Bike Valet by the Numbers

From WABA

We parked 1127 bikes at the 16th Street location and even had to build a separate enclosure with spare crowd control fencing to handle overflow.  We parked 827 bikes at the Jefferson Memorial which was just at capacity.  These numbers do not include WABA and DDOT staff or volunteers.  When you add them all together we parked 2040 bikes which, to my knowledge, is the most ever valet parked in one day in the US.  We didn’t lose a single bike and the one helmet that went missing was eventually found.  Everyone loved the service we provided and were extremely patient with the lines that formed during drop off and pick up.  Had it been 10 degrees warmer I think we would have been overwhelmed.  We could not have done it without two things: the full support of DDOT and the amazing army of volunteers that chose to spend that special day us.  They stood outside in the cold for hours and really worked hard to make it as pleasant an experience as possible for those that came with bikes.

I had to get down there early, and so couldn't use the valet, but it sounds like a complete success. There were plenty of bikes locked to meters, signs, etc... around the Mall. So, a lot of people biked to the inauguration, and from the sound of how things went on Metro and the roads, I think they were glad they did. The valet is definitely one of the inauguration's transportation success stories.

Comments

[guez]

Yeah, I was in and out in less than 5 minutes. It was a model of competence, in contrast to some other aspects of the inauguration. (Justice Roberts, the purple ticket fiasco, etc).

[Ren]

Thanks for the info. I considered volunteering but decided against since I was not sure how much I was needed and was put off a little by the long shift times. Now I wish I had.

From what I heard, Iwo Jima could also have used a bike valet.

[Eric Weinstein]

On a warm summer evening in Santa Monica last summer the GLOW festival drew 250,000 to the beach for an all night light show and grunion hunt. (OK - admittedly not as significant as the inauguration) As I recall the city bike valets, who normally provide parking of a few hundred bikes at the farmers markets, handled four bike corrals. The main one had about 850 bikes over the night and the three satellites each had about 500. There were bike parked to every fixed object along the beach. I'd guesstimate 20% of the crowd biked to the event.

Be that as it may - parking that many bikes as a volunteer effort is a colossal success. I hope you plan to continue to provide parking at other events in the city. Part of Santa Monica's plan is to provide a car alternative at large city sponsored events - you can expect to find secure, safe parking for your bike. It would be wonderful idea to be able to bike about DC without parking worries.