Bike parking use and capacity up at Metro Stations

WMATA released data yesterday from their bicycle parking census that showed that use of bike parking was up 3% and parking capacity was up 20%. Part of the reason that bike parking wasn't up more may be the impact of Capital Bikeshare, as stations downtown saw a decrease in bikes parked. None of these counts include lockers, the Bikestation or the College Park Bike & Ride.

They added over 300 parking spaces to the system for a total of 4000 and now every station except Arlington Cemetery has bike parking.

Many stations where we recently added new racks saw some uptick in usage (e.g., Braddock Road 19% increase in usage, Takoma 24%, West Hyattsville 13%) over last year, but some did not.Generally, there may be enough year-to-year variability with these  ”snapshot” data that it can be difficult to identify detailed trends.

But more parking may be needed as 6 stations were parked beyond capacity and at 25 others had bikes parked to objects other than racks.

Most of the top parking stations are in the suburbs, which makes sense.

Top Five Stations by Total Bikes Parked:

1. Braddock Road, 92
2. Takoma, 87
3. Vienna, 82
4. Franconia-Springfield, 75
5. Bethesda, 71
6. (tie) East Falls Church, 71

Top Five Stations by Greatest Rack Capacity:

1. Braddock Road, 136
2. East Falls Church, 132
3. Vienna, 130
4. West Hyattsville, 128
5. Rockville, 124
6. (tie) College Park, 124

Meanwhile, DCist is reporting that there are about a two dozen abandoned bikes throughout the system, which is less than I would've guessed and takes up about 0.6% of all Metro bike parking. You can see photos of the bikes at DCist.

Comments

[CyclingFool]

I would imagine that there's a bit of lag time between adding parking and seeing it utilized more. Cycling even just a mile or two to a metro station is a lifestyle change for some, if not most, so it may take some time between them seeing the new racks, deciding they want to do a multimodal commute including a bike, and finally tuning up/buying a bike and starting to ride to the station.

The other big issue, perhaps bigger issue, is (perceived) safe routes to the station from where someone lives. I'll go out on an uneducated limb and say this is probably a particularly big issue at some of the farther out metro stations surrounded by 6-8 lane 45 mph arterials... If people can't get there by bike to begin with, all the parking in the world won't make a difference.

[Arl]

@BlindPilot: Agree about the lag for people to: 1) try out new rack availability; and 2) make it a regular part of their routine, as opposed to an occasional bit.

I bike to the suburban Virginia Metro stations a fair bit, as well as directly to work in DC sometimes. Out here, most of the people who will ever bike to the Metro already have a bike that will serve them well on a several mile commute to the Metro. It's actually outfitting with the other gear, figuring out the routine to get presentable at work, and the other elements of organizing a bike that holds many people up.

In summer & winter weather, I actually find that a multimodal bike/Metro commute is more painful in the morning than biking all the way into the city. A lengthy ride in the heat or cold of an overcrowded Metro car while still sweaty and wearing & carrying biking gear, is a pretty miserable experience. And that's for me -- not the freshly-showered woman in a suit wedged against my armpit!

I still end up doing the multimodal because it's faster, but that doesn't mean I like it.

[Jonathan Krall]

We're number 1! That Braddock Road has more bicycles than any other station is great info for supporting bike lanes in Alexandria.

The flat landscapes and not-too-unfriendly street grids of Old Town, North Old Town, Rosemont, Del Ray and Chirilagua are responsible for the big numbers at Braddock and King St. With a better bike network those numbers could be much higher.