Offener Brief an die SBB: Tarifregelung Faltvelos //at 21:38 //by abe

Auf Anregung von @RailService ein offener Brief an die SBB zum Thema Velotransport als Handgepäck (abgesendet via SBB Kontaktformular):

Für normale, zerlegte Velos kann ich ja verstehen, dass eine Verpackung erwünscht ist, da es sich dann ja um Einzelteile (meist zwei Räder und der Rest) handelt.

Dass aber Faltvelos nur dann kostenlos sind, wenn sie verpackt sind, ist eine Zumutung, da sie dann meistens noch grösser, unhandlicher und – aufgrunddessen, dass die meisten Verpackungen inklusive der SBB TranZBag schwarz sind – auch noch leichter zu übersehen sind. Und auch ansonsten macht es weder für das SBB-Personal noch Reisende einen Unterschied, ob das Faltvelo verpackt ist oder nicht. Es ist ein Gepäckstück wie jedes andere, sowohl in der Grösse als auch im Gewicht.

Die SBB (und der ZVV am besten gleich auch noch) möge sich ein Vorbild an den Verkehrsunternehmen nehmen, die für Faltvelos eine nachvollziehbare, eindeutige, und wesentlich sinnvollere Tarifregelung haben, nämlich anhand der Reifengrösse: Faltvelos (gefaltet, aber ohne unsinnigen Verpackungszwang) bis 20” Reifengrösse werden als Handgepäck betrachtet, darüber hinaus als Velo.

Der ZVV hat momentan sogar noch wesentlich ungenauere Formulierungen in ihren Beförderungsbedingungen für Velos (Hervorhebung durch mich):

Kleinkindervelos und Kindertrottinetts werden gratis befördert. Übrige leicht tragbare Fahrgeräte, auch demontierte und verpackte Fahrräder, werden gratis befördert, wenn sie über oder unter dem Sitz der Benützerin oder des Benützers untergebracht werden können.

Früher waren – wenn ich mich recht entsinne – in dem hervorhobenen Teil Faltvelos sogar noch explizit erwähnt. Jetzt ist es Auslegungssache, was ein “leicht tragbares Fahrgerät” ist. Ich finde jedenfalls, das Brompton ist sehr leicht tragbar, ein Fahrgerät ist es allemal. Ein ZVV-Kontrolleur wollte das neulich jedoch nicht wissen (hat sich aber auch nicht auf eine Diskussion eingelassen und ist ausgestiegen).

Traveling plans for the first half of 2009 //at 16:12 //by abe

Since the time between the years is traditionally family time for me, I never were at the Chaos Communication Congress. So I wasn’t at 25C3 either. All the more I look forward to HAR2009 this summer (13th to 16th of August near Vierhouten in the Netherlands), but also because, for the last three years I always have been in the Netherlands for one week in summer, sailing with friends on the IJsselmeer.

But before HAR2009, there will be a bunch of other events to visit and people to meet in real life:

• I’m looking forward to see @evan, @cemb and many other identicatis in real life at Microblogging Conference ‘09 in Hamburg next week on Friday and Saturday (23rd and 24th of January). Will go there by train.
• Two weeks later there will be FOSDEM in Brussels (7th and 8th of February) where I hopefully will meet Savago from the Amora Project and many other friends from the FOSS community. Will go there either by train or car.
• On 14th and 15th of March, the Chemnitzer Linux-Tage take place. I’ve submitted two talks for beginners and will be there with the usual suspects from Symlink (Venty, dino and P2501 so far). We’ll go there by train.
• Luckily not overlapping with the VCFe this year is the SPEZI at Germersheim near Karlsruhe which takes place on 25th and 26th of April. I plan to go there, maybe by train and Brompton, but nothing yet sure.
• The, one week later over the long weekend around the 1st of May there will be Vintage Computer Festival Europe (VCFe) 10.0 at Munich featuring Raffzahn. Will be there with the usual suspects. I’ll maybe prepare an exhibition (“Debian on dead hardware”, i.e. PowerPC, Sparc, Alpha, etc. or so) or a talk, but not yet sure. Will go there by (vintage) car as usual.

