Wednesday Afternoon Commute - Vanity Tags

Good afternoon.

• Gov. O'Malley has budgeted nearly $69 million in state transportation funds to cover engineering costs for the Purple Line from Bethesda to New Carrollton over the next two years. The money is going to come exclusively from drivers. "The funds, a part of the state's transportation trust fund, came from increases in certificate and title fees for vehicles, as well as higher fees for vanity tags and dealer processing charges." The Purple line project will transform the Georgetown Branch Trail (and future Capital Crescent Trail), paving it and adding safer crossings of major streets, but reducing the preserve-like feel of the current trail.
• Capital Bikeshare is close to putting out an Invitation for Bid on advertising for the system. Ads could go on stations, on bikes or on the name of the program. "When finalized, sign advertising will only apply to bikes and stations in the District of Columbia because, Moskowitz said, "Arlington right now doesn't have the ability to do that legally," noting restrictions on bikeshare funding in the Virginia county, which is also part of the system. The article also addresses the drop in ridership over the recent months, which noone really thinks is due to a lack of enthusiasm over the program. 
• I'm going to assume that I'm just too ugly to show photos of. 

Comments

[Kevin]

Re: invitation of bids.

What would happen of bikes with ads cross the river from DC to VA? Would they just go with it or would CaBi have to specifically retrieve those bikes?

[michael n]

As far as the "five best blogs" - it really is puzzling that WashCycle isn't there. Two different "all about my commuter adventures" blogs but not the one that brings together the stuff you really need to know and other stuff that it's fun to know.

[5555624]

No, it's not that you're ugly, it's that you have no "personality." You "report" and you don't write "puff" pieces. (The news section of the newspaper, not the opinion page.) People come here for information, to find out what is going in with regards to cycling in the DC area. I don't need to read about some "wacky" thing that happened to some blogger on his commute -- those things happen to me. If I have a question about a piece of gear, I'm going to ask people I know or I know ride under similar conditions. You're the "one stop" for news that affects cycling around here.

[Jameel Alsalam]

I think its absurd that washcycle was left off that particular listing. Really? 5 DC blogs without washcycle? Just makes no sense.

[americancyclo]

+1. Washcycle is news, information, a resource, and useful. Blogs are for entertainment.

[JeffB]

@Kevin,

Arlington plans to station officials at each river crossing to turn back bikes bearing unwanted and illegal DC advertisements. Arlington will be kept pure from this commercial infestation.

[Greenbelt]

I read some of those other blogs occasionally -- they're nice. But I check washcycle twice a day every day, even when I'm out of town. News is good.

[Riley]

I'm shocked & disappointed to discover that WashCycle was not listed in the Washingtonian along side the best Penn Quarter restaurants and the best wine tastings in the Virginia hunt country. How shallow and petty of the magazine to feature fluff over substance. Actually, perhaps I'm not all that surprised & disappointed.

[Max]

Funny, but I had never even heard of those five blogs. Perhaps the article should have been titled, "Top Five Cycling Blogs You've Never Heard Of."

Thanks Washcycle.

[Christopher Fotos]

I was happy to learn about those five bike blogs and I'll be adding one or two to my daily bike-surfing. But yikes, you just can't be informed about what's going on in this bicycle region without coming here. Embarrassing omission for them.

[Read Scott Martin]

None of the five Washingtonian blogs have the influence Washcycle does. Rankings reflect entertainment value, not clout.

[Will]

If it's any consolation, I read this blog every day, while I haven't even heard of some of those other ones.