DC and Arlington deserve a lot of credit for having the vision to bring modern bike-sharing to DC, and as a result, things will never be the same again.
It was almost five years ago to the day that DC first announced that they would be bringing bike-sharing to the District (and it was the subject of the first post on this blog). It wasn't considered very important at the time. It only garnered a five word throw-away line in the press release about a bus shelter contract. In reporting on the bus shelter contract, only the Examiner even bothered to mention the bike sharing system, and again, only in passing.
That was before Velib. Almost two years later, bike-sharing hit the big time when Paris introduced a 10,000 bike system. At that point, DC could say "we're working on that too." And a little over one year later on Aug 13, 2008, DC had the first bike-sharing system in North America.
Unfortunately it was tiny, only 100 bikes at ten stations. And expanding the system within Clear Channel proved to be problematic. By the time SmartBike had kicked off, Arlington was already working on their own bike sharing system. In part, the reason Arlington was even thinking about bike-sharing was because DC was already doing it.
It proved to be fortuitous, because once the SmartBike discussions fell through, DC found it easy to join in with Arlington's already-negotiated agreement with Bixi.
Some might say that SmartBike was a failure because it was so small and because, "heck, after only two years we're replacing it", but without SmartBike there might not be a Capital Bikeshare - not now at least. SmartBike served as inspiration for Capital Bikeshare. It was because of experience with SmartBike that DDOT had the know-how and expertise to go in big with Capital Bikeshare. And it was SmartBike that made area residents believe it could be done.
Dan Malouff is right, "Bikesharing is going to be awesome." It will be the biggest thing to happen to area transit since Metrorail opened. It will change travel patterns and attitudes. It'll be good for the economy and public health. The DC region has seen a steady climb in bike commuting from 1.26% in 2005 to 1.63% in 2008. That number could double in a couple of years and then double again before mid-decade. We'll see the percentage of trips - already as high as 5-7% in some neighborhoods - go up even farther where Capital Bikeshare stations are located. Metro usage could see a bump as well, as Capital Bikeshare is a perfect compliment to rail/bus transit.
As the nation's capital, what happens in this region carries extra weight. It will create demand nationwide when visitors come here and see how easy it is to use. And what impact will it have when Congressional leaders see that half their staffs use bike sharing to get to work?
As first mover, DC could reap other benefits as well. Already DC is becoming a hot bed for bike sharing consulting. And with repair expertise that the system will create, a regional repair or assembly center - as other cities adopt Bixi - could be in the future.
The complaints thus far have been that there aren't enough stations (more will be better, and DC and Arlington are working on it) or that the two pieces are too far apart (20 minutes from Crystal City to the closest station in the District) or that half an hour is too short (it works elsewhere, and you can daisy-chain the trips together), but I suspect many of those criticisms will disappear with time.
Today, DC and Arlington are starting the largest bike-sharing system in the United States because they had the vision to see its potential, and we're all going to be better off for it.
I hope it's a success and that it does indeed change the nature of commuting and short-trip travel in this area.
Happy CaBi Day, everyone.
Posted by: Michael H. | September 20, 2010 at 08:33 AM
I hope this'll get addressed at today's opening, but this morning when I walked by the new CaBi station in front of USDOT (across the street from the Metro entrance at M & New Jersey SE) the sign was labeled as "4th and M SE"--although online it's correctly identified as M & New Jersey. Sorry I couldn't grab a picture, hopefully someone else can grab a shot at the opening today.
Posted by: Ted | September 20, 2010 at 09:11 AM
fyi, your "Bikesharing is going to be awesome" link doesn't seem to be working.
I hope the program increases bike awareness and the prospects for advocacy. I hadn't thought about the possible effect on federal legislators seeing this in front of them, that's an excellent point. But "this will change everything"? Think you're overselling this just a tad!
Excellent, clear, helpful video.
Posted by: Christopher Fotos | September 20, 2010 at 10:16 AM
Does anyone know how the federal government plans to handle local trips using Capital Bikeshare? (Or for that matter how it handles privately owned bikes?). I could imagine perhaps in a fashion analogous to cell phones where the employee makes a reasonable allocation of monthly cost, and the government pays as long as both (a) the government pays less than what a taxi would cost and (b) the government pays no more than the pro-rata share of all trips the employee took using the bike share.
Posted by: Jim | September 20, 2010 at 10:38 AM
I also hope this spurs more bike riding. But, if it does, the City (and other jurisdictions) will need to do a lot of work to provide more space for bikes. The recent increase in bike commuting has made bike lanes and trails very crowded and increasingly unsafe. We've all seen the resulting unruly behavior from drivers and pedestrians aimed at cyclists. It will get worse unless the City really addresses the issue -- dedicated lanes for bikes that are separated from auto traffic. After 16 years of bike commuting, i'm enough of a realist to know that this City is just not there yet....
Posted by: dcmeredith | September 20, 2010 at 11:30 AM
I surprised Montreal wasnt mentioned. That is where I first experienced this system and was amazed! they have stations every three blocks throughout the city with Maps at every station showing bike routes and stations. that is the city we need to emulate when planning the future of this system. They plopped that huge system down all at once and it succeeded because of the huge presence. I hope we have enough stations to make it very usable like Montreals so it doesnt get dusty like the smartbike system.
Posted by: jim | September 20, 2010 at 12:01 PM
I fixed the link. As for overselling, it depends on what you think I mean by everything. If you think I mean literally "everything" then yes. But I don't believe this will change "everything". Photosynthesis, for example, will continue on unchanged. But it will change everything that this blog is concerned about and many other things within the region - things we haven't even considered yet.
Jim, your question came up in the DC BAC meeting and no one seemed to know yet. Same with using the Bicycle Commuter benefit.
dcmeredith, that's kind of what I mean by changing everything. More cyclists will beget more facilities and will change the way the region thinks about roads and transportation.
Posted by: washcycle | September 20, 2010 at 01:02 PM
@Tim - I think there are going to be a few location label corrections, soon. The location that my group delivered bikes to, today (21st and I, NW (but SE corner of that rather large intersection)) is labeled "Pennsylvania and 21st".
Posted by: MB | September 20, 2010 at 01:13 PM
Jim - at the opening ceremony yesterday one of the speakers announced that GSA and OPM are ponying up $25,000 to pay Federal employee bikeshare memberships. No details on how that will work.
Posted by: Don | September 21, 2010 at 08:20 AM
I was very pleased to see the GSA Administrator and OPM Director pledge support for the new Capital Bikeshare program. I am an early adopter and love the program. Here’s the rub: my primary purpose in signing on with CapBike was to decrease my GOV usage when transiting between meetings w/out sacrificing on the speed of the commute. Many of the locations I do business at are in the area bounded by 4th Street NW, C Street NW, 14th Street NW, and H Street NW. Within that area there are 5 Bikeshare stations planned but not installed. Unfortunately I have been informed that the reason 4 of those stations have not been installed is because the sites are owned by the Government Services Administration and DDoT has not been given permission to install at those locations.
If this is indeed true can we please cut through the red tape and give DDoT permission to install these last few stations? These sites are situated such that many federal employees’ ability to effectively make use the program is seriously hindered. If my information is incorrect then I apologize for passing on rumors. I love this program and I hope it is a success.
Posted by: A Campbell | November 09, 2010 at 09:21 PM
I don't think that's true. I think the issue is that they want to put them where the SmartBike stations are, but haven't removed the smartbike stations yet.
Posted by: washcycle | November 09, 2010 at 10:08 PM