D.C. Bicycle Advisory Council

The National Park Service  (NPS) requests public comment regarding the installation of Capital Bikeshare stations on the National Mall. This represents a change from the previous NPS policy, which did not allow bike stations on NPS land.  In an  article  published September 22, 2010 by  Lydia DePillis  of the Washington City Paper, the reason for Capital Bikeshare restrictions was based of partly on concession contracts with companies that had the right of first refusal for services.  This appears to have changed as a result of demise of the Tourmobile operator.  In addition, Six members of Congress recently sent a letter to NPS urging them to follow through on its plans to allow Capital Bikeshare stations on the Mall. In changing its position, the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment website further states that, " Participating in this bikeshare system would fulfill the goal of enhancing bicycle use at ...

Below is a Google map showing 32 new Capital Bikeshare locations ( Blue pins ) and 18 current stations that will see expansion ( red pins ), most of which should be installed by the fall of 2011.  According to a press release issued by goDCgo , the District Department of Transportation Director Terry Bellamy states that, " With this expansion we will not only increase the overall reach of the system, but we will expand the program’s capacity by 22 percent in the downtown area, by 80 percent in our East of the River operations and by an average of 38 percent throughout each of the additional Wards .” Most of the new locations add capacity in the system's core but CaBi appears to also expanded east of the Anacostia River in the neighborhoods of Fairfax Village, Benning Ridge, Congress Heights and downtown Anacostia. Areas not receiving new or expanded stations include upper regions of Ward 3,  4, and 5. View New (Blue) and Expanded (Red) CaBi Bike Stations in a l...

As a public service, below are bicycle-related comments / questions issued to Robert Thomson on his Monday midday Dr. Gridlock chat on the Washington Post website, unedited. This week, several comments about rolling through stop signs, improvements to the humpback bridge for bicyclists and pedestrians, and drawing a correlation between allegedly reckless Zipcar drivers and allegedly reckless Capital Bikeshare users.

High style (photo by thedceye) The Seersucker Social Ride , organized by group Dandies & Quaintrelles , was a great example of how bicycling can be a fun and fashionable communal experience, allowing people who would not ordinarily ride bikes do so with those who have extensive riding experience. According to the Dandies & Quaintrelles site, the District-based social group was established in 2009 and organizes and hosts vintage-inspired, stylish events to support noble causes .  This is the second year for this spring event and will be followed in the fall by arguably the more popular Tweed ride, typically held in November.  

(photo by thedceye) A beautiful day near a CaBi station near the Brookland - CUA Metro station.  Just one thing, too many bikes but we talked about this before...

Just another pretty face? (photo by R. Myers) Remember former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin ?  When she was selected by John McCain as his running mate in August of 2008 during his Presidential campaign, some said that her looks, the fact that she was a woman, her eye winks, her "momma grizzlies" and "you betchas", helped invigorate the McCain campaign and the Republican party.   She was popular, and some have even said cool .  However, according to a recent Gallop / USA Today poll as discussed by Jon Terbush of TPM , 38 percent of respondents said they viewed Palin favorably, while 53 percent said they viewed her unfavorably , which is the worse rating she has experienced since she arrived from Alaska. Currently, the region's Capital Bikeshare system (Cabi) is riding a wave of  popularity.  It's new, it's attractive and and most people like it.  It fills a transportation gap that cars, Metro and walking couldn't completely fill.  Howeve...

The intrepid Lydia DePillis finds some interesting information about the contract between Alta and DDOT and Cabi usage data.

Joshua Marks, a blogger for the Washington Examiner , writes about an incident with Mayor Vincent Gray when a reporter asked about the continuation of the District's transition to a more bike-friendly city .    The title of the story states that the Mayor answered the question  in a "testy" fashion - implying that the Mayor took umbrage at the apparent accusation that former Mayor Adrian Fenty and former DDOT Director Gabe Klein had the only progressive ideas regarding bicycling transportation.  Perhaps now at 100 days, we should look at what has happened or what should have happened. The 100-day nexus ( which ended on or around April 13, 2011 depending on when you start counting ) is a completely arbitrary number and doesn't necessarily mean that what has happened will continue.  After all, many feel that Gray's first months were rocky at best .  That said, is was both a little disconcerting and ironic to read in the Examiner article that the Ma...

Finally , a photo by uno000 on Flickr. As Capital Bikeshare adds 5 new stations with 20 more on the way and the addition of thousands of new members in the last few weeks, it's time to start asking about what's next for the system, or more specifically, who's next? David Alpert asks " Where should 25 new Capital Bikeshare stations go ? ", on Greater Greater Washington but more specifically, what about the rest of us?  While the saturation in the core will help Cabi cement its self as a short distance transportation option, there are vast areas of the city that have few stations.

Mike Goodno of DDOT posted a link to a newspaper article by Jeff Heinrich in the Montreal Gazette claiming that bike sharing in Montreal has a traffic calming effect and few bike share riders are involved in crashes.  The report also lists common problems associated with biking in Montreal, which appears to be as problematic as biking in the District.  Suzanne Lareau, who is the director of the Vélo-Québec cycling organization stated that because its bike sharing program, Bixi , removes its bikes due to the harsh winters, When spring arrives, the bikes come out and everyone has to get back into the habit of sharing the road. In winter, there aren't that many cyclists, so drivers are often surprised to see them again when the weather turns nice. Hopefully, according to Mike, we'll see similar results here (and, hopefully, we'll be able to track this data).  There's also a list of common situations that contribute to crashes.

The Housing Complex section of the Washington City Paper had an article by Alex Baca about Jan Gehl , a Danish planner and regular bicyclist who's been married for 45 years, and what he sees as the failing of cars and how they interact with people, among other things.  Demographic information gathered from the US Department of Transportation, states that bicyclists 65 and older make up 5 percent of all bike trips so his insight at 75 years old is important.