Welcome to today's thread - #CrossBorderRail 2026 Tour Day 31 - 4 May - Rimini - Bologna - Milano - Lugano - Basel - Strasbourg

[jon@gruene.social]

“You could email us to tell us you’re coming by bike!” the guy said

Are you going to ask car drivers that, I said, gesturing to the car parking lot

[meganl@mas.to]

@jon Glad you thought of that retort so quickly. Not everyone does and it's exactly the point to make. You're just as much a customer and it's clear they prepare for some customers' vehicles and not others'. #BikeTooter #CycleParkingAudit

[jon@gruene.social]

@peterbrown they need to convert one car space to bike parking. 1! There’s a cycle lane to the front of the hotel.

[jon@gruene.social]

Damn that Hormuz closure is pushing things to the limit! 🤯

[jon@gruene.social]

Back to railways

RS4 (87455)
19:22 Strasbourg - Offenburg 19:52

Distance: 28.7km
Average speed: 57km/h

6 stops:
Krimmeri-Meinau
Kehl
Kork
Legelshurst
Appenweier
Offenburg

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#12/48.530490/7.850715

#CrossBorderRail

[jon@gruene.social]

#CrossBorderRail 2026 Spring Tour Train 109 of 125
RS4 (87460)
20:05 Offenburg - Strasbourg 20:34
SNCF for TER Fluo Grand Est

Train type: CAF Régiolis bi-mode MU, 4 short carriages
️ (15kV ac, 25kV ac)
: (loads of space)
🦽: (step free in France)
🛜: ️
️: ️
🧳: (good racks, big doors)
🧽: (spotless)
Interrail: (accepted)

[jon@gruene.social]

RS4 (87460)
20:05 Offenburg - Strasbourg 20:34

Distance: 28.7km
Average speed: 59km/h

6 stops:
Appenweier
Legelshurst
Kork
Kehl
Krimmeri-Meinau
Strasbourg

This train, mapped: https://umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/crossborderrail-2026-spring-tour_1361108#12/48.530490/7.850715

#CrossBorderRail

[quixoticgeek@social.v.st]

@jon it's a folding bike. Surely you fold it up and take it into the hotel room. Hell I take my full size non folding bike into my hotel room where ever possible.

[danbrotherston@types.pl]

@jon Haha...

FWIW...in the Netherlands we often visit vacation parks and they will ask us for our car information...when we helpfully inform them we arrive by bike, they say, they don't need anything for that, we can just bring our bikes to the holiday home.

But it is interesting that the assumption even here, is that one arrives by car in these (admittedly rural) locations.

[cstross@wandering.shop]

@quixoticgeek @jon Or annoy them by asking to park it in the secure baggage room? I mean, you're a paying guest, it's your property, it needs secure storage ...

[jon@gruene.social]

@quixoticgeek that’s what I did. But given I need to leave at 6am leaving it locked outside would have been preferable!

[jon@gruene.social]

@peterbrown it was friendly. I suppose!

[quixoticgeek@social.v.st]

@jon I refuse to lock my bike up outside. It's my luggage, we wouldn't accept people having to lock suitcases outside. So who bikes. I've been ok in about 90% of the hotels I stay in.

[wlukewindsor@c.im]

@jon meanwhile https://www.premierinn.com/gb/en/why/bike-friendly.html show how it can be done

[davidm_yeg@beige.party]

@jon

Don’t worry, I’m sure plans are already afoot to move that decimal point…

[raphv@social.edu.nl]

@danbrotherston @jon unlike the recycling centre where (at least in my municipality which is one of the 10 biggest cities in the supposedly bike-friendly Netherlands) you can only enter by car (no walk-ins, no bike-ins and, although the municipality offers free removal of bulk at the doorstep, there are some garbage categories like paint and chemicals where trees no alternative).

[jon@gruene.social]

@quixoticgeek Sure, that's also OK, but outside parking is handy *as well*

[endicottauthor@mastodon.social]

@jon "You're gonna need a bigger sign".

[jon@gruene.social]

Here's today's #CrossBorderRail video, summarising what I learned taking the new Régiolis service. It's a BIG step forward, much better than the diesel trains it replaces https://peertube.netzbegruenung.de/w/7FcqQDVUvhJmUk6pSifNvd

[quixoticgeek@social.v.st]

@jon as long as they don't require it as the only option. I was at a best western in Germany where they insisted my bike must be locked up outside. Then I asked them to cancel the reservation, and they relented.