Metro wants to help people to bike to underused stations

I used to ride Metro to New Carrollton and then bike from there to work, so I'm glad to see that Metro is looking at ways to make it easier to bike to/from. A better Beltway crossing would really help. 

Regional transportation planners at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments are launching a study to determine how to make 25 “underutilized” Metro stations more accessible to pedestrians and bicyclists, work that overlaps with Metro’s research into exploiting excess capacity during the reverse commute: morning rush hour trains heading into D.C. are usually packed; trains heading out of the city into the suburbs are often empty by comparison. The reason is that many suburban stations, particularly in Prince George’s County, lack office development and employment centers within a mile’s walk or bike ride, and the areas surrounding some of these stations lack sidewalks and bike lanes, too.

The 25 stations were also picked because the vicinities are “anticipating employment growth in the near-term future and/or have significant transit-dependent populations living in close proximity,” according to the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB).

Another way to exploit excess capacity is to allow bikes on reverse commute trains. 

Metro is not going to reverse its ban against bringing bicycles aboard rush hour trains, but Kannan said the underused stations would benefit from bike share docks.

Oh. Never mind.

Both Metro and the TPB want their respective studies to provide a foundation for collaborative work with the jurisdictions where the 25 stations are located. Neither organization is in the real estate development or sidewalk/bike lane construction business. They cannot decide unilaterally where to locate the necessary office space near the stations and whether to build adequate walking/biking infrastructure for commuters once they get off their trains.

Comments

[T]

In the case of Springfield, I suspect there aren't many riders because the trail that is there is in bad shape and littered with glass. I walked from the station to a car dealership along it the other week to pickup our car. At first I was a little ticked I wasn't able to ride, but then after seeing all the broken glass and shape of the path, I was happy i didn't ride.

[Greenbelt]

I guess it's nice that they acknowledge the need, at least?

[Fong Fong]

The last sentence is silly:

Metro is not going to reverse its ban against bringing bicycles aboard rush hour trains, but Kannan said the underused stations would benefit from bike share docks.

You want people riding to and from Metro? Let them take bikes on the trains. Seems like no-brainer, especially since BART just let bike on during rush hour.

[Jonathan Krall]

WMATA thinks that, unlike people living in the San Francisco area, people in greater Washington are not mature enough to handle bicycle access during rush hour.