October 30, 2008 Voice of the Hill

The latest edition of the Voice of the Hill (again, not online) has three bike related items.

First, BikeDC was not beloved by the ANCs. ANC 6A Commissioner David Holmes reported that BikeDC failed to put up signs or hand out literature to residents and that the police did not allow traffic to cross streets or for residents to move parked cars. ANC 6C agreed to write a letter to the district's Emergency Management Task Force with concerns about how the ride was run. Commissioner Ryan Velasco heard many complaints about residents being trapped in by the event.

Second, the Zoning Commission on October 16th heard about the new parking regulations. One of the measures they recommended was that any building required to offer bicycle parking also be required to provide shower facilities. This was not binding action, but rather feedback to the Office of Planning who will draft the new document.

Finally they had a large article on SmartBike "City's SmartBike program enjoys stront start with 930 subscribers". Some highlights, subscribers continue to sign up and the program is used about 150 times a day. So far it seems to be mostly used during rush hour, and DDOT supposes that's for commuting. One bike was damaged by an attempted theft from a kiosk and one bike was stolen when the user locked it up away from a station. Expansion makes up most of th comments for DDOT and at the Adams Morgan advisory meeting, Jim Sebastain discussed 18th and Lanier, 18th and Florida or 18th in Adams Morgan as possible new locations - though new locations have not been finalized.  Dupont Circle and Logan Circle are the two busiest stations.

Photo by Pedal Power Pete