Georgia Avenue

Stationary bike station

From reader Rob Jordan:

Here's a pic I snapped yesterday near Eastern Market. Kids were pedaling in place on CaBi bikes, and seemed to be having a great time.

VA CaBi expansion

If you're in the DC-VA area and recognize Capital Bikeshare as the positive game-changer that it is, think about coming on out Monday night to a meeting about new stations planned for Arlington. Sounds like you can also make a pitch for a station on your block.

Hey, maybe the ArlingtonGOP folks will be there in full-throat against, per their recent anti-CaBi blog post. (Well, not so recent, April actually. In fact, seems that was their most recent post. Boy, just when I was feeling bad for MY periodic posting slow-downs.)

From the CaBi announcement:

Public Meeting on Capital Bikeshare in Arlington

Monday, June 27 at 7:00pm

Capital Bikeshare has exciting plans for expansion throughout the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor within the next year and your input is needed. The Arlington County Department of Environment Services cordially invites you to offer your feedback on proposed stations and to make suggestions for other locations. Nearly 30 stations are already proposed for the Rosslyn, Courthouse, Clarendon, Virginia Square, and Ballston urban villages. All were determined with the assistance of a Bikeshare Demand Map, which analyzed population and employment density, bike and transit facilities, and destinations to estimate demand for public bicycles […]. 

Cool coup

From The Atlantic:

Washington, DC: Making Bike Commutes Cool

How a stylish, convenient bikeshare program catapulted the District into the ranks of America's elite biking cities

So cool that - as touched on in the article - these days you're not guaranteed to find a bike at popular stations in rush hour. Like this morning, the station at Petworth was empty (first time it's happened to me), so I walked to Columbia Heights and got a bike in front of the Giant. Then when I dropped it off on the west end of Calvert Street bridge, the guy in the photo was happy to snatch it up, as that module was empty too.

Not a complaint, I love you dearly, CaBi. You're the best thing, babe, perhaps in all of the North American bikescape at the moment, the only real competition being Montreal's Bixi and NY's bike lanes.

What I love the most is that it has basically institutionalized the citizen cycling model, with its bike-as-you-are mindset, upright/slower ride, A-to-Bism, and designing it as integrated transit, not 'bike rental'.

And the chainguard of course. I still say the revolution starts with the humble chainguard.

Tipping point

I read somewhere on the Twittersphere that biking levels in DC have seemed to be at a tipping point as spring weather breaks out, with cyclists '15 deep' reported at one stop light.

I don't get out enough, but if it's true then three of the factors are in this photo from this morning: 1) normal DC suit figured out that biking is the best way to get to work, and didn't require special gear or an alternative lifestyle; 2) all the new bike lanes; and 3) Capital Bikeshare.

Red menace

The ArlingtonGOP blog had an interesting post the other day, County yanks parking spaces in Rosslyn, which sure sounds alarming but you know, funny enough, it was actually about expansion of the popular Capital Bikeshare (which operates in Washington DC and parts of Northern Virginia, for those reading non-locally).

What? Oh, sorry, I mean it was about 'the seizure of valuable on-street parking spaces for an under-used bike service'.

Yeah, and you know what else? You know some of those underused sidewalks in Arlington, that are empty pretty much all the time, except during lunch, or maybe some old person? I can’t BELIEVE those haven’t been converted to parking spaces, or hell, a new lane of traffic. Pedestrians aren’t really using ‘em, and what are they doing walking around in the public realm anyway?? The public realm is for cars and drivers! Pave, baby, pave!

I heard those RED (hmm, coincidence???) bikes are pretty popular over in the District. But this is Virginia, we D-R-I-V-E. Why do those damn Dems keep frustrating motorists with annoying alternatives?

Ok, sorry, couldn't help it. I mean, really. I believe the breakdown was losing eight parking spaces total in three locations, gaining three bikeshare dock modules of approximately twelve bikes each. WashCycle has a full and sensible rebuttal.

Dupont Circle II

Another reason why CaBi is cool

It's very cool that Capital Bikeshare has workers on these Danish Christiania cargo bikes going around doing regular maintenance at the stations. Nice touch. No, I've no idea why the other guy has a regular bike on his back. Maybe helping out with a little impromptu redistribution?

Bike of the Day - Linus Dutchi

Spring is here! Told you I'd be back. I probably won't be able to keep up the posting fervor of last fall, I'll try to find a more manageable pace. No time for photos today but I hope to get out there this week.

Warm day today in DC, though historically we bounce around anywhere between cold rain and warm sunshine between now and May. Spring and fall in DC are second to none, though while fall seems to linger forever, spring too often can be a little twitchy then jumps right to oppressive summer.

Guess it means it's that bike-buying time of year. We know you're thinking about it. When I was in the market a few years ago for my first bike in ages, the Electra Amsterdam was the only Dutch-style bike available around here. Meaning a true upright ride with a chainguard and fenders, not so much to ask, right?

