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Southern Trains seem to have a major negative attitude to bikes. They seem to say "no bikes" before 10am and then "no bikes" between 4pm to 7pm, but then they say.......no bikes can be guaranteed a place on any train.
Given that I'd be using them to facilitate a cycling trip that doesn't seem much use to me.
Three attempts on their helpline and I have failed to find a real person to speak to on the subject.
Does anyone on here use them...What is the reality like?
I don't often have to use Southern Trains (South West Trains cover most of my regular patch) but when I have, I've just turned up and shoved the bike on.
They don't seem to have many dedicated bike areas on their trains (and the ones they do have are p155 poor in terms of location and capacity) so sometimes I just have to put it in the wheelchair bays and hang around (so I can shift it if the space is needed by a wheelchair user). This would mean I get to stand with my bike in the aisle/end of carriage/door areas. Not comfy, but hardly catastrophic.
I've even gotten on to trains from Clapham Junction around 5.30pm on a weekday with a (non-folding) bike although I did have to wait for a train with few enough people in it for me+bike to fit.
I've seen them chuck bikes (and their owners) off commuter trains at London Bridge and East Croydon, they're more lenient further out as the services are quieter. Not unreasonable IMO, their peak time trains are among the busiest on the network.
It's a bike... ride it, or don't travel in the peak?
There are a few key points - Brighton, and London.
I've used Southern Back and forth, in and out of the 'no bikes time' and as long as you aren't going into these stations (OK, prob best no to go 'near' these stations) at the banned times, you're OK.
DrP
East Croydon is about the busiest actually, so don't think that you'll avoid issues just outside London.