"Linking bicycle transportation to transit is beneficial to the region and adds flexibility to longer trips taken," said MTA Board Chairman Hal Bernson. "MTA remains committed to providing transportation choices that replace automobile trips and create a more bike-friendly system."

Under the revised MTA Bike on Rail Policy adopted by the board, patrons using bicycles will no longer need to have a permit to board Metro Rail trains with their bikes.

In addition, the hours of bike restrictions on Metro Rail trains will be reduced by one hour in the morning peak periods and two hours in the afternoon peak periods. The new hours of restrictions that call for no bikes on Metro Rail trains will be from 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., MTA said. (Current hours are from 6-9 a.m. and 3-7 p.m.)

Also under the new policy, MTA will allow bikes on Metro Rail trains in the reverse peak hour commute when trains are moving in a direction opposite the majority flow of commuter traffic on the Metro Blue and Green lines as well as the Los Angeles to Pasadena Metro Gold line opening in mid-2003, the agency said.

"This is a big step in the right direction for the MTA that will help make Los Angeles County an even better place to bicycle," said Ron Milam, executive director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.

On the Metro Red Line subway system, bikes will be allowed at all times between Wilshire/Vermont and North Hollywood, or between Wilshire/Vermont and Wilshire/Western. The new Bike on Rail Policy goes into effect Oct. 29, 2002.

Bikes will remain restricted on the Metro Red Line during the new peak hours of operation in both directions between Wilshire/Vermont and Union Station, the agency said.

"A significant step has been made by MTA in fulfilling one of the agency's Long Range Plan goals to increase bicycle ridership by improving the connections between bikes and transit," said MTA Bikeway Project Manager Lynn Goldsmith. "This is something we want to encourage more and more in our future planning."

The expansion of hours included in the new Bike on Rail Policy adopted has been a cooperative effort between the MTA Board of Directors, staff and bikers to make the Metro Rail system more "bike friendly."

MTA must restrict patrons with bikes on trains due to the heavy commuting patterns in both morning and afternoon peak periods and the overcrowding that has occurred over the past few years on Metro Rail trains, especially, the highly successful Metro Blue Line that runs between Long Beach and downtown Los Angeles, the agency said.

MTA in the past has required patrons boarding Metro Rail trains to have a permit. Some 8,500 bikers hold MTA Cycle Express permits. The agency receives between 1,500 and 2,000 applications for bike permits a year.