Capital Bikeshare Wants To Come To Cherrydale!
What is Capital Bikeshare?
Capital Bikeshare puts over 1670+ bicycles at your fingertips. You can choose any of the 175+ stations across Washington, D.C., Arlington, VA, and Alexandria, VA and return it to any station near your destination. Check out a bike for your trip to work, Metro, run errands, go shopping, or visit friends and family. Join Capital Bikeshare for 24 hours, 3 days, 30 days, or a year, and have access to their fleet of bikes 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The first 30 minutes of each trip are free. Each additional 30 minutes incurs an additional fee.
See their website for more information. |
See how it works:
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What do Cherrydale citizens think of Capital Bikeshare? Click on the link, below, to read our survey summary:
| bikeshare_survey_results.docx |
Notes on Capital Bikeshare from the November 28 CCA General Meeting:
Capital Bikeshare
Paul DeMaio - DES Transportation Division, Arlington County
What is it?
Capital Bikeshare is a bike sharing or bike transit service. Gets you from point a to point b. You can join anywhere from a day or three days to up to a year. Swipe a credit card and you’ve got access to a bike. Check one or two out at a time. Service is limited to those 18 or older, but a minor of 16 or 17 can use one with you if you vouch for them. We now have 45 stations throughout the county. All of them are along the metro corridors. Funding from the Feds. Putting in another 33 stations. This expansion brings us to 78 stations. Allows Cherrydale, Columbia Pike, Rt 50, Shirlington and Fairlington. Almost county-wide. Still working on Lyon Village shopping center (been working on that area for a year and a half).
If you join for a 1 day or 3 day member, you can use your credit card. 1 month or 1 year, can join online or over the phone. They send you a keyfob. When you use the bike, as a keyholding member, just walk up to one of the docks (11-15-19 docks in the rack, depending on the location), a light on the dock will turn green as it recognizes you. Pull the bike out, ride it to your destination (another station – DC, monuments, Ballston, Central Library). 1 yr membership $75. Day membership $7. Usage fee for a trip longer than 30 minutes. Under 30 min, every trip is free. Compare it to any mode of transport, it’s a good deal. More than 30 min, $1.50. If you’re a casual user, a bit more. For each additional 30 min segment, it goes up. They want you to use it for short trips.
There is a free app called spot cycle - a Google map – to help you locate a free bike or an open dock, so you don’t make a wasted trip. Click on any station before you leave your home station and it’ll tell you how many docks are available at your destination. Or, you can check at the home station to see if there are bikes available. If it’s full, they give you 15 minutes to get to another station. In most cases, another station is just a few blocks away. Use your keyfob at the destination station and it knows the station is full, so you select the free 15 min and it tells you where the nearest station is, and how many free docks there are.
This service is County owned. The private operator services the bikes and rebalances supply across stations. So far, they’ve done a great job.
How do they choose locations?
There is a list of criteria (30-40 items) in order to locate a station. Among that list: 4 hrs of sun (it’s solar), not being able to have a power line above because there’s a boom station that comes along to take a whole module in and out (also, power lines mess with their cellular tower), can’t be a snow emergency route, must be good site distance for all street users, must make sure that map frame does not block driver or cyclist views. Need 32 feet wide, which is the width of the station, and 6 feet deep, plus access space to pull the bike out (can be sidewalk). So if it goes on the street, they need another six feet. So, 32 x 12.
Cherrydale is difficult because it’s an older neighborhood. There are fewer suitable locations. Starting to work with private property owners, which adds about a year to the process.
Paul mentioned that they’ve conducted a survey to businesses near a rack, and they’ve reported more foot traffic and more revenue.
Quincy Street is not possible because it’s a snow emergency route.
The location they’re considering most seriously in Cherrydale is the Safeway parking lot. In fact, since our CCA meeting, Safeway management has agreed to allow it, pending approval of a precise location within the parking lot. Safeway real estate representative Denise Poulin sent the following email to Maureen on Nov 30:
”I presented this proposal to Division Management and they are agreeable to the bike rack; however, the location will need to be approved prior to installation. I will be in contact with you next week to coordinate a meeting with you and one of the members from our Design team to meet on site to come up with a mutually agreeable location.”
