Saturday, May 10, 2008

Tikit TRAIN-ing

World class trains in Melbourne, though a bit expensive

Bike rack area - appreciated but like sushi displayed for thieves pickings

Passengers appreciate how little space the tikit occupies on trains
Foldies can be carried all day without restrictions

Nat with her good bike. Most students will also have a clunker for everyday use due to theft.
With a foldie, no need for such arrangement!

Beautiful parks right in the heart of the city. River included!

Reserved specially for me, Oldy on Foldy?

It's the end of fall here in Melbourne and days are quite chilly, 7c nights and 12-14c days. Quite a welcome change from humid Singapore. Seems like the greatest challenge is to get up from bed as once under the covers all warm and cozy, its nearly impossible to crank up.

I had to meet my niece Nat, a med student at Melb Uni for lunch and she lives in the city. It was a good 30km away from where I am so it was a great experience riding to the train station and training my way there to Brunswick. The trains in Melb are bike friendly and the folded tikit certainly attracted its fair share of attention. A lady with a kid talked to me at the station, chiefly about this package with 2 wheels. Another man yakked about his son having too many bicycles, 6 in which I nodded and replied politely, that cycling is a healthy sport. Wonder what he would have said if I told him I had 8.

Nat brought me around the beautiful parks in Melb and I appreciated a lot of the cycle ways as well as bike paths. This must be one of the most bike friendly cities I've been to. She rode an impressive $2k plus road bike but my little tikit could keep up quite easily most times. Some of the paths became unsealed and Nat had to push her road bike for fear that her 120psi tires would be damaged. No such worry with the Schwalbe Marathons on the tikit!

By and large, I was quite impressed with the trains in Melb. Efficient, clean and bike friendly. They even have a special seat meant for me, I think - elderly and people with special needs. Oldy with a special need to be very mobile, without polluting! But sadly, trains are not cheap. My return fare was A$10.10 (Spore would have costs only A$2.50) but its still cheaper than driving.

Foldies and trains are the way to go in Melb! Strange that I did not see any other foldies...
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*UPDATE 160508 - Seems like foldies are also ok to travel on the famous Melbourne trams. Check Lynette bringing her tikit on a tram here: http://www.bikefriday.com/australia08?time=current

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