Atlanta Bicycle Campaign Asks Amtrak To Offer A Bike Train

Following is a copy of a letter recently sent to Amtrak by the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign asking Amtrak to study the addition of a Bike Train type service on The Crescent (the Amtrak train running from New Orleans to Washington, DC).

I am writing to you as both a long-time Amtrak rider and the executive director of the Atlanta Bicycle Campaign, a 600-strong membership-based bicycle advocacy organization. We recently learned Amtrak was considering running a Bike Train to Atlanta and wanted to voice our strong support for the project.

We would be pleased to help publicize this initiative by notifying our members and contacts through our monthly e-newsletter (reaches nearly 1,000) and by posting information on our website. Atlanta, while not known for being a bicycling city, has an astonishing number of bike shops, cycling clubs, and cyclists throughout the region.

On Sunday, April 20th, we are hosting a large, family-friendly bike ride around Atlanta's future BeltLine. The BeltLine, a potentially transformative project turning old rail lines into greenspace, transit, and economic development, has been reported around the country. We feel our BeltLine Bike Tour could be a draw for Amtrak riders from Birmingham and other cities if there were a bike train in place by that time.

I urge you to place the Atlanta bike train on Amtrak's project list and schedule it for study and implementation as soon as possible.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions. I look forward to riding the bike train!

Sincerely,
Rebecca Serna

Executive Director
Atlanta Bicycle Campaign
233 Mitchell St, Suite 315
Atlanta, GA 30303
Office: (404) 881-1112
Web: www.atlantabike.org

Labels: bike-train