Montgomery County signs contract with Alta

Good news for Montgomery County cyclists

Montgomery County officials Wednesday signed the formal contract with Alta Bicycle Share to set up more than 200 bikes at 29 sites by late summer.

Brecher said the bikes should be available to the public in late August or September but she wouldn't say if a specific start date has been set. She says that reports about September 21 were inaccurate and taken out of context.

Currently Montgomery County officials are selecting the specific locations in Rockville, Bethesda and Silver Spring where the stations will go.

Meanwhile councilwoman Nancy Floreen is worried about whether or not the county is safe enough

"My goal is to make sure wherever we put those Bikeshare stations, we have an obligation to make it safe places. That means putting lines down the road that those are bike-only lanes. It means putting up signs to let drivers know that they don't own the whole road," says Floreen.

She also criticized the Department of Transportation for not working hard enough on dedicated bike lanes.

When asked whether she'd be okay with eliminating parking spots, Floreen said the world continued to keep moving when D.C. eliminated about 150 parking spots for a bike lane on L Street NW.

As were others

"Picking the right sites is the first step to make everyone safe. Remember, bicyclists can ride on the sidewalk in Montgomery County. But it's about education, learning whether there are parallel streets or quiet sidewalks if you don't feel comfortable using a heavily-traveled road," says Brecher.

"It's always a balancing act. You have a limited amount of right-of-way. Who is going to use it? You have to have autos. You can't tear down buildings, so there's only so much space we can use," says Brecher.

"Bikeshare has demonstrated that it's safety record is good. Bikers go slower, they're far more visible to motorists. The safety issue is not as big as it is for the commuting biker. There's a difference between the two," says Berliner.

 

Comments

[Michael H.]

Speed bumps with bike cutouts would be nice on Woodmont Ave. in Bethesda. Some car drivers use that road as a high-speed alternative to Wisconsin Ave. Some of them won't stop even after nearly taking out a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk on a WALK signal.

[Kayla]

Why does Berliner think Bikeshare users are not commuting? I guess he thinks commuting=fast, but not necessarily.

[dynaryder]

It would also be nice if there was some traffic enforcement on Wisc between Bethesda and Friendship Heights. With three lanes it should be perfectly safe for cyclists,but drivers treat it as a speedway. There's only a sidewalk on one side,and it's narrow in spots,so it's just not a good alternative.

[Jack Cochrane]

Berliner's comment distinguishing between BikeShare users and bike commuters is very weird. But WTOP has been known to quote out of context and screw up a bike story, like just last week: http://cyclemoco.com/2013/04/wtop-gets-bike-law-wrong-tells-everyone/