TheWashCycle

Bike Parking is better for business

Quick link that should've been included in this morning's post. A study in Melbourne, Austrailia showed that dedicating a parking space to bike parking (and that probably translates to bike sharing) generates more business than it did as a parking space. 

Each square metre of space allocated to cars reaps just $6 per hour in expenditure, whereas each square metre of space allocated to bikes reaps five times as much ($31 per hour).

Wednesday Morning Commute - Orange it is

Good morning

• All right guys, who among you is a Prince William look-alike
• Logan Circle bike theft victim is still looking for thieves
• Sweet, another bike trail in Rock Creek? (just kidding)
• Alexandria hotel offers Civil War bike tour.
• May is bike month in Arlington (and everywhere else too).
• The trees planted along the MBT last week include fruit trees like apple, pawpaw and persimmon for an urban orchard. And so it begins squirrels. [I was all excited because we used to call papaya "pawpaw" in Cameroon and I love papaya, but that's now what this is]

Even though businesses support it, Arl GOP says CaBi bad for business

A couple of news articles are out about the Arlington GOP's misguided stance against Capital Bikeshare.

Part of their opposition is that the parking removal could hurt businesses.

"Parking throughout the [Rosslyn-Ballston] corridor is particularly tight," said Jeffrey Miller, a spokesman for the Arlington County Republican Committee. "It's very difficult when you have business for there to be enough daily parking."

Which might have some validity if the local business community saw it the same way. But, they don't.

Rosslyn Business Improvement District Executive Director Cecilia Cassidy said the organization supports the Bikeshare stations.

So the ACRC supports is so pro-business that they support them even when they don't know what's good for them - "You'll get more parking, and you'll like it!" In the same article, the ACRC blames the county board for the site selection. I'm pretty sure the board isn't micro-managing any project to that level of detail, and if they are, that is bad.

"When we do take up motor vehicle space and re-purpose it for bike-sharing, the space is likely receiving more use than it was previously by a motor vehicle trip, which are usually done by a single-occupant vehicle," said Paul DeMaio, the county's bike-share consultant.

A second article in the Sun Gazette bites on the "percentage of bikes in use at one time" hook.

On a recent rainy Friday, about 5 percent of the total bikes available in Arlington and D.C. were in use, while on a sunny Thursday afternoon, about 15 percent were on the road.

“You would think peak usage would be at least around 50 percent,” said Jeffrey Miller, a former chairman of the Arlington County Republican Committee.

OK, so this just comes from a place of pure ignorance. To have 50 percent of bikes in use, demand would have to be insane, people would almost need to line up at stations waiting for the next bike to come in. If you think about it, each time a bike is checked out it decreases the likelihood that a potential customer and a remaining bike will be correctly paired up.

And not to sound like a broken record, but this thing is still fresh out of the box. Membership and usage are still climbing. It's not unlikely that these numbers will go up.

Is there a time when 50% of cars are being used? Or even 50% of bus or transit capacity? Consider that there are often cars or buses that aren't in service and always ones that are heading in the opposite direction of rush hour traffic.

Chris Eatough, project manager for Bike Arlington, makes some excellent points as well.

Eatough says the figures on the Web site aren’t always 100-percent accurate, but acknowledged it’s an “interesting and pretty fun” way to track usage.

Eatough said ridership has routinely been at 20 percent of available bikes, a figure he termed “very high” compared to similar initiatives around the globe. In the D.C. area, it has on rare occasions gone as high as 50 percent, which is considered “off the charts,” he said.

But he doesn’t think that’s the best way to gauge how well the system is performing. He asks the public to compare the bicycle inventory to books on the shelves of libraries, saying you can’t expect everything to be checked out at one time.

Eatough prefers to use the trips-per-bike-per-day number to compare systems. By that measure, the local effort is gaining on Paris and Montreal, two more established systems, which are averaging three trips per bicycle per day.

Miller isn't done though.

“I’m not sure there’s not a theoretical benefit [to the program]. There is some small convenience factor,” Miller said. “The question is, how much should we as taxpayers be subsidizing"

That's an excellent question. One he fails to answer.

"I’m a bicyclist, but I own my own bike. I don’t expect other people to pay for my bike.”

Do you own your own train? Do you own your own bus? I really think he has spent zero time thinking about what this program is or what it is for.

First Kidical Mass ride

I did take part in DC's first kidical mass ride last Saturday. Sadly, trike was unable to as he had previous engagement that involved admiring the back of his eyelids. He had trouble napping, and the fact that I let him fall and get his first ever bloody lip didn't help. Once he was asleep there was no way I was waking him up, so he stayed at home.

Still, many other families did attend. There were over 30 participants. The event was catered by dessert station, and their stuff was yummy. And I should know as I went back for thirds (I had to power up for the one mile ride to the Argonaut). There was also an arts and crafts table - sorry I don't remember the sponsor - so that kids could decorate their bikes. BicycleSpace was also there and loaned the ChristianaBike seen here.

The ride was nice, even if the weather was less than ideal. Mostly on roads with bike lanes and where drivers were polite, though one driver in a jeep just couldn't take it and had to gun it around us.

There were prizes and adorable kids followed by adult beverages and good food. What more can one ask for? The plan is to make this a monthly event. Check it out.

 

Bike/Car/Bus Challenge to be held on Monday, May 2, 2011

From FABB

Bike to Work Day is Friday, May 20 at the Reston Town Center Pavilion. To promote traveling by bicycle, on Monday, May 2, several residents of Reston are holding a bike/car/bus commute challenge. The purpose of the challenge is to compare the cost and travel time of the three modes during a typical short commute within Reston. For short trips, bicycle travel time compares favorably to car and bus travel times, and the cost of the trip is much less. National surveys indicate that nearly 50 percent of all trips are 3 miles or less.