(you can read more about the Arlington Bikeshare Transit Development Plan here: http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/bikesharing/arlington-bikeshare-transit-development-plan/)
Katherine Christensen (Treasurer) – Cherrydale’s Capital Bikeshare Survey
· 87 answers on the survey we did.
· 92% want it.
· More than 80% felt it would be used by neighbors.
· 68% think it should be on Lee Hwy.
· The top suggestion was: Safeway! (33% suggested it)
· Most of the other suggestions were still along Lee Hwy.
Paul DeMaio - DES Transportation Division, Arlington County
What is it?
Capital Bikeshare is a bike sharing or bike transit service. Gets you from point a to point b. You can join anywhere from a day or three days to up to a year. Swipe a credit card and you’ve got access to a bike. Check one or two out at a time. Service is limited to those 18 or older, but a minor of 16 or 17 can use one with you if you vouch for them. We now have 45 stations throughout the county. All of them are along the metro corridors. Funding from the Feds. Putting in another 33 stations. This expansion brings us to 78 stations. Allows Cherrydale, Columbia Pike, Rt 50, Shirlington and Fairlington. Almost county-wide. Still working on Lyon Village shopping center (been working on that area for a year and a half).
If you join for a 1 day or 3 day member, you can use your credit card. 1 month or 1 year, can join online or over the phone. They send you a keyfob. When you use the bike, as a keyholding member, just walk up to one of the docks (11-15-19 docks in the rack, depending on the location), a light on the dock will turn green as it recognizes you. Pull the bike out, ride it to your destination (another station – DC, monuments, Ballston, Central Library). 1 yr membership $75. Day membership $7. Usage fee for a trip longer than 30 minutes. Under 30 min, every trip is free. Compare it to any mode of transport, it’s a good deal. More than 30 min, $1.50. If you’re a casual user, a bit more. For each additional 30 min segment, it goes up. They want you to use it for short trips.
There is a free app called spot cycle - a Google map – to help you locate a free bike or an open dock, so you don’t make a wasted trip. Click on any station before you leave your home station and it’ll tell you how many docks are available at your destination. Or, you can check at the home station to see if there are bikes available. If it’s full, they give you 15 minutes to get to another station. In most cases, another station is just a few blocks away. Use your keyfob at the destination station and it knows the station is full, so you select the free 15 min and it tells you where the nearest station is, and how many free docks there are.
This service is County owned. The private operator services the bikes and rebalances supply across stations. So far, they’ve done a great job.
How do they choose locations?
There is a list of criteria (30-40 items) in order to locate a station. Among that list: 4 hrs of sun (it’s solar), not being able to have a power line above because there’s a boom station that comes along to take a whole module in and out (also, power lines mess with their cellular tower), can’t be a snow emergency route, must be good site distance for all street users, must make sure that map frame does not block driver or cyclist views. Need 32 feet wide, which is the width of the station, and 6 feet deep, plus access space to pull the bike out (can be sidewalk). So if it goes on the street, they need another six feet. So, 32 x 12.
Cherrydale is difficult because it’s an older neighborhood. There are fewer suitable locations. Starting to work with private property owners, which adds about a year to the process.
Paul mentioned that they’ve conducted a survey to businesses near a rack, and they’ve reported more foot traffic and more revenue.
Quincy Street is not possible because it’s a snow emergency route.
The location they’re considering most seriously in Cherrydale is the Safeway parking lot. In fact, since our CCA meeting, Safeway management has agreed to allow it, pending approval of a precise location within the parking lot. Safeway real estate representative Denise Poulin sent the following email to Maureen on Nov 30:
”I presented this proposal to Division Management and they are agreeable to the bike rack; however, the location will need to be approved prior to installation. I will be in contact with you next week to coordinate a meeting with you and one of the members from our Design team to meet on site to come up with a mutually agreeable location.”
(you can read more about the Arlington Bikeshare Transit Development Plan here: http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/bikesharing/arlington-bikeshare-transit-development-plan/)
Katherine Christensen (Treasurer) – Cherrydale’s Capital Bikeshare Survey
· 87 answers on the survey we did.
· 92% want it.
· More than 80% felt it would be used by neighbors.
· 68% think it should be on Lee Hwy.
· The top suggestion was: Safeway! (33% suggested it)
· Most of the other suggestions were still along Lee Hwy.