People living and working in the Rockville and Shady Grove areas will be able to use 200 Capital Bikeshare bikes on 20 stations next year, thanks to a federal grant which will be formally approved tomorrow.
The bike-sharing program is one of 8 regional projects winning funding under the Job Access Reverse Commute (JARC) program from the FTA. JARC funds must go toward improving mobility options for low-income commuters. Annual membership and usage fees will be waived for low-income workers who meet program guidelines.
There is no mention of where stations will go, and that probably hasn't been decided yet, but it is likely to include the Metro/MARC stations as well as high traffic locations such as Montgomery College and Rockville Town Center. A system centered on the two Metro stations with a handful of stations 1 to 4 miles away would allow users to get to traditional transit without having to wait for a bus or pay for parking.
Tomorrow, the National Capital Transportation Planning Board is expected to formally approve the grants. The $1.288 million funding and $688,000 local match for the bikeshare project will cover capital purchases and operating costs for two years. $200,000 of the match is from the City of Rockville.
The Montgomery County DOT applied for the funds, and winners were chosen by a selection committee and staff. Other winning projects include funding the shuttle bus to National Harbor that is filling the gap left by rerouting and shortening hours on the NH-1 bus, gas cards for home care aides serving people far from transit, and a rideshare coordinator for the Dulles corridor.
CaBi is a sensible use of funds to improve mobility for low-income commuters. With its minimal membership fees and an extra subsidy for those who most need it, CaBi can be a great commuting option for those on a budget. One $75 purchase can provide a year's worth of transportation.
The city of Rockville expressed an interest in joining even before CaBi launched. Being so far from the rest of the system, it is unlikely that many people will ride CaBi from Rockville to downtown DC. The investment might have gotten greater network effects if it centered around a place like Silver Spring and DC added more stations on its side of the border.
Though the pilot is going to be small, it can still serve a couple of roles easily. Members can ride from near their homes to the train stations, then take a train to DC and grab another bike for the ride to work — all with one key. It will expand on the bike-sharing assisted commute by making it possible at both ends, just as the Crystal City pod does. And it will increase mobility in Rockville and Shady Grove, making it easier to cover short distances, just as it does now in Arlington and DC.
Also, if a completely separate pod is successful in Rockville, then it could pave the way for other pods in discrete areas. For example, College Park has been suggesting they want to join for some time. If it works in Rockville, it means College Park doesn't have to wait for the tide of bikes to ripple outward.
Cross-posted at GreaterGreaterWashington.
this will be interesting to watch...
rockville and shady grove dont have destinations worthy of riding a bicycle. it's an entirely car-centric area. the morons who developed the area (or the morons who allowed it to develop as it is has....) havent left much of anywhere to ride a bike.
Posted by: Michael | June 14, 2011 at 10:15 AM
I wouldnt go as far as Michael in dissing Rockville and Shady Grove, but WHY are they putting them out there. Did I miss something? I would have imagined CaBis in Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Medical Ctr etc (helping with BRAC), and Takoma and Silver Spring on the other side of the Red line. Those would integrate with the existing CaBi network, but could be their own little hub.
Posted by: SJE | June 14, 2011 at 10:38 AM
@ Michael I totally agree that Rockville Pike is entireley car centric but you have to get a on a bike to discover destinations worthy of riding a bicycle. There are some. Having stations at Shady Grove and Rockville adds some robustness to the share system for Montgomery College students coming via Metro. The route from Montgomery College to Shady Grove via Millenium Trail and King Farm is quite bikeable. They just need to remove some chain link fence.
Posted by: Early Man | June 14, 2011 at 10:41 AM
@ SJE What you missed is something called 'civic capacity.' Rockville apparently has it, Bethesda, Chevy Chase, etc., not so much.
Posted by: Early Man | June 14, 2011 at 10:52 AM
When you rely on grants (free money!) for most of the funding, waste is the result. Rockville and Shady Grove are dreadful locations for a small, isolated bikeshare program. I hate to be pessimistic, but I can easily imagine that this will be abandoned when the grant money runs out and the localities begin to have to pay for the operating expenses out of their own funds.
Projects like these are a setback for bikeshare, because they will be used by opponents to demonstrate that bikeshare is a costly boondoggle. We shouldn't accept projects supported by little or no local money with essentially no community buy-in that are likely to fail.
Posted by: KLO | June 14, 2011 at 11:00 AM
@ KLO If free money costs $688,000 then it really isn't free, is it? How do you know there is no community buy-in? it comes back to civic capacity--if there is a place you think more deserving, then mobilize. This is a bold experiment--I am sorry if you will be disappointed if it succeeds.
Posted by: Early Man | June 14, 2011 at 11:17 AM
Rockville was actually a Bicycle Friendly Community about 10 years ago and I found it pretty easy to bike around the last time I was there.
