BIKES AND INTER-CITY BUSES:
Bit by bit, it’s getting easier to travel
by bus with your bicycle throughout Spain. That
said, it’s still not great.
Most times, inter-city bus companies won’t
treat your bicycle any differently than any
other piece of luggage. Especially if you’re
travelling alone, and through smaller towns
that may not have a bus station, you can usually
throw your your bike into the hold (la bodega)
without any trouble. However, on longer routes,
during the summer and over holiday periods,
it may get more complicated. Here are some steps
you can take to avoid stress.
• When you buy your ticket, inform the
ticket seller that you are taking a bike as
luggage. At that point, they should tell you
if there is anything special you have to do
(e.g. pay a supplementary fee or check the bike
in before boarding the bus.) If they don’t
tell you anything, make a point of asking, “¿Hay
algo especial para hacer con la bici?”
(Do I have to do anything special with the bike?)
• Don’t travel in groups larger
than five, unless you don’t mind travelling
late at night or at off-hours during the week.
• Be at the bus when the bus driver arrives
so that he or she is aware that you have a bike
to put into the hold. One very sexist (but effective
hint) – if your group has one or more
females, send them to talk to the driver. It’s
manipulative, but it (almost) always works.
• If you’re not going to be with
the bus until the end of the trip, put the bike
on the RIGHT side hold of the bus (i.e. not
on the driver’s side.) In smaller towns
where there’s no bus station you will
have to unload on the street, and you don’t
want to have to do it in traffic.
• Be prepared to dismount the bike, since
you’re not likely to be permitted to put
it in the hold as is. Most times, this just
means taking off the front wheel and the panniers.
You may also be required to cover the bike to
keep other luggage from getting dirty –
if you don’t have a bike cover, a plastic
poncho is usually enough.
• Take as little with you on board. There’s
no worse feeling than being proud of getting
everything off the bus and realizing that your
helmet is pulling away with the bus.
As of April, 2006, the following bus companies
gave us the following policies:
ALSA (service to northwestern Spain, Valencia
coast and Barcelona; www.alsa.es) – maximum
of five bikes permitted on each bus; €3
surcharge per bike long-distance, €1.20
short distance.
SOCIBUS/SECORBUS (service to western Andalusia
and Córdoba; www.socibus.es) –
bikes permitted once a €7 freight surcharge
has been paid. You can pay the surcharge when
you buy the ticket.
CONTINENTAL-AUTO (service to eastern Castile,
Granada and eastern Andalusia; www.continental-auto.es)
– Bikes permitted on any bus that has
a hold. €3 surcharge applies, but at discretion
of driver. Be at bus 30 minutes before boarding.
AUTO-RES (service to western Castilla-La Mancha
and Extremadura; www.auto-res.es) and LA SEPULVEDANA
(service to central Castile and Jaén;
www.lasepulvedana.es) – both are part
of the Avanza Group, whose policy seems to be
to allow bikes on with a €3 surcharge,
payable at time of ticket purchase. At Madrid’s
Mendez Álvaro station, arrive an hour
early to check the bike in (“Facturación).
Note that bikes are not typically allowed on
Sepulvedana buses going to Segovia; you may
find it less hassle to take the train.
Smaller/Regional Operators – Check with
the ticket seller, but usually no problem/surcharge,
especially if it’s not a busy route.
BICYCLES ON THE UNDERGROUND
Of the four Spanish cities that
have subway systems – Bilbao, Barcelona,
Madrid and Valencia – only Bilbao and
Barcelona give bicycle users unlimited access
to the Metro at all hours (though it’s
probably better to avoid the morning rush hour
between 7:00 and 9:30 a.m.). Valencia allows
bikes on board any time after the morning rush
hour, and has taken the extra step of introducing
fourteen different routes that are accessible
by bike and local train (see the routes online
at: http://www.metrovalencia.com/metroval/html/viaja_metroval/bicimetro.htm
Madrid’s Metro system allows
users to take their bicycles on the Metro between
7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and
holidays. The 4:00 p.m. rule isn’t always
enforced but the start time is – no bringing
your bike on the Metro Friday night after a
night on the town – won’t work.
Logistically this means that you should be able
to bring your bike on the Metro coming in from
the airport, too, though we have heard of people
having problems with the security guards at
Aeropuerto station.
Keep in mind that if you bring a bike on Madrid’s
metro, you can only go through access points
with a staffed ticket office. Once you buy your
ticket, staff will open the gates for you –
you only need to put your ticket through the
machines to cancel it. When you leave the Metro,
same thing. That way, you don’t have to
lift your bike through the turnstiles. Technically,
you’re not supposed to use the escalators
when carrying your bike; in practice, no one
says anything. Once you’re on the platform,
try to get as close as you can to the driver’s
cabin. However, be aware that Metro de Madrid
reserves the right to deny service to cyclists
if there’s an overload of service, a breakdown,
or any other interruption in normal service.
BICYCLES on RENFE TRAINS
The European Union recently ruled that that
all train services must have facilities for
bicycles on all of its routes. Since it’s
divided into three separate divisions, RENFE
(www.renfe.es), Spain’s national train
operator, has been extremely slow to adhere
to the ruling and standardize its policies.
That said, we can provide the following generalizations:
• Bicycles are not permitted on TALGO
or InterCity services if the client has not
purchased a berth on an overnight train.
• Bicycles are not permitted on Altaria
trains.
• Bicycles are not permitted on Cercanías
(commuter) trains during rush hour, and they’re
not allowed at any time on the Cercanías
between Málaga and Fuengirola.
• Bicycles are not permitted on Regional
Diesel Trains (indicated by a TRD or an R598
on RENFE schedules) – there’s no
space in the carriages for them.
But…you can carry bicycles:
• On regular Regional Trains (Regional/Regional
Exprés).
• On Cercanías trains between 9:30
and 4:00 and after 8:00 in the evening (until
3:00 p.m. on Fridays)
• On FEVE (narrow-gauge) railways running
along the Valencia coast and through northern
Spain (Bilbao – El Ferrol – León)
Technically Cercanías trains have a
limit of two bikes per carriage, but if three
to four bikes are secured together (and the
cyclists aren’t blocking the doors), conductors
won’t give you any hassle.
If something goes wrong and you are “invited”
(RENFE’s word) to leave the train, it’s
worth the time and hassle to ask for the reclamations
form – the official complaint form that
every company in Spain is obliged to have. Explain
the situation in detail, where the problem is,
and what steps you expect RENFE to take to remedy
the situation. Without it, you will not be able
to (possibly) get a refund on your ticket. And
if you’re in the mood to get something
changed, get in touch with ConBici (www.conbici.org),
the umbrella organization for cycling activist
groups in Spain, and let them know what happened.