Then there will be the big summer holidays driving around in the middle of Europe with the 2CV and taking part in most likely:

• Sailing with friends from 31st of July to 7th of August,
• HAR2009 one weekend later, and
• FrOSCon at St. Augustin near Bonn another weekend later.

This also means that I’ll probably miss:

• DebConf 9 at Extremadura (Spain) from 16th to 30th of July (can’t get so fast from Spain to neither the Czech Republic nor the Netherlands with the 2CV),
• The 18th International 2CV Meeting at Velebudice, Czech Republic from 28th of July to 2nd of August (overlaps with sailing)-:, and
• Bünzli 18 from 14th to 16th of August at Winterthur, Switzerland (overlaps with HAR2009).

… at least unless one of the other events I plan to visit doesn’t take place as expected or my plans change heavily.

P.S.: Anyone thinks this amount of events justifies a Dopplr account? ;-) Or is there somewhere a free online service similar to Dopplr, but runs software under the GNU Affero General Public License like e.g. identi.ca and many other Laconica instances do for microblogging?

I finally ordered //at 05:13 //by abe

After a three and a half week test drive during my last year’s summer holidays and much consideration about the configuration, I finally ordered a Brompton folding bike at Velofix.

Since the apple green was much nicer in the catalogue than in real life, I decided that I need a bike in colours that clearly mark it as my bike: Orange frame and black front and rear swinging fork. ;-)

It will have 6 gears (a 3-gear internal hub and a 2-gear dérailleur, both at the rear axle), a lowered transmission ratio for hilly Zurich and sprints in the city, a SON axle dynamo, Kevlar reinforced, reflecting tyres, and a bicycle luggage rack which also serves as kick stand when (partially) folded.

Options I thought about but then dismissed for miscellaneous reasons: Schlumpf MountainDrive (can’t say if will be really worthwile) and Rohloff Speedhub (not available although I already saw a Brompton with a red Speedhub — funnily just in front of the place I live, and probably also more expensive than I remembered).

First two weeks with the Brompton //at 05:12 //by abe

It’s here! In contrary to the estimated delivery time of about ten weeks, my Brompton arrived at Velofix at Saturday the 16th of February after only three weeks. The orange color is much nicer than the apple green I initially favourited from what I saw in the catalouge and the axle dynamo also proved to be a good idea, so I’m really happy about my choice.

I used the Brompton to go to work everyday the last two weeks, even when it’s snowing like today:

Although I’m starting slowly and taking the bus (hey, it’s a folding bike! :-) for the steepest parts (either from Am Börtli to Waidbadstrasse or Gsteigstrasse)… I even managed to fold the bike although I saw the bus already coming around the corner when I still was in the saddle. That was the day I was at work in less then 10 minutes — Perfect timing. :-)

Since the local Höngg bus (route 38) only makes it’s round every 30 minutes, with the bike I’m now much more flexible and don’t have to hurry in the morning to catch the bus. (OTOH I had to notice that “being more flexible” doesn’t mean “having more time”… :-)

I also use it on the campus for visits in other buildings. Although there are mostly stairs between the different levels of the campus, it’s no problem with the Brompton since it’s easy to carry, even if not folded. It’s much more comfortable than daduke’s little kickboard scooter whose hard wheels don’t feel healthy for bones and especially knees on ETH Hönggerberg’s paths made out of washed-out concrete. Air tyres and rear suspension are much better… :-)

Regarding the choice of gears: The MountainDrive would surely be helpful in hilly Zürich, especially since my fitness isn’t the best one at the moment, but 6 gears are ok, too, and will be even more ok as soon as my fitness gets better. The slower transmission wasn’t a bad choice either, although a wider transmission range would have been better.