KLO, where would you recommend putting a small, isolated bikeshare program if not in a city served by transit and connected to a major metropolitan area. You're talking about the program as though it already failed.
SJE, as early man noted, the squeeky wheel gets the grease. Especially if the squeeky wheel has $200k to dedicate to additional grease.
Posted by: washcycle | June 14, 2011 at 12:04 PM
I doubt seriously whether this will be a failure. Given that the placement of stations will most likely be in a spoke-hub pattern (Metro-Pike Center Shopping Center, Metro-Montgomery College, etc...) you may actually avoid the redistribution issues you see in DC.
My fear is that it will have a much higher accident rate than in DC proper, and that those accidents--which will be caused largely by suburban sprawl--will be used to disingenuously attack the safety of the system as a whole (esp in DC).
Posted by: oboe | June 14, 2011 at 12:19 PM
@ Early Man, I hope it is successful. I simply think that system expansion into Rockville and Shady Grove is counterproductive at this time. If I turn out to be wrong, I will be the first one to say so.
Posted by: KLO | June 14, 2011 at 12:21 PM
I will bet $10,000 dollars this will not be successful. Any takers?...I'll give you 2-1 odds.
I bicycle through rockville all the time. i know EVERY destination in this entire region...if you want to know how to get ANYWHERE in this region..including to pittsburg...boston..nyc...lancaster, pa, annapolis...you name it, ive been there via bike...mutliple times...and i can tell you how to get there with minimal hassle, and the chances for using bus or train or light rail as well. ive ridden about 15,000 miles for the last 26 years...
rockville has no destinations that are particularly motivating...or useful shady grove surely does not.
Posted by: michael | June 14, 2011 at 02:06 PM
by the way and this bears repeating: MoCo per Richard Layman's take on it, is kind of non cooperative feifdom. Theyre idiots. The sidepaths all over the county are a joke-- theyre horrible...for anyone who can travel more then 10mph.
...and Law enforcement will not stand up for bicyclists-- and they wont help CABI riders either. MARK MY WORDS: go the meeting on monday...youll see exaclty what i mean: they will discuss the issues on macarthur blvd as if the bicycle is the impediment to cars zooming around traffic free! MARK MY WORDS!!! ive had detailed long experience with MOCO. they simply have no courage, and no vision.
Posted by: michael | June 14, 2011 at 02:11 PM
michael -- I'm guessing you don't work in rockville or near shady grove. Place of work and home are destinations that are pretty darned "motivating".
I'll repeat what I said on ggw - there is a large men's shelter on Gude near Crabbs Branch, a horrendous location because it is 2 miles from the metro and is poorly (I'm guessing) served by bus. The shelter has a large bike rack in its yard, and that rack is nearly always full. The shelter is 100-200 yards from a large office park with probably tens of thousands of employees.
Put a station amidst those offices, which is near that shelter, and I think it will be very much in demand by the multitudes of employees of the office park who'd probably like to metro to shady grove if they could get the last 2 miles to their office, and by the users of that shelter, who apparently already bike a lot.
Posted by: ricomontoya | June 14, 2011 at 02:18 PM
michael, among my Dad's better pieces of advice is to "never bet more than you're willing to lose." And $10,000 does not pass that test.
But, out of curiosity, what would you define as "succesful"? I've got 35 cents, cash money, burning a hole in my pocket.
Posted by: washcycle | June 14, 2011 at 02:32 PM
The Crystal City pod is roughly the same size as the proposed Rockville/Shady Grove pod. I am not a betting man, but, if I were, I would bet that the Crystal City pod will be more successful than the Rockville/Shady Grove pod. Crystal City has more density, more desirable destinations (notwithstanding the amazing men's emergency shelter in Rockville), is more bike friendly, has more complementary public transit, and is closer to the rest of the CaBi network.
I will, however, concede that the proposed Rockville/Shady Grove pod will get more use than the EOTR pod.
Posted by: KLO | June 14, 2011 at 03:53 PM
Except that Rockville will have 50% more bikes/docks than crystal city. And Rockville's population is about 4 times larger than Crystal City's. With 4000+ people per square mile, it seems plenty dense to me.
Posted by: washcycle | June 14, 2011 at 04:07 PM
If they can spend so much on CaBi in Rockville, why not spend a fraction of that and clear the damn CCT when it snows.
Posted by: SJE | June 14, 2011 at 04:16 PM
@ SJE Because the CCT is in Bethesda (low civic capacity). The Millenium Trail in Rockville actually was cleared this winter, at least on the west side of 355.
@ KLO Crystal City has desirable destinations? If you are a mall rat maybe. You need to check out what the NY Times described as "A Piazza for a Maryland Suburb" known locally as Rockville Town Square
Posted by: Early Man | June 15, 2011 at 06:57 AM