We're past the peak now.
- Not Capital Bikeshare per se, but USA Today has an article on the growth of bike sharing on college campuses. With so many colleges and universities in the area, it would make more sense for them to sponsor a few stations than start their own program.
- Speaking of "other programs" City Paper reminds me that DC is both a Bixi town AND a B-cycle town (and a Clear Channel town for another month). It's just that the three B-cycle stations are for NPS employees only. NPS is reluctant to allow the CaBi stations on the mall, or any of their land, because they'd compete with bicycle concessions. "DDOT’s Chris Holben confirms that there are in fact no bikeshare stations on any NPS land in the District. Part of the reason for that is that most national parks are under concession contracts with companies that have the right of first refusal for services ranging from selling hot dogs to…renting bikes. In D.C., many of these areas–including Fletchers Cove, Thompson’s Boat House, tennis centers, ice rinks, and the Rock Creek Horse Center, and the Tidal Basin–are controlled by Fairfax County-based Guest Services International."
- Speaking of NPS, I have more info on the Lincoln Park CaBi station via my neighborhood listserv. DDOT wanted to put the station on one of the large triangles on the east side of the park - land DC owns but some neighbors thought it would make an attractive nuisance so now they're negotiating with NPS.
- Kriston Capps at NBC writes about the difficulty/impossibility of adding helmet sharing to Capital Bikeshare, and how DDOT is working to encourage riders to bring their own.
How does that work again for Loncoln Park? If DC owns it, should I infer that there is some NPS land nearby that the neighbors hope will get the station instead? Do these contracts really apply to all the tiny stretches of land?
So clearly, there is a large public interest in drafting a clause to explicitly exclude bike-share from the exclusive right of first refusal for the next time these NPS contracts are bid. I see two options: NPS could strike bike rentals from concession contracts and just have a Capital Parks-wide bid for bike rentals, with evaluation criteria looks for best value based on both price and number of rental locations. Or just add "(other than rentals for periods of shorter than one hour or
requiring a monthly fee)". Someone needs to track down when the existing contract expires so that it does not get overlooked next time. And possibly, NPS contracts office needs to just change this in the standard forms since this will be relevant to many installations nationwide.
Posted by: Jim | September 23, 2010 at 08:12 AM
So that must been there are bike-sharing/rental concessions all over NPS land, right? I mean, I guess I've missed the stations over by the Jefferson, up the C&O, etc.
If there were actually an operating private system based on NPS facilities, I'd find this a reasonable position. But Bike&Roll/etc. (which are perfectly fine operations) are all based out of the Reagan/EPA building, no? In any event, they're hardly competing schemes. B&R's daily rental is much better value for $ than a day on a CaBi bike, for sure.
Posted by: MB | September 23, 2010 at 08:12 AM
There's a pretty big bike-rental operation at fletcher's boathouse.
Posted by: contrarian | September 23, 2010 at 09:12 AM
Can you point me to the Capitol Hill Listserv. I am very upset by this and would like to have my voice heard in favor of the station. I live at that intersection and had thought it would be a great spot. It is a huge triangle.
I plan to talk to my ANC
Posted by: Keith | September 23, 2010 at 09:34 AM
Keith, part of this has come off the new hill east listserv - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newhilleast/ but my neighbor told me more that came off the "lincoln park" listserv that I don't subscribe to. It may be this one.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/anc-6a/
BTW, we're now up to 56 CaBi stations.
Posted by: washcycle | September 23, 2010 at 11:44 AM
I was going to point out the NBC Washington story but you already did. Did they spell your name correctly?
Posted by: Michael H. | September 23, 2010 at 12:15 PM
Thanks I will keep you posted on what I find out. I think getting a station into Lincoln Park proper will be very hard. The park service gave the park some kind of designation (ie historic site). And changes to the design are not easy. Twelve years ago I was part of the group that put the current playground equipment in and that was a multi-year effort.
Posted by: Keith | September 23, 2010 at 01:12 PM
Why not put the bike-sharing station in one of the many "pocket" parks within a block or two of Lincoln Park? There's one at 13th and Consitution, one a block east of the park on North Carolina, several a block or two west of Lincoln Park, etc...
Posted by: Dr Pangloss | September 23, 2010 at 03:13 PM
I too live right on Lincoln park and am extremely upset by the decision of some of my neighbors to complain that this station would be a "nuisance." If anything, the ridiculous number of Maryland commuters and commuter buses that terrorize this part of the Hill during rush hour are a real nuisance.
I joined CaBi primarily because this station was supposed to be right near me. I can't believe DDOT folded because of these complaints. It sounds just like the people in Georgetown complaining that the station at 37th & O would produce too much noise, disruption and bring in undesirables. I moved to the Hill to get away from people like that...
Posted by: Mikhail | September 23, 2010 at 09:13 PM