Say Hello to DC's Third Public Bicycle Program!

Technically this is a bike fleet similar to Wheels4Wellness, the Capitol's bike fleet. Like Freewheelin, the Convention public bicycle program it is also sponsored by Humana. They're providing the NPS with 30 bicycles and some bike racks for use by NPS employees at three locations: National Capitol Region HQ, National Mall & Memorial Parks HQ and the National Capitol Parks East HQ. It's being billed as demonstration of what bike sharing can do to reduce environmental impact while creating a healthier workforce. There's a ceremony tomorrow and here's the press release. [There's free parking in the parking lot! Way to pursue TDM.]

Again, I'd say it would have been better to provide 3 new SmartBike kiosks at these locations (that would open up 12 possible destinations instead of 2; and while more expensive to install, SmartBike would handle operations and those costs). Oh well.It's a good idea anyway. And hopefully we'll see public bikes at many National Parks soon.

Paul DeMaio predicts a wave of expansion on college campuses.

university programs will take-off. There is intense interest coming from universities which have their own transportation needs and transportation budgets. Due to this, they have the ability to select the systems that best meet their needs and provide the density of bikes and stations the university requires, which the city in some cases couldn’t provide.

Which I thought of when I read in the University of Texas alumnae magazine The Alcade about the Higher Education Sustainability Act.

To direct the Secretary of Education to provide grants to establish and evaluate sustainability programs, charged with developing and implementing integrated environmental, economic and social sustainability initiatives, and to direct the Secretary of Education to convene a summit of higher education experts in the area of sustainability.

With it colleges can get grants that can fund, among other things, public bike programs. And who introduced the law? Earl Blumenauer of course. By itself, it never passed, but it was folded into the College Opportunity and Affordability Act which Bush signed into law this past August.

HESA amends the Higher Education Act to authorize a new $50 million grant program at the Department of Education that will annually support between 25 and 200 projects at higher education institutions and consortia/associations:

• Higher education associations and consortia are eligible for funding to conduct faculty and administrator trainings; disseminate best practices, case studies, and educational guidelines; engage external stakeholders such as business, alumni, and accrediting agencies; and create analytical tools to assess institutional progress.

• Individual institutions are eligible for funding to implement administrative and operations sustainability practices; establish multidisciplinary sustainability education, research, and outreach programs; conduct energy management, green building, waste and toxics management, green purchasing, transportation, and related initiatives; establish sustainability literacy as a requirement for degree programs; and integrate sustainability in all programs of instruction.

Let's hope DC's schools get on the SmartBike system instead of creating CUAbike.

Photo from The Washington Post

Comments

[guez]

CUAbike?

[washcycle]

Joke. Catholic University Bike.

[Allen Muchnick]

Let a thousand flowers bloom!

[Ian Valentine]

AU just launched its own bike sharing program this semester.

I'm an AU student and I'm signed up for the program, but I haven't used it yet (I live off campus). It seems to be set up rather inefficiently: to get a bike, one must get a key from MGC (located at the center of campus) and then walk to South Side (at the edge of campus) to actually retrieve the bike.

I would love to see SmartBike locations on or near campus instead, perhaps with discounts for AU students.