New Eurostar Bike Policy

[robgul]

I am going to London during the first week of December and will have some time to kill one afternoon ... I may tootle into the Eurostar Freight office and see what size/type the boxes are ....

Rob

[craggie]

http://road.cc/content/news/170072-euro ... olicy-when

Probably just a PR exercise.

[Bigdummysteve]

Although the Eurostar might be convenient (or might have been) if I was starting a tour on the continent I would just take the ferry. Years ago I escaped in an old opal camper van with my brother for an extended tour windsurfing around Europe. Part of the experience was standing at the back of a boat watching the Kent coast disappear not knowing when I would see it again, when we returned the excitement of seeing lights on the English coast still remains.
Sadly until we see a re-nationalised railway system we not see a return of the guards van which featured heavily in my youthful bicycle adventures. Our railways are run for profit not convenience of foot or bicycle passengers.

I say wheel it onto a ferry, wheel it off the other end and see where you end up. I'm planning my first euro tour next year and will plan it around ferry ports.

[robgul]

I was looking for something on the CTC website and stumbled across a News item about Eurostar - the content of which is at odds with my experience of the service. I quote:
============
CTC’s Dollimore booked his train tickets online through the Eurostar website but had to separately book his bike space by telephone with another company, EuroDespatch, at a cost of £30 each way.

He had to drop his cycle off as luggage at the EuroDespatch Centre on his arrival at St Pancras, only to discover it was a 10-minute walk away and not located within the station. At no point was this made clear when he made the cycle booking.

Nothing in the process encourages you to use the service."
Duncan Dollimore, CTC

He said: “I arrived at St Pancras expecting EuroDespatch to be somewhere obvious in the station. I asked a Eurostar member of staff at an information point and was told ‘You need to go out of the station, turn left and it’s five or 10 minutes away’. I was given no map.

“The office is difficult to find and not well signposted – nothing in the process encourages you to use the service.

“I just handed the bike over and was given a receipt to present in Paris when retrieving it. I did not see any other bikes and obviously did not see what their process was as you simply hand the bike over and they take it through to (supposedly) dismantle and box it.

“They asked if I knew where to go in Paris to collect the bike and gave me a map – which made little sense but referenced the office of Geoparts, the company Eurostar use for luggage carriage at the Gare du Nord end of the operation.”

Fifteen minutes after disembarking in Paris, a Eurostar member of staff wheeled a large trolley down the platform with Dollimore’s unboxed and fully assembled bike hanging from it.

He added: “I’m not sure where they would have taken it had it been boxed and needed reassembly, as I could not have done this in the main entrance foyer at a busy international train station with hundreds of people walking through.”

On his return to Gare du Nord in the evening, Dollimore had to go to the Eurostar ticket desk to ask where the Geoparts office was.

He said: “It is easier than finding EuroDespatch in London – and nearer – but is still a time-consuming walk down a very long platform, not well signposted, to probably the most distant part of the station.

“Once again I handed the bike over. I asked whether I needed a receipt and was told ‘It’s good’. I asked a second time and was told ‘No, it’s good’. Predictably, I was then asked back in London for the receipt – although this was not an insurmountable problem.

“There were four or five other bikes in the Geoparts office, all fully assembled. I have not seen a bike box yet.”

Back in London, Dollimore collected his cycle at EuroDespatch 15 minutes after the train had pulled in.
======

We've used the Eurostar service a number of times - from/to London, Paris & Brussels - whilst I agree the need to make a separate seat and cycle booking is not very joined up the people at Eurostar do help by letting you make a provisional seat booking that is held while you make the cycle booking and then return to confirm the seat booking. The London EuroDespatch people have always been more than helpful both with bookings and on the day.

The paperwork that is emailed as soon as you make a cycle booking has very detailed instructions and MAPS for the drop-off/pick-up points at all 3 stations.

It's only about 3 minutes walk from the passenger check-in area to the St Pancras office, a little further to Gare du Nord, and the Brussels office is on the main concourse ... the signposting at St Pancras is for luggage despatch (a suitcase icon) rather than a bike. The MAP at St Pancras also makes it very clear how easy it is to find the office from the road beside the station, assuming you are riding there.

Whilst I too am disappointed at Eurostar's (possible) change to the service let's be fair here and get the facts correct rather than try to paint a picture blacker than it really is.

Rob

[mjr]

It would not surprise me if Eurostar's service was less than completely consistent. In my experience, usually they're brilliant but sometimes they do seem to lose track a bit.

[PH]

Looks like they've changed their mind

http://www.ctc.org.uk/news/20151113-ctc-wot-won

[tim_f]

The Guardian has this quote "A spokesman said: “After careful thought and planning we have taken the decision to continue to allow fully mounted bikes on board but of course this can only be a small number because of the space constraints.”"

So hope they allow more than one bike per train.

[TonyR]

The Guardian has this quote "A spokesman said: “After careful thought and planning we have taken the decision to continue to allow fully mounted bikes on board but of course this can only be a small number because of the space constraints.”"

So hope they allow more than one bike per train.

They'll probably get their own back over this forced climb down by making it a small round number.

[matt2matt2002]

The Guardian has this quote "A spokesman said: “After careful thought and planning we have taken the decision to continue to allow fully mounted bikes on board but of course this can only be a small number because of the space constraints.”"

So hope they allow more than one bike per train.

They'll probably get their own back over this forced climb down by making it a small round number.

Something between 0 & 2?

[TonyR]

They'll probably get their own back over this forced climb down by making it a small round number.

Something between 0 & 2?[/quote]

More likely something between -1 & +1.

[Graham]

BBC report of the reversal of "new policy"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34815867

[Toffee]

Think we have been celebrating too soon. I have just had this in an email from Euro Dispatch this morning regarding my booking in March.

"To guarantee your bike onto a specific train it will need to be in a bike bag or box. We can still accept fully assembled bikes for the 24 hour service."

Looks like I still need to take some tools with me.

Derek

[robgul]

Think we have been celebrating too soon. I have just had this in an email from Euro Dispatch this morning regarding my booking in March.

"To guarantee your bike onto a specific train it will need to be in a bike bag or box. We can still accept fully assembled bikes for the 24 hour service."

Looks like I still need to take some tools with me.

Derek

I think that response may be related to the new trains which, I understand, have different freight/bike facilities - from early in 2016 Eurostar will be running two sorts of rolling stock as the old ones are phased out and the new ones brought into use.

... what doesn't bode well is the potential longevity of the apparent change in policy that the CTC has been crowing about . . .

Rob