NORTH COUNTY -- Though they are intended to hold bicycles, lockers at each of the Sprinter light-rail line's 15 stations are being used to store a range of personal items from suitcases to chain saws, transit officials said this week.

To solve the problem, the North County Transit District is replacing the locker doors with see-through mesh versions and will require users to pay a deposit fee and reserve locker space.

Transit district spokesman Tom Kelleher said that federal rail safety regulations require all bike lockers at train platforms to have the mesh doors, but that the Sprinter's lockers had solid opaque barriers. He said the lockers have been waiting for new doors to be installed for several months.

In the meantime, some Sprinter riders have decided to put their own belongings in the metal crucibles, adding their own padlocks which transit workers now must cut and remove.

This week, transit workers have been moving from station to station, cutting the locks and emptying the lockers of all contents. The property is being hauled to a storage unit at the transit district's parking garage at the Oceanside Transit Center.

"So far they have found a total of 10 bikes," Kelleher said. "They have only made it through (the) Escondido Avenue (station) so far."

Kelleher said Wednesday that he did not know how many locks had been cut to date, though he did say that many lockers are found to be packed when opened.

"Some of them are absolutely crammed with personal belongings," Kelleher said.

Mike Figueroa, a supervisor with Turtle Storage Inc., the company installing the new doors, said he and his workers have seen signs that people may have been living in the lockers or vandalizing them.

"Some of them they were using as a bathroom," Figueroa said. "Sometimes you can see it and you can smell it."

Once all of the lockers are emptied and new doors are installed, the lockers will be turned over to the regional "Ridelink" program, which charges cyclists a $25 or $35 deposit to reserve a locker which is secured with its own dedicated lock.

Dan Martin, a program manager at the San Diego Association of Governments, said the deposit is refunded when a bike user returns their key. Riders also must sign an agreement that they will use the locker for commuting purposes.

"We ask for a deposit to make sure that things are kept in good order," Martin said. "The whole point is to give people another way to cover that last mile between home and the station or between the station and work."

He said Ridelink has a total of 672 lockers at 47 transit centers throughout the county. To reserve a locker, dial 511 and say "Ridelink" to reach an operator.

In North County, some who have been using the Sprinter lockers aren't pleased with the new system.

Jude Dreisbach of Oceanside said in an e-mail to the North County Times that the change from free lockers to the reservation system was irritating. Dreisbach said he regularly rides his bike to the Sprinter's Rancho del Oro station, leaving it in a locker for safe keeping while at work.

"Now I have to walk to work for a week until the locker doors are changed," Dreisbach wrote. "I blame the (North County Transit District) for coming up with this ridiculous plan to have users pay money and fill out an application."

"I also blame the idiots who have abused the lockers," he added.

The district will hold all belongings taken from lockers for 30 days. To find an item, call (760) 967-2851.

Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.