Monday Morning Commute - 100

Good morning

• I'm getting this book for free. Then I'll read it and review it and hopefully I'll be able to true a wheel. 
• The Post's coverage of the CaBi expansion includes the neat map at right that shows which stations need the most balancing (but I'm not sure why anyone but me cares). 
• The DCBAC on Gray's first 100 days.
• A post office and massive parking lot along the Capital Crescent Trail could soon become a mixed use residential project. Significant design features include... the tapering of the building toward Capital Crescent Trail, "so it wont create a large amount of mass on the trail itself," Hopefully the facility will open up to the trail treating it as an alternative front instead of fencing it off or presenting a blank wall. Ideally it would also provide a connection to Arlington Road, which when combined with the project between the CCT and Woodmont, would create a single trail alternative to Bethesda Avenue.
• WABA on the CCT.
• "Gov. Bob McDonnell is asking Virginians to walk, bike or otherwise avoid driving alone once every two weeks." But is he putting together a transportation budget that supports this? Is he going to do it?

Comments

[Riley]

Mmmmm ... Anyone who has pulled up on a CaBi to a full dock and had to go blocks away to park the bike or perhaps gotten off the bus with an eye toward completing their trip with a CaBi only to find an empty dock ( or done these things virtually with a phone app and had the same lack ok usability from the bike share system ). I understand that balancing is always going to have gaps, never be 'just right' but when I see a full dock at 11 pm at 19th and Florida that is still full at 7 am and that situation obtains for five days in a row I consider that a failure of the balancing act.

" the neat map at right that shows which stations need the most balancing (but I'm not sure why anyone but me cares)"

[washcycle]

Maybe I said that wrong. Those are the stations that GET the most balancing. Without rebalncing every station would have as many departures as arrivals.

[Anon]

Why are there such big imbalances from up north to the south?

Are people biking downhill in the morning then metro-ing home at night?

[SJE]

Re: development on the CCT. If there is going to be more usage, I hope that they are going to widen the CCT at that area, just as they would a road.

[Ron Alford]

@Anon: That would certainly make sense in the winter. The bikes have lights, but maybe people still aren't comfortable riding in the street at night?

[Just161]

@Anon: I'm guessing topography plays a role too. Alot of the blue circles in Mt. Pleasant, Columbia Heights, etc, are uphill from downtown. Maybe people are lazy and don't want to ride uphill?

Also, I want to see how the rebalancing compares to overall rentals. The biggest circles are 1500+ more origins or destinations, but what is the total number of origins and destinations? In % terms, how "off-balance" are the stations?

[Shawn]

Not much action east of N. and S. Capitol, even in originations.

[washcycle]

This map is a measure of how much a station is unbalanced, not used. If I were a good graphics person I would make that map. Here are the top stations on the east side and where the rank overall:

Easter Market Metro #13
Lincoln Park #26
3rd and D SE #42
1st and M NE #45
Eastern Market NC ave #50

[Corey H.]

@Just161: City Paper published a Google Docs spreadsheet of Origination/Destination by station through April 9. http://bit.ly/h7HvCT

By percentage, Tenleytown has the biggest difference with 72% more origins (1520) vs. Destinations (886). The next four are:
1800 MLK Ave SE (69%, 105/62)
16th & Harvard (67%, 5489/3278)
Ward Circle/AU (52%, 1257/827)
Wisconsin and Macomb (50%, 1032/1552)

At the opposite end, the five highest percentage of destinations versus origins:

Georgetown Harbor 40% more destinations (3433) vs. origins (2435)
Anacostia Metro 39% (117/84)
1st & N SE / Nats Park 33% (456/343)
Pennsylvania & Minnesota SE 31% (126/96)
14th & H / McPherson Sq 29% (3703/2872)

Looking at the entire data set, there's no doubt it's an uphill/downhill thing.

[D]

Can we get that book for free too?

[Just161]

@Corey H - very cool, thanks! Now, we could plot those percentages against Elevation of station (vs. avg. station elevation)... All the "origin-y" stations should be high elevation, and all the "destination-y" stations should be low.

@shawn, the size of the circle on the map shows rebalancing, not "action."

[Just161]

If this map shows the dataset @Corey H. links to above, it does not necessarily show which stations got rebalancing. It just shows the net difference, over many months, between departures and arrivals.

Imagine a station became empty and was then rebalanced with a "fill up" in the morning, but then got full and was rebalanced with a "take away" in the evening, the station has been rebalanced twice, but has equal number of departures and arrivals. So @washcycle, I'm not sure your 11:11am comment is necessarily true?

A map showing fill-ups and take-aways by station would be interesting. Then, one could find and learn more about "balanced" stations that also had high number of rentals, and figure out why they worked so well. More stations that need little rebalancing but also have high ridership are key to network sustainability.

[washcycle]

Just161, what I was trying to say is what you've described, even if I've failed to do so. The map shows how much stations are rebalanced in one direction more than another.

[cabi addict]

Some of this is out there:

• Availability (station bike and dock depletion) across the day;
  Not on a map but sorted North to South and with elevation. Updated hourly.
• Same for previous day
• Testing the lazy user assertion: like water, bikeshare bikes flow downhill

[Riley]

My read on that map is that the largely residential areas are heavy on the origins and the largely business areas are heavy on the destinations. The fact that the that correlates so well to the elevation has been a feature of the city since the city expanded north of Florida Ave.

I'd add that book to my other bike repair books just because it has a MUCH better cover.