Amtrak' s bike policy

Amtrak who is operating with near empty trains will only allow four bikes per train and no trailers even though it has an open area in every car that can well accomadate them. Please email Amtrak (it's easy) at WWW.AMTRAK.COM and click on "Contact Us" and request that Amtrak start allowing more than four bikes per train and also trailers, particularly along the Kansas City/St.Louis route. If Amtrak becomes more bike friendly it would be beneficial to cyclists, Katy Trail towns, and Amtrak alike. If enough people contact Amtrak, it can make a difference

Excellent comment, Patti. I have battled with this because I want to use a cargo trailer for my trip. If you are going on a self-supported trip and want to use Amtrak, it is pretty difficult to do so within their policy. I offered to pay for another bike spot for the trailer and they outright told me that I could not take it. With a trip looming this week, that almost made Amtrak a non-option and put the trip in jeopardy.

I was able to contact the Big Shark shop near Forest Park, which is a bike-friendly MetroLink ride from the downtown Amtrak station in StL. They were willing to take my boxed bike and/or trailer and have it ready for me when I arrived, which would have bailed me out with little added time and a little added expense. Lucky for me in this case, I have a friend that will be making a trip to St. Peters and will be taking the trailer to Kirkwood to meet me. I'll miss out on riding downtown. :-(

In any case, yes, please continue to encourage Amtrak to be flexible. The Katy Trail alone is a great opportunity for them and they aren't being too flexible with those of us that really want to support them.

I sent this note:

I will be using Amtrak to travel to St. Louis with my bicycle and then to ride back to Kansas City using the Katy Trail. There is a large community of cyclists that does the same thing and relies upon Amtrak to do so. Thus, with such a significant journey, it is discouraging that Amtrak is so unflexible in accomodating the equipment often needed for a bike trip. I had planned on using a trailer for the trip that would have easily fit in the car. I offered to purchase an additional bike ticket for it but was told it could not be accomodate. It is a few inches too large to be a carry-on, so I'm now faced with shipping it to St. Louis and picking it up there.

If I weren't so interested in seeing ridership increase and Amtrak succeed in this corridor, I would have made other arrangements. It is frustrating that I will sit on a train with a surplus of space but the lack of flexibility to use it.

Just when there were signs of Amtrak catching on and ridership increasing, you may want to consider the core constituents that the service has and attempt to accomodate them, particularly on this route.

This is an excellent way to introduce people to the service and win customers. Don't turn them away. Amtrak should market its accomodations for bicycles more, invest more in them and allow for some flexibility in their use.

Common sense would tell you check your facts. Amtrak trains are hardly empty. Ridership has set records for 3 straight years.
http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Amtrak/am2Copy/News_Release_Page&c=am2Copy&cid=1093554022797&ssid=180
KC-STL ridership was up 6.7% in FY2005 over FY2004. I remember one time I was lucky to find a seat.

There is not an open area on THIS train for trailers or any checked baggage. They had to take out 2 rows of seats to make room for the bicycles.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for AMTRAK accomodating cyclists and I encourage eveyone to advise AMTRAK of the service they expect.

I remember when they wouldn't take bikes, period. I know the guy who fought with AMTRAK to get bikes on board. He even designed a rack for this purpose to no avail. You know how he suceeded? He made a ampaign contribution to a MO representative. Since MO subsidizes this route, the representative was able to get AMTRAK to allow bikes on this route.

While ridership is up, it certainly isn't a consistent sell-out crowd. Don't confuse a modest increase with packed trains -- those aren't the case. If you really have been on a full train, it was an exception, not the rule. In any case, Amtrak faces serious revenue issues and being as accomodating as possible could help to stem those.

I can't speak the bike issue. I rode the trail from Clinton to St. Louis expecting to take the
train back to KC only to get halfway there and have the tracks wash out and they cancelled all
trains. But, I did ride Amtrak about a month ago from Kansas City to Jeff City and there were
maybe 10 passengers total...on the whole train.

Oh, btw, there is a U-haul place in St. Charles not far from the trailhead. My friend and I rode
in on our bikes and the lady behind the desk saw us come in and said, "yes, I have your
reservation here for a trailer" I was not amused. I asked her if they could install a hitch on
the bikes. We got a truck.

Can't take a trailer, and can't take fully loaded panniers. What to do?

My husband and I rode the Katy Trail in 2005 on the DNR trip, and we wanted to return in the fall with a group from Oklahoma, but we had to cancel because of Amtrak's policy. Our plan was to drive to visit with family in St. Louis, take the train with our bikes and gear to Sedalia, meet up with our group, then pedal back to St. Louis. Amtrack wouldn't take our trailer, so we had to get our tickets refunded. They weren't the only ones who lost our revenue, though. So did the gas stations, restaurants, gift shops, and other merchants along the way. Other people in our group were interested in taking the train, but because of their 4 bike policy, they ended up renting a shuttle so everyone could go together. Another problem was their 2-bag policy. Two front panniers, two rear panniers, handlebar bag, and trunk bag add up to six bags. Someone suggested putting them all in two duffle bags, (they won't all fit and the duffle bag is extra weight to haul), or strapping two panniers together to call it one bag. Since we didn't go, I didn't have a chance to test Amtrak on this. We actually tried to talk to someone in person about it in June, and went to two different stations, but the ticket agents didn't know anything, and the trains weren't in at the time so we could physically look or ask questions to someone who might actually know.

Forget carrying panniers, trailers, etc.... UPS your clothes to places you stay with a return sticker to ship dirty clothes back. I took 1 pannier (two days clothes)and shipped clothes to Sedalia and Columbia....UPSed dirty stuff back home. Worked great.

We had no trouble with loading our bikes on Amtrak. They stuck the four bikes between the seats and strapped them in. My biggest gripe was the impatient riders who did not understand that the larger heavier trains have the right-of-way on the tracks. We had to stop at least twice and wait for the trains to pass. With all the stops at towns and for the trains it would have been quicker for a friend to drive us to Sedalia. By the way, the train only took us to Jefferson City. Amtrak had a bus waiting to take us to Sedalia. They provided a sack lunch and water for that leg of the trip.

We rode our bikes between St. Charles and Hermann over 6/22 - 6/23, and purchased tickets on Amtrak for the train back to Kirkwood (St. Louis)for Saturday, 6/24. The cost was $14 per person, $10 per bike. Weren't we suprised Saturday morning, waiting at the Hermann depot, when a large Greyhound type bus pulled up, an Amtrak conductor got off and asked if we were coming with them. Apparently the train itself doesn't actually run that route all the time - they substitute a bus. We were able to squeeze our bikes in the undercarriage luggage storage, but someone else also had a bike under there, so it got pretty crowded there. We were very disappointed we didn't get to ride a train, but at least it was a way to get back to St. Louis area.

The reason you were put on the bus is because UP (who owns the line) is performing maintenance on the route. If I recall correctly, this is more of an issue with the Eastbound trains.

Comment to mborofix:
That was my bike in there, I also had my Burley Cargo with me.