The Rally, CaBi and Metro

Much has been written about how Metro failed on Saturday. How it moved a record Saturday crowd while single-tracking several lines. How they only started adding cars as things got out of hand and about the long lines and long waits. What hasn't been mentioned is how CaBi did. It's pretty clear the system was running at full tilt as well.

Robert sent me this snapshot of the system mid-use on Saturday.

It shows 219 of the system's 724 bikes currently in use (down from the day's peak of 224). That's 30% of the bikes in the system, which the CASA program labels as extremely high. I'd say so. DDOT moved a few extra docks down to 5th & F St & 10th & Constitution, NW to prepare for the weekend (one of the great advantages of the modular system), but still you can see the Mall surrounded by big red dots.

The other thing of note is that Metro moved 825,437 which is more than they move on a normal weekday (when they ban bikes at rush hour) - and far more than they move on the 4th of July (when they ban bikes all day). But they didn't ban bikes on Saturday. Not even for a few hours. And amidst all the complaints, I have yet to have heard one about cyclists on the trains. When we were coming back from the rally we even saw a girl with a bike on our train (we left before it was over and so the trains coming in were still full and the ones leaving mostly empty), and it seemed to work out well. 

I think cyclists are smart enough to not try and take their bikes on overwhelmed trains. And that overzelous banning only prevents cyclists from using uncrowded trains. Saturday, and it's uneventful lack of a ban, may have shown that banning bikes (even at rush hour) isn't improving safety or customer service at all.

 

Comments

[MB]

At last night's Arlington BAC meeting, I learned that CaBi has the capacity to set up a "mobile" docking station/corral. That is, create a station in some area (say, the Mall) to accomodate CaBi bikes coming into/out of the area for a special event. The catch? Costs ~$8k a pop. That's a lot of valet space, among other things.

[washcycle]

MB, thanks for reminding me. I knew that and even posted about it here, but then I forgot.

" CaBi will staff as many as eight events in the first year, ramping up to 20 a year later, with a bike coral. This will be a roped off area where employees can check out bikes with handheld devices. This way, when an event brings added traffic to an area, DDOT can adjust the system to handle that."

[CyclingFool]

I saw a lot of CaBi bikes out and about after the Rally on Saturday. I went to the Rally, but b/c I went w/ my wife (who doesn't ride), I had taken metro. After the rally ended (my wife had left early), I saw the line to get on the metro and just decided to walk back to Crystal City and have my wife pick me up there.

As I walked back, I saw some people riding across the bridge and down the MT on CaBis, and I kicked myself for not thinking of that and finding a station. I haven't gotten a chance to try CaBi yet, and a day membership to get a bike to get over to the VA side of the river could have killed three or four birds with one stone. Oh well. Live and learn.

You couldn't be more right about metro and bikes...

[Aaron]

I used CaBi after the rally - picked up a bike after lunch at Capital South, rode up to Chinatown to check it back in, then checked the bike back out to make the rest of the trip to Dupont. I beat my friends who decided to take the metro by 20 minutes.