Bike Sharing TIGER Funds Approved by TPB

The Bike-Sharing Blog has the good news that the TPB has approved the $10M TIGER (Transportation Improvements Generating Economic Recovery) grant request for a regional bike-sharing program that was submitted to them.

Should the Federal Transit Administration approve the grant, the urban core of the Washington, D.C region, which also includes Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia; and Bethesda and Silver Spring, Maryland would receive funding for about 1,600 bikes and 160 stations. Jurisdictions outside of the urban core also requested to be part of this grant application.

The Examiner reports

Chris Zimmerman, who is a voting member on the board, said he thinks the bike system will help make local public transportation complementary.
“It’s the synergy among those things that are so important,” Zimmerman said. “It encourages people to adapt to lifestyles other than getting in a car and driving somewhere.”

Eric Gilliland pointed out in the comments yesterday that

At the TPB meeting, an amendment was added to the TIP by Chris Zimmerman of Arlington that would require the TBP to determine which other TIP projects (those not in the bike/ped catagory) actually include biking and walking improvements, ie. if a sidepath is added at the same time a road is widened. The amendment also calls for a dollar figure to be put to the number so we can get a true sense of the funding for bike/ped projects that are approved in future TIPs.

So that would help to determine what the true share of bike investment is.

Comments

[anonymous]

but what does this really mean? I mean, it seems like this is just a small bureaucratic hurdle. can you put it in non wonky terms for us lay people? I would appreciate it! kthxbai!

[anonymous]

wait lemme rephrase: what does this mean in terms of a timeline? Can we start talking dates yet? I know we were supposed to start seeing more kiosks as of july 1st. God I hope this programs comes online full force...

[Washcycle]

As I understand it, TIGER funds were set up as part of the Stimulus act. Each region submits proposals for the Grants and these have to be approved by the local MPO - in this case the TPB - and then by the Federal Transit Administration. This is one of, what I believe is, two hurdles. The next hurdle is the FTA. There may be another step(s) to the process, but I'm not sure.

[Washcycle]

What it does mean is that our region views bike sharing as a critical component of our transit system.

[Washcycle]

From the Federal Registry on May 18, 2009 "The Recovery Act appropriated $1.5 billion of discretionary grant funds to be awarded by the Department of Transportation (the ‘‘Department’’) for capital investments in surface transportation infrastructure. The Department is referring to these grants as ‘‘Grants for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery’’ or ‘‘TIGER Discretionary Grants.’’ This notice requests that applications for TIGER Discretionary Grants be submitted by September 15, 2009, from State and local governments, including U.S. territories, tribal governments, transit agencies, port authorities, other political subdivisions of State or local governments, and multi-State or multijurisdictional applicants (‘‘Eligible Applicants’’). The funds provided by TIGER Discretionary Grants (‘‘Grant Funds’’) will be awarded on a competitive basis to projects that have a significant impact on the Nation, a metropolitan area, or a region. Due to the need to expedite the grant award process to meet the requirements and purposes of the Recovery Act, the Department will evaluate all applications and announce the projects that have been selected to receive Grant Funds as soon as possible after the Application Deadline, but no later than February 17, 2010."

So money should be given out between mid September, 2009 and mid-February 2010.

[Washcycle]

One last thing. The expansion announced earlier was to be paid for with $2-3M in Stimulus money that DC got. So this is an additional 160 stations to that 100 stations. What we're really talking about is going from 100 stations in DC to 260 in the region.

[anonymous]

washcycle: you are a gentleman and a scholar. thanks for the additional info.

still, I'll believe it when I see it! tks again!

[Richard Layman]

well, in terms of providing substantive improvements to bicycling infrastructure, I'd rather see investments in bicycle tracks, than in the bikesharing system.

I wonder if we have the right spatial relationships to have bikeshared bikes to be the major bike used by a _regular_ cyclist.

I am more interested in promoting persistent and regular bicycling on a significant proportion of trips (say at least 10%) rather than providing a sharing system for occasional use, i.e., "biking as part of your everyday life" rather than as something special or very occasional.

[Washcycle]

At $40 a year, I would ride the bejeezus out of a SmartBike if it were located in places where I need it. Bike sharing solves the problem for people with no place to store a bike, no place to safely park a bike or just no bike. I think it would be used much more than occasionally.

[JTS]

i've got the membership basically just because I support the idea of the program. I'm not going to use it at all until I don't need to walk 20 blocks to the nearest station. @ richard layman hopefully they go hand in hand. even a 10 percent uptick in casual riding (or a 10 pct jump in riding to complete an errand) represents a huge jump in the burden on cycling infrastructure. hopefully our city will respond accordingly. Considering they've done a lot (37 miles of new lanes in recent years) i'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

[Jon]

I hate to display some sort of PG-inferiority syndrome, but why didn't any of these stations get proposed for here (e.g., College Park, where the metro station is inconveniently located)? Local government, or a choice at the regional level?

[Washcycle]

My guess - local government. I've seen no interest from PG County in bike sharing, which is too bad.

[guest]

@richardlaymen

I have my own bike and a smartbike membership, i almost always use smartbike for non-recreational trips (work, shopping, movies) because I don't have to worry about locking my bike and it affords the flexibility of taking other modes for my return trip if I desire or my plans change.