Upcoming study to focus on accommodating bikes on South Shore Line

Currently, the South Shore Line is one of only two light rail lines in the U.S. that don’t allow passengers to bring bikes on trains.

The South Shore Line runs between Millennium Station in the Loop and South Bend Regional Airport in Indiana.

This past spring, Northwest Indiana Regional Planning Commission (NIRPC) collected comments from the public to gauge the interest for bringing bikes on trains.

As we expected, comments were overwhelmingly supportive of bikes on trains.

Next month, NIRPC is kicking off a feasibility study on accommodating bicycles the trains. This will be an engineering study that will look at requirements, funding sources, opportunities and barriers as well as multiple options for allowing bikes.

The results of the study are expected in March 2015.

The study is be funded by a coalition of groups: NIRPC, Northern Indiana Commuter Transit District, Save the Dunes, NIPSCO, Arcelor-Mittal, National Parks Conservation Association, Porter County, LaPorte County, Northwest Indiana RDA and the Greenways Foundation.

It’s been more than two years since Active Trans and other non-profit organizations began pushing Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District to allow bikes on the South Shore Line.

Let’s hope that once this study is complete, the wheels will start to turn at a much faster rate for getting bikes on the South Shore Line.

Photo courtesy of Streetsblog Chicago and Dave Wilson.