Happy Birthday to Capital Bikeshare!!

Today, September 20, marks the 2nd anniversary of the launch of Capital Bikeshare in DC and Arlington.  I was there for the launch (see a couple of photos below).  Although I was optimistic about CaBi being successful, it has far outstripped my expectations.  To see some stats, click here.

My own personal stats are:
68 rides (just under 3 per month)
56 miles.

These stats reflect the way I use CaBi.  I use my own bike for commuting and for trips from home to Metro, local shops and around town.  There are no stations near my house. 

I primarily use CaBi when I go into DC via Metro and then want to travel from one location to another.  Or if I want to shorten my trip by replacing a Metro transfer with a bike ride.  My most common trip is between Foggy Bottom and DuPont.  On Metro I would have to switch between the Orange and Red lines.  On CaBi, it's a 7-9 minute ride--faster than the Metro.  And often I end closer to my destination.

With CaBi expanding to new areas, I may have even more opportunities in the future.  Hope to see you out there on the red bikes!

The bikes lined up on the plaza ready to be staged

Remember this guy?

The Multi-Mode, Car-Free trip to the party

On Monday I attended the Queen's Day celebration at the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington DC.  As it turned out, the trip to and from utilized numerous modes of travel that all added together to make for an interesting trip as shown on this map.


View Steve's Multi-Mode Car-Free Trip in a larger map

Here's how it went, with the travel mode for each segment shown in BOLD:

Yes, replacing street car parking with bike parking is a good idea.

Over the last week there has been a small controversy regarding the expansion of Capital Bikeshare into Arlington County, VA.  In particular the Arlington County GOP has complained that as many as eight metered parking spaces have been replaced with CaBi stations.

This is virtually a non-issue.  Prior to this, 100% of street parking in Arlington was for cars; now it's maybe 98-99%.  That still seems remarkably unbalanced toward automobiles.  Watch this video (yours truly appears near the beginning).




The contention that replacing these parking spots with bikeshare parking costs the county money and is a bad idea is wrong in so many ways.