The city's bikescape has definitely changed somewhat for the better, though still too many bikes of the brutally functional variety out there for my taste. Linus bikes, including the Dutchi 3 (shown) are sold at Bicycle Space downtown. I've been seeing some around. I don't know how durable they are but they're attractive, seem to have the geometry right (though not as upright as the Electra), and I recall they're not terribly expensive.

The Bike Rack at 14th and Q Streets can get you on various Batavus models, though you'll need to ask, they don't keep many (sometimes none) in stock. Brands like Schwinn and Globe and even Trek have been getting into the upright game too.

Other suggestions? Or hey, for a mere 75 bucks per year of course there's always the mighty Capital Bikeshare, heading into its first spring bloom.

Calvert Street

Ok, I'm a little rusty, but I like her angle. Lots of CaBi's out there already, especially when the temperature creeps up a bit like today. I have a hunch in a month or so the red bikes will be THE way to get around the city.

Magic-and-a-mystery tour

I was debating posting this, as it starts off a little unpromisingly, and with slightly incongruous choice of music. But if you stick with it you kind of get into the flow. It also serves nicely as a little tour of DC neighborhoods, in addition to some of the better bike lanes etc.

And just when it's going good, and it gets to those fine center-lane cycle tracks on Pennsylvania Avenue that you may have heard about - wha… heyyy, who parked not one but FOUR vehicles smack in the middle, blocking both directions? Ah, law enforcement of some kind, surely on a task that required them to park precisely there.

11th and Irving St

And in biking news

DCC is very pleased, things are seeming downright sensible around here:

DC press doesn't fall for bike-baiting

The Washington Examiner published a poorly-researched article about bike lane opposition. But instead of jumping onto an anti-bike lane revolt, DC press and opinion leaders quickly saw through the rhetoric and put forth a more nuanced and sensible reaction.

No anti-bike revolution at DDOT, at least not yet:

Bellamy to serve as interim head of DDOT

[to DDOT employees] "I don’t know how long I will serve in this capacity, but regardless please continue doing what you’re doing, keep working on all the projects and programs that make DDOT shine."

And CaBi is using cool cargo bikes for maintenance vehicles!

Pierce Park

If you're heading into Adams Morgan from Calvert Street Bridge, there are perfectly fine bike lanes on Calvert Street. But the walkways through Walter Pierce Park* make for a decent protected cycletrack as well. Call it the scenic route.

(*Or as my daughter calls it, 'Shady Park', since the tree canopy in the playground area makes it great on hot days.)

I should also mention, since it's hard to tell, this pair looked trés chic.

'Til springtime

Many cities are putting their whole bikeshare systems into winter hibernation around now.

In DC the CaBis will keep rolling. Way to buck the city's southern/wimp image when it comes to winter weather. Maybe our bikers will end up being more tough-minded about these things than our drivers.

Bye Bye Bikeshare, See You Next Spring

Bike systems in Denver, the Twin Cities, Nashville, and Washington state are shutting down until springtime [...] The District’s Capital Bikeshare system will not be closing over the winter, but is in the process of creating guidelines for possible snow days when the system must be shut down.

full article

Happy bike-day

Sometimes you have a good bike-day.

My Electra was in the shop, so this morning I CaBi'd from Petworth to Bloomingdale for a quick photo shoot. Stopped off at Big Bear Cafe for a coffee (man, the place was packed on a Saturday morning). Then CaBi'd from there to The Bike Rack at 14th and Q (100 percent on the R Street bike lane) to pick up my bike. Ran into one of my neighbors who was thinking about a new bike. I, true to recent form, gave her the upright/slow/normal clothes spiel. I know, I'm probably getting annoying.

Moseyed over to Dupont Circle to look for citizen-cycling pics. Didn't find much going on photo-wise, but did put a few of my Moo calling cards on any parked bikes that looked like candidates for the Chainguard Revolution. In a nice little moment of karma, my friend Eric sent me this cool video that was sort of apropos to the bike-day I was having. Watched it on my phone before heading up to Adams Morgan (first real hill of the day) did a few errands, warmed my hands up in a few places.

Grabbed lunch from one of the Latino vendors who set up on weekends in the little plaza outside City Bikes. Really great Puerto Rican pork and a garlicky plantain dish I can't remember the name of. The nice guy who sold it to me sat down while I was eating it and explained all the inside tricks he uses to make it.

There I met Eryn and Patrick, around the time I was taking this picture of the plaza scene:

They asked me about my bike because she was shopping for an upright bike and had been eyeing the Electras online. She actually had heard of District Citizen Cycling! ("wow, that's you?!") Very cool, first time that's happened. Further up the street, here's Eryn and Patrick taking out the last available CaBis at the 16th and Columbia station:

Riding home, dropped in for the tail end of the bike clinic behind Qualia Coffee on Georgia Avenue, where I finally made some decent photos that helped redeem the day a bit in that regard (see previous post):

Kind of cold out there, and the wind had some bite, but plenty sunny. Nice DC early winter day. Just the kind of bike-day that puts you in touch with the city in a way that driving and walking don't. Walking's great, but biking you're flowing like water through the streets, covering ground quickly while absorbing your changing surroundings, finding a kind of rhythm, feeling DC's great neighborhoods and how they connect. City zen!

