Thursday Morning Commute - Three for Two

Good morning

• CaBi expands two stations. The station at Mass. Ave. NW & Dupont Circle NW went from 23 to 41 docks and the Thomas Circle station doubled in size.
• DDOT points out, in response to distracted walking concerns, that while pedestrian fatalities are a larger percentage of total traffic fatalities than they have been in the past, that's because other fatalities are down so much. In fact pedestrian fatalities are down too. And they add "The largest category of pedestrian crashes in DC occurs when a pedestrian is in the crosswalk with the walk signal and is struck by a vehicle turning right or left."
• Ground has broken on the Washington Gateway Project along the Met Branch Trail. 
• The District Department of Transportation is holding a public meeting to discuss plans to replace three aging pedestrian/cyclist bridges over Kenilworth Avenue/DC-295 with a pair of new bridges. They're on a half-mile stretch between Nannie Helen Burroughs and Eastern avenues in Northeast Washington. Replacing three with two huh? I wonder if one of them just isn't used much. The meeting is tonight at 6pm.
• RIP Chuck Harris.
• The new bike shop in Arlington is the Old Bike Shop.
• One cyclist's encounter with a particularly vocal driver. If only the driver would shout at this cyclist.
• Bikeshare and twitter. 
• More PR.

Comments

[Kolohe]

have you seen this one? Cardboard bike
http://vimeo.com/37584656

[Brendan]

re: one cyclist's encounter. Perfect example why it's useless to debate a driver about the regulations. Drivers don't know the regulations.

[gloria]

wow. really?:

"I was excited for my recent move to Silver Spring because of its reputation as a community that values green transit and healthy living."

reputation? huh? what kind of perceptual powers does this person have? richard layman has piointed out how stupid MoCo is re: bicycles...and silver spring is the worst!!!! even with the repaving of fenton after 30 THIRTY years!!!

his letter got published because it is nonthreatening pabum -- it marks NO difference that makes a difference to practice, nor could it, and true to this culture, it makes a virtue of pointing out the blatantly obvious...

he follows the law? really? gee. thats all hes got to say? oh no -- he says other cyclist should follow the CAR laws, too... and why? who knows!!!

reminds me of insipidness of the folks over at the LAB...

[Amber]

This morning around 9:45 on RI Ave between 6 and 7 NW there were a couple of police cruisers, a van, and a mangled bike on the ground. Any news on whether cyclist was okay?

[oboe]

From the DDOT article:

The largest category of pedestrian crashes in DC occurs when a pedestrian is in the crosswalk with the walk signal and is struck by a vehicle turning right or left. The driver has the legal responsibility to yield right of way to pedestrians, and more patience and caution behind the wheel could prevent many of these collisions.

The inevitable Post headline:

Pedestrian deaths show need to curb distracted walking...

If only these idiots would get the f out of my way, I wouldn't keep running them down!

[JJJJJ]

Has cabi added any new stations in the past few weeks?

[washcycle]

I don' think so. But more are on the way.

[Michael H.]

The map on the official CaBi site always spotlights stations added in the past 30 days with a yellow icon. None of the station icons appear to be yellow right now, but I only did a quick scan of the map.

http://www.capitalbikeshare.com/stations

[JJJJJ]

Wasnt there supposed to be a big summer expansion?

[dynaryder]

Any truth to the rumor that the new bike shop is the guys who sell bikes at the flea markets?

[Michael H.]

CaBi deadlines often get pushed back, for various reasons: permitting issues, software issues, exact locations of site, opposition from neighborhood groups, communication issues among government bodies (state and local).

The last I heard, the Alexandria roll-out has been delayed because of a dispute about the exact location for the station closest to the river. They are still saying summer 2012 but that doesn't seem likely. Maybe early this fall?

Arlington is also supposed to have a significant expansion, but that could be this fall or next spring. I think the D.C. expansion is also set for the same timeframe, but that could change.

Montgomery Co. probably won't see their first stations until next summer. Possibly around the same time for the College Park stations.

[JJJJJ]

Wasnt DC proper supposed to get 50 new stations this summer? How many were rolled out?

[washcycle]

It was 50 stations in 2012, to come to a total of 184. They're now at 178. And since that was announced we've gone from 900 bikes to 1400.

[washcycle]

CaBi tracker has data on station expansion. There were 5 added in July for example.

http://www.cabitracker.com/status_history.php?d1=2012-08-23&d2=2012-07-02

[JJJJJ]

Thats for that link. 178 isnt far from 184, I thought they were further behind.

[JJJJJ]

I have great timing.