The event will begin at 8:15 a.m. on May 2 and will last approximately an hour. The participants will leave from Cobblestone Lane in south Reston and travel to the Reston Town Center Pavilion, slightly more than 3 miles away. Each participant will be timed. The motorist must park in long term parking, as if he is going to be working at the Town Center for the day, and walk to the Pavilion. The bicyclist must also park and lock his bike and walk to the Pavilion. The bus rider’s time includes walking to and from the bus stop. People can choose their own route and must obey traffic rules.

Bruce Wright, Chairman of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling, will ride his bicycle, Del. Ken Plum will drive his hybrid car, and Reston Association President Kathleen Driscoll McKee will ride the bus. “I’m confident I can get to the Town Center before Ken and Kathleen. On a bicycle I’m not affected as much by congestion on the road,” said Bruce. “Plus, I’ll have fun, save money, and get a workout at the same time.” Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins will meet them at the Town Center.

The cost of maintaining a bike is around $200/year. By comparison AAA estimates that the cost of maintaining a car is about $8,000/year, more than most people spend on clothing, health care and entertainment combined. Driving also has many indirect costs as well. Nationwide, motorist user fees pay for about half the cost of building and maintaining roads. All of us pay for the rest of the cost. Most of us also pay for “free” parking by paying higher prices for goods and services. The cost of one structured car parking space is around $15,000. The cost of a bicycle rack is approximately $300 installed. Transit costs are more difficult to quantify, varying by type and usage.

For more information contact Bruce Wright at 703-328-9619, [email protected].

 

 

Kidical Mass hits the streets

Photo by m. hoek

Tuesday Morning Commute - Vote

DC residents, don't forget to vote today.

• Speaking of which, DCBAC put together some official statements from the candidates on bicycling. Only Page, Weaver and Mara said anything.
• Tomorrow night, "The District Department of Transportation is hosting a public meeting to present the proposed transportation and mobility improvements that were identified through the Far Southeast II Livability Study." 6:30-8:30 PM at 1800 Martin Luther King Avenue, SE.
• More questions about the 15th Street bike lanes for Dr. Gridlock. He's still promising an article. 
• The East Coast Rapist - also a suspected bike thief. Speaking of bike theives, Mrs. Washcycle came home the other day to see three young men attempting to steal the neighbors bike and motorcycle. She took a photo of them with her camera phone and called the police. When they started to walk away with the bike she yelled "I'm calling the police" which made them walk away without the bike and then take off running. Sadly, the police did not catch them.
• CaBi hit a new record high of 4197 trips in one day on Sunday. I need them to break 10,000 or a lose a $1 bet. [Other $1 bets I have that make me nervous. "Tiger Woods has already won his last major." "China will have a trillionaire before they have someone walk on the moon." We'll see]. Also, here's a nifty chart showing the full/empty state of every station. You see a green bar when all stations are good. And another showing how bikes move downhill.
• A new bike commuter writes about her experience.

CaBi should work on reciprocity agreements with other systems

Capital Bikeshare uses the Bixi bikesharing model from Montreal. The system is currently either in use or planned in 10 cities on 4 continents and that is likely to expand. One thing CaBi and the other Bixi-based systems could to to improve the system as a whole is to allow for reciprocity.  B-cycle, one of Bixi's main competitors, is working on the same idea - at least for Boulder and Denver. It takes the network effect to a whole new level, and creates an incentive for New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore to all use the same system.

For members, the advantage is obvious. They would now have access to the same bike sharing in Minneapolis that they have at home. For the providers it makes membership more attractive, thus inducing a few more members, and encourage sister-system users to bike more when in town, and having the system used is the main point.

There are three ways this could work out.

1. Members in one system would be treated like members in every system. So, if a London member came to DC, they could put their key in and ride for 30 minutes for free just like a DC member. This would do the most to induce riding, but would be the most expensive and would encourage people to game the system by joining in the cheapest system. This might require systems to unify, more like zipcar than separate transit systems.
2. Members in one system would get reduced rates in every other system. In this scenario a London member would put their key in and be charged $3 for a one day membership instead of $5. They'd have all the convenience of a full member, but still pay in. This removes the incentive to game the system.
3. Members in one system get no lower price, but can use their key. The daily fee would be charged just like an overage fee. This at least makes it more convenient.

In the last two scenarios, the user would automatically bump up to a weekly or monthly membership as their usage makes that advantageous. 

The technology is probably there now. I'd love to see 1 become the standard, but that is probably unlikely. The discount seems like the best we can hope for.

Montgomery County Bicycling Conference

MONTGOMERY BICYCLING FOR ALL OF US! CONFERENCE

A kick-off for “Bike to Work Week”

DATE: Saturday May 14
PLACE: 1st Floor Auditorium, Executive Office Bldg. 101 Monroe Street, Rockville

TIME: 8:45 a.m. coffee & registration
9:00 to 1:00 p.m. conference
1:00 to 2:00  lunch break
2:00 p.m.  bike tour of Rockville*

Join members of the County's Department of Transportation, M-NCPPC Parks and Transportation Offices, elected and appointed officials, bicyclists and bicycle advocates to brainstorm on how to get more people to bicycle to transit, work, shopping, errands, entertainment, recreation, and to and from school and after-school activities.

Organized by the Montgomery County Civic Federation with details on website.
Co-sponsored by Montgomery County Department of Transportation and the Maryland-National Capital//Park & Planning Commission.

Please RSVP to
[email protected] if you are bringing a bike to the meeting.

*BYOB – Bring Your Own Bike. Experience Rockville’s bicycle-friendly features. Tour leader from Rockville’s

Citizen Bicycle Advisory Committee



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?