure it's getting better.
- johnwalkr 4y ago
  I’m struggling to understand how one can suggest delays should be tolerated in order to carry not-in-bag bikes and the burden of argument is on others to prove that JR should just allow delays. This is such a weird hill to die on. As another commenter said, watching the boarding process would make it obvious that it’s not easy to allow bikes beyond the current method of letting them on in a bike bag as luggage (works fine by the way, I’ve personally done it). I was just taking a train in Europe yesterday thinking about this comment thread. The train left a few minutes late from the starting station and each stop was 3-4 minutes. That simply doesn’t work with a headway of 5-10 minutes. The Shinkansen stops for like one minute, and on a busy train it takes a few more minutes to actually get everyone seated. If you have large luggage, the social norm is to stand with it between cars until everyone else boards, so you don’t block them. This works with a bike in a bag, but I can’t imagine a fully assembled bike being there.

logifail 4y ago

> Why add a logistical nightmare and delays when you don’t have to? I just moved from Japan to Europe and the difference in reliability of the schedule is night and day. I'm still struggling to understand why accepting bicycles for travel would necessarily introduce "[a] logistical nightmare and delays".

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
ehnto 4y ago
I would love for you to experience the boarding process so you can get a feel for it, and the social stigmas around it too which is where I think you could get an answer to that question. Maybe watch an FPV youtube video of a traveller using the service and take note of the line to board and disembark, take note of the entry way and the luggage area and think about how it would all work with a bike. I think I would bore you writing it all out but my point is just that there is no room for the bike within the train or the social process of participating in the train service. More than one bike and it wouldn't work, so no bikes.
- logifail 4y ago
  > I would love for you to experience the boarding process so you can get a feel for it, and the social stigmas around it too which is where I think you could get an answer to that question. Maybe watch an FPV youtube video of a traveller using the service and take note of the line to board and disembark, take note of the entry way and the luggage area and think about how it would all work with a bike. Q: How does it work for passengers in wheelchairs? (That is a genuine question, I was recently travelling by tram in Basel, Switzerland, and along with another random stranger pitched in to assist an elderly woman in a wheelchair who was struggling to board, partner wasn't strong enough to manage on his own. The tram doors were nice and wide, but given the height difference between the tram and the platform, a ramp sure would have helped...)
  - ehnto 4y ago
    Yep, good question. Not amazing, there are one or two seats available per train. It can be difficult to board, and not all wheelchairs sizes are able to be accommodated. Japan in general has a lot of challenges for wheelchairs, there are places that you just couldn't go, or live in, and infrastructure you can't use. A lot of Japan's infrastructure was built in the 80s and 90s, before there as many regulations about accessiblity. Especially things like walkway bridges and pathways. Lots of stairs. Houses are very often split level townhouses with staircases. I am sure it's getting better.
johnwalkr 4y ago
I’m struggling to understand how one can suggest delays should be tolerated in order to carry not-in-bag bikes and the burden of argument is on others to prove that JR should just allow delays. This is such a weird hill to die on. As another commenter said, watching the boarding process would make it obvious that it’s not easy to allow bikes beyond the current method of letting them on in a bike bag as luggage (works fine by the way, I’ve personally done it). I was just taking a train in Europe yesterday thinking about this comment thread. The train left a few minutes late from the starting station and each stop was 3-4 minutes. That simply doesn’t work with a headway of 5-10 minutes. The Shinkansen stops for like one minute, and on a busy train it takes a few more minutes to actually get everyone seated. If you have large luggage, the social norm is to stand with it between cars until everyone else boards, so you don’t block them. This works with a bike in a bag, but I can’t imagine a fully assembled bike being there.