Alexandria Capital Bikeshare Open House – Wed. Jan. 4, 2012, 5:30-7 PM

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  • December 18, 2011 at 6:37 am #933748
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    Alexandria approved a redevelopment proposal in Arlandria, on Mt. Vernon Ave. The site includes the buildings that include the MOM’s Organic Market and the CVS, adjacent to the Birchmere. The new development will include housing and ground-floor retail. MOM’s Organic Market and CVS will be included in the new plans. So will a Capital Bikeshare station. The city staff proposal includes a request that the developer fund a bikeshare station on or close to the property.

    This would be convenient for not only the residents of the new buildings, but also for concertgoers at the Birchmere.

    According to the staff report, the station is supposed to be “constructed” within one year of issuance of the last certificate of occupancy permit. (page 37, paragraph 53) I don’t know what that means in terms of an exact timeline. The developer would also contribute to a transportation management fund that could be used for operational costs of the CaBi station, along with other transportation items.

    This is good news for CaBi members in Alexandria and Arlington. But I was surprised to read that the city also wants to redevelop the Birchmere site eventually. It would be a shame if the music hall were to be replaced by offices or more apartments. The staff report notes that the Birchmere attracts visitors from around the region. They also cite the recent Foo Fighters song “Arlandria”, which may have been partly inspired by the presence of the Birchmere. (Dave Grohl grew up in Alexandria and Northern Virginia.)

    Any redevelopment plans are up to the owners of the Birchmere. But it seems like the city might be nudging them to redevelop at some point in the future. I hope that doesn’t happen. Or if it does, I hope that a new Birchmere remains as part of the new development.

    December 18, 2011 at 10:41 am #933749
    JimF22003
    Participant

    FWIW, here’s a story from Saturday about this that was on channel 4. They focused on the gentrification issue. Sounds like anything getting built would still be several years away:

    http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Alexandria-Council-Approves-Arlandria-Plan-135799238.html

    January 3, 2012 at 3:19 pm #934090
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    Don’t forget about the Alexandria open house tomorrow, especially if you live or work in Alexandria. I think most of the details of the pilot program have already been released. But maybe officials will surprise us with some further good news. I don’t think I’ll make it. Hopefully someone can go and report on the highlights of the presentation.

    January 6, 2012 at 5:55 am #934234
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    Patch.com posted a report on the Alexandria CaBi open house. Alexandria will install eight bike stations in the spring or summer (more than the six stations hinted at previously). All of the stations will be placed in Old Town:

    King Street Metro station
    Braddock Road Metro station
    Intersection of King and West streets
    King Street between N. Patrick and