Bringing a bike or manual scooter
For everyone’s safety, bikes and manual scooters should never be ridden on our stations or onboard. We also ask that any lights on your bike or manual scooter are switched off when you are at our stations as they could distract our staff from carrying out safety-related duties.
Please continue reading for information regarding our e-scooter, e-unicycle, e-skateboard and hoverboard policy.
Other transport companies may have different policies, so be sure to check your onward journeys.
Please check our separate guidance on mobility aid scooters.
Our bike policy
If you have a fully folding bike, you’re welcome to bring it on board any of our trains. Just be sure to fold and carry your bike before going through the ticket gates and when doing so, please make sure you use the wide aisle gate as this provides more space and time for you to walk through.
Please note that by fully folding, we mean a bike that has small wheels and folds in more than one place. At present, we do allow larger bikes with a single folding point, as long as they are easily carried.
Limits on regular bikes
You can bring non-folding bikes on many of our trains. But during the busy morning and afternoon commuting hours, space on board is at a premium. So unfortunately, we can’t let you bring regular bikes along during peak hours.
Peak hour trains are the following (Monday through Friday, excluding Bank Holidays):
- On trains due to arrive in London, Brighton or Kensington Olympia between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.
- On trains departing London, Brighton or Kensington Olympia between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.
We do make exceptions if your journey is entirely within a less crowded part of our network. Download our cycle policy map to see if your journey falls within an unrestricted green zone.
Additional limits
There are times when our services see heavy use outside of peak hours. If a train is especially crowded and cycle spaces are already occupied, we may need to refuse access to non-folding bicycles. This is to protect the safety and comfort of all our passengers.
If we can’t let you board because there’s no room for your bike, our staff will help you find another train.
There are two cases where additional bicycle limits are more common:
- summer weekends on our East Coastway line (between Brighton and Ashford International)
- after large cycle events
In case of engineering works
For safety reasons, we can’t take non-folding bikes on rail replacement buses. Please check for any engineering works before you travel.
Parking your bike at the station
We take bike security seriously. That’s why we’ve invested heavily in new, secure bike parking facilities at many of our stations.
Find bike parking near you – visit our station information page.