Surfboards vs. bikes on subway cars

According to the Washington Post ("Metro designs an uplifting ride") the design for the new subway cars for the WMATA system won't incorporate bike hooks.

Flickr photo by Dan Haneckow. Caption: Inside Type #4 car #404 on the first day of the Yellow Line routed onto the transit mall. Portland Oregon, August 30 2009

According to the Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper in Australia, the design for the new Gold Coast light rail (they call it a tram), will include overhead racks for surfboards ("Surfboards allowed on Coast light rail"). From the article:

IN an Australian first surfboard racks have been specially designed to cater to Gold Coast surfers wanting to ride the city's new Rapid Transit system.

Premier Anna Bligh told the Bulletin exclusively yesterday that a group of Gold Coast locals who are part of GoldLinQ, the new company announced to build and run the system had felt the rare design was needed to cater to the city's large surfing culture.

The news has been given the ultimate tick of approval by the surfing industry, who believe it will attract more people to our beaches and relieve parking congestion.

The light rail cars will be from the Flexity 7 line produced by Bombardier.

Doors

I still think that new WMATA subway cars should be built with four doors, which would reduce the number of seats somewhat, to speed exit and entry onto the trains, which is important at the core stations such as Union Station, Metro Center, Gallery Place, in particular.

This is one way to increase passenger throughput and delay, maybe by a couple years, reaching capacity in the next decade.

Some of the lines of the New York City subway have 4-door cars.

NYC R160 subway car, with four doors, from the NYC Subway website. Photo by Peter Ehrlich.