Capital Bikeshare Installation @ 14th and Rhode Island

As promised, the city has begun installing each of the 100+ bike stations that will constitute the new Capital Bikeshare program. The program is a replacement for the existing SmartBike program, which will be discontinued this fall.

I don't know if you can tell with the crummy camera phone-quality pic, but the new stations look a bit more space-agey than the SmartBike stations.

Capital Bikeshare Bringing New Bike Stations to Logan and Shaw

The District is ready to move forward with plans to significantly upgrade its fledgling bike sharing program, and mid-city neighborhoods stand to benefit significantly.

Beginning this fall, the District will roll out the expanded program, now called Capital Bikeshare, which will replace the existing SmartBike program. SmartBike is currently a joint venture between the District and Clear Channel. As you may recall, last year the city announced plans to greatly expand the SmarkBike program, only to have Clear Channel express a less-than-enthusiastic reception. Seems that the 10 station/120 bike program was sufficient enough for them, thanks very much. But it wasn't for District transportation officials, who very much wanted to expand the program so that it mimicked programs in cities such as Paris, whose program features hundreds of stations and thousands of bikes (as well as significant amounts of theft and vandalism).

Undeterred, the District sought out a partner, and found one in Alta Bike Share, a Portland, Oregon-based firm that works with jurisdictions here and abroad to set up bike sharing programs. They recently launched a 600 bike program in Melbourne, Australia. And this fall, they will be implementing the expanded version of DC's program, which will feature 1100 bikes and 114 stations throughout the District and Arlington.

Predictably, most of the new stations are centered around the District's core, with the largest number of stations existing in the area bounded by the Mall, 25th Street, Florida Avenue and North Capitol. However, stations will be located in farther afield neighborhoods in all quadrants of the city, including Tenleytown, Petworth and 16th Street Heights in NW, Brookland and Deanwood in NE, and Fort Dupont and Barry Farms in SE, among others. Nearly 15 stations will also be located in Pentagon City and Crystal City in Arlington, with plans to expand into the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor as well.

Logan and Shaw both stand to benefit significantly from increased stations throughout the neighborhoods. Currently, the are is served by SmartBike stations at 14th and Rhode Island, 7th and T streets, and U and 14th Streets. To these existing stations, Capital Bike Share plans to add stations at 15th and P, 14th and R, 10th and U, 16th and U, 7th and M (Convention Center) and 13th and M. (See area map below for all neighborhood locations.)



According to a message I received this weekend, existing SmartBike users will be able to use Capital BikeShare at no additional cost through April 2011, at which time they must apply for Capital BikeShare membership. The Capital BikeShare membership registration will be available, according to DDOT, sometime this month.

As someone who has pined for the District to continue focusing on alternative methods of intercity transit, particularly with the likelihood of further Metro expansion likely placing somewhere between a Nationals World Series trophy and a Leo Alexander mayoral term, it's truly wonderful to see the city investing so heavily in such a program. With this program and DC's focus on the installation of bike lanes across many major corridors, and development requirements that mandate the placement of bike rails near the new development (and don't forget the recently opened Union Station Bike Center), DC is well on its way to becoming one of the country's most bike-friendly cities--and the more people who can be coaxed off of our traffic-clogged roads (and, increasingly, rider-clogged Metro)--the better off we'll all be in the long run.

One final brief transit note, for those who may have missed it: the infamous "Blue Bus" will soon be no more. Last week, the District announced what many had anticipated for some time: the Circulator will replace the Georgetown Metro Connection on its existing Dupont-Rosslyn route, which passes through Georgetown along the way. This move makes perfect sense, and will provide a roomier and, hopefully, more reliable form of transit into Georgetown. The K Street Circulator line had already replaced the Metro Connection on one route, from the Foggy Bottom Metro stop to Rosslyn. Additional information can be found at the Circulator's website.

Bad News for DC SmartBikers

Image courtesy of SmartBikeDC.

As a subscriber to DC's first-in-the-nation bike sharing program, SmartBike, I was delighted by the news that came out recently regarding a planned expansion for the system. The phrases coming out of DDOT--"hundreds of more bikes" "90 more kiosks" "expansion into Virginia and Maryland"--gave reassurance that the District was committed to not only preserving but expanding the system, which is in wide use in European cities such as Paris, but was launched here only on a trial basis.

Sure, the bikes are fugly, and no they don't ride very well...but for my morning commute from Logan to Penn Quarter, a bike has proven to be the fastest way from Point A to Point B. So the anticipated expansion by the end of the summer was certainly welcome news.

Courtesy of Georgetown Metropolitan, we learn that the expansion appears to be on indefinite hiatus following SmartBike operator ClearChannel's balking at operating an additional 90 kiosks. As part of their agreement to operate the program, ClearChannel received a monopoly on advertising at all District bus shelters. Since they've already gotten that, there really isn't much of a carrot left for the District to dangle in front of them in order to get them to bite on a 900% expansion of the program.

In addition, as is pointed out on Metropolitan, part of DDOT's planned expansion of the program involves opening kiosks in northern Virginia--and since bus shelter advertisements are banned in VA, ClearChannel has a less-than-zero interest in pursuing that.

The alternative at this point would be to remove ClearChannel as operator of the program and bring in someone else committed to its growth in the region. From the perspective of someone who thinks that SmartBike is a fabulous program, this is the most palatable solution. But it won't happen tomorrow, and in fact would likely take quite some time to work out such an arrangement.

So the end result is that SmartBike probably isn't going to be expanding anytime soon. Which is too bad. With the District's clogged roads, Metro's recent troubles, and a ridiculously low annual fee, SmartBike seemed poised to become an increasingly viable transportation option for those in and around the District. Guess we'll just have to wait awhile before we become a velo-clogged metropolis a la Paris.