Alexandria City Council to consider bike sharing

This isn't much of a surprise, but there are details about cost, funding and size. 

City council members in Alexandria will soon consider expanding the Capital BikeShare program into Old Town. The cost of the first year of the program would be $400,000, money that the city has already set aside from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Funding Program. That would buy 54 bikes at six stations in Old Town. It would also pay for the first year of operation.

City leaders say Alexandria’s projected usage would likely be similar to Arlington's, which was the first jurisdiction to strike a deal with Oregon-based Alta BikeShare. D.C. later piggybacked onto that contract through its affiliation with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Now Alexandria City Council members are set to vote next month on whether the city wants to enter into a similar agreement.

Acting City Manager Bruce Johnson says Alexandria has a higher percentage of people who use bicycles to commute. So combined with the number of tourists in the city, he says Capital BikeShare may even be more successful in Alexandria than in Arlington.

 

Comments

[Eric_W.]

I think six stations with 54 bikes is way too thin. Oh, and BTW, Alexandria is more than Old Town. I wrote the City a couple of times encouraging them to create a larger network connecting at least Old Town, Del Ray, the metro stations and Potomac Yards (and why not Arlandria too?). I guess that's not really doable with six stations. We'll see and of course there is always expansion.

[bluegreenbiker]

Join "Alexandrians for Capital Bikeshare" Facebook page to support this initiative!!

[Froggie]

Eric:

Yes, Alexandria is more than Old Town, but except for Carlyle and along Mt. Vernon Ave, Alexandria doesn't really have the density or destinations to warrant Bikeshare. 6 stations may be "way too thin', but it's what the city can afford for the initial phase.

They've programmed future CMAQ funding for further extensions. Another 6 stations in FY 13 and perhaps 1-2 stations per year beyond that. Also, once the city joins the system, they can request proffers from developers/redevelopers for stations...in point-of-fact: the developer of the future Harris Teeter in north Old Town offered up a Bikeshare station, but it got dropped since the city hasn't joined on yet.

[Michael H.]

An obvious participating sponsor would be FAST Potomac Yard (Full Access Solutions in Transportation for Potomac Yard). They have already sponsored the existing station at S. Glebe Rd. in Arlington, the southernmost CaBi station.

FAST Potomac Yard also focuses on the Alexandria part of Potomac Yard, so it would be an obvious fit for that group to sponsor additional stations in that neighborhood.

Another 1 or 2 stations in Potomac Yard-Alexandria would greatly ease CaBi trips between Crystal City and Old Town. This would increase usage in both areas and possibly attract more members.

The bike infrastructure is already in place. Cyclists can use the Mt. Vernon Trail or the new Potomac Ave. trail (or road) to move between Crystal City and Old Town.

Then Alexandria could place one station near the King St. Metro station and the other five stations in Old Town, with perhaps one of the stations closer to Old Town North.