CaBi on VOA

Here's a video segment my wife produced about Capital Bikeshare for Voice of America:

Washingtonians Embrace Bike-Share Program

More and more cities worldwide are embracing the idea of bicycle-sharing programs. Officials and advocates say it's convenient, cheap, healthy and promotes a greener environment. As other cities in the United States are working to introduce the concept, Washington, DC recently launched the largest bike-sharing program in the country. Mariama Diallo reports.

Mount Pleasant St

photos © Bill Crandall

On Capital Bikeshare

photo © Bill Crandall

DCC interview with Chris Holben, DDOT Project Manager for Capital Bikeshare:

How did Capital Bikeshare come to be? What was your particular role? CaBi is the expansion of the Smartbike DC program. Started 2 years ago, Smartbike was very successful except for its limited size. DDOT wanted to expand right from the start and it took about 2 years to make that happen. We partnered with Arlington County to make the first regional system and now the largest system in the US. Also, we switched to a new system, Public Bike Share or Bixi, that is solar powered, modular and extremely easy to install. My role was to manage (as part of a great team) that two year period of expansion including the contracts, station siting and installation, and now operations.

How were sites chosen for stations? The sites were chosen from a few different methods including a Smartbike member survey, a GIS location suitability matrix, a crowd sourcing exercise, DDOT staff knowledge, and common sense.

Is CaBi designed as a bike rental system or a transit system? We think of it as one option in the large offering of transportation options: a self-service bicycle transit system. It is complementary with bus, train, walking, taxi, and soon to be streetcar.

Who are the target users? Anyone 16 and over!  Really, we want them all:  the daily commuter; the fair weather rider; the rider who “needs to go to the further away grocery store that is too far to walk but not too far to ride”; the downtown office worker who can run errands, go to lunch, go to meetings quicker and cheaper than a taxi; and day users: tourists, friends of bikers who need an extra bike, need to get to Union Station but don’t want to deal with your own bike, etc. Really, everyone.

What are the most common arguments by critics and naysayers, and what is your response? Occasionally, I hear “I already have a bike, no thanks”. My response is that there are times when you want a bike and don’t have yours with you or you don’t want yours with you or you don’t want to deal with yours (lock, messy weather, etc). CaBi allows for an opportunistic ride or a very specific one way ride where you don’t necessarily want your own bike.

How does CaBi plan to deal with keeping bikes evenly distributed according to usage and need? Our contractor, Alta Bicycle Share, is tasked to do this with redistribution vehicles. Also, as we add more stations to the system, the redistribution happens more naturally by riders. The members shift more bikes around and there are more stations to go to and more stations to take bikes from.

Have you had many issues with vandalism and/or stolen bikes so far? We have had some general graffiti and minor bike vandalism but that was to be expected with an unattended publicly accessible system. We have cleaned/repaired the bikes and stations quickly to show that we won’t allow the system to degrade and attract more of the same. Soon everyone will get used to seeing these bikes and stations around town and we hope that they will become as commonplace as bus shelters.

Personally, what city in the world is your ideal biking city? I am a pretty experienced city rider so I like to explore all new cities by bike if I can. But I spent some time in Bangkok and really liked biking there. Granted it was always late late at night. During the day would be no fun!

Do you ride CaBi yourself? Oh yes! I was a more or less daily bike commuter but I have been actively using CaBi since the Petworth station was installed. I have a couple of my regular trips:  Petworth to 14th and U (work commute); 14th and U to Columbia Heights (pick up kids from school); 14th and U to Dupont Circle (lunch); 14th and U to 4th and M, SW (work meetings). I average 2-3 trips a day. All under 30 minutes.

When will we see more protected bike lanes? We are constructing the 15th street, NW cycle track right now! It will be a 2 way bike way that will eventually run from Euclid Street down to Pennsylvania Avenue. Also, we are starting to plan the L and M Street, NW cycle tracks.   

Which comes first, more bike infrastructure or more bikers? Same time! We have been building trails and bike lanes for the last 10 years as the number of riders has been increasing as well. I think with CaBi, you will see, and more importantly, be aware of many more cyclists on the road.  

Check out the website for more info: www.capitalbikeshare.com

CaBi update

From a Capital Bikeshare blast today:

The last day for the introductory price of $50 for an annual membership is October 31st. After October 31st, the price will be $75.

Sign up for CaBi here

Capital Bikeshare, which launched in mid-September is already a huge success. Within a month of launching:

•  membership has grown to more than 3,500

•  100 stations have been installed

•  averaging more than 1,000 rides per day

Sure I'll promote them. It's basically city-sponsored citizen cycling!

photo © Bill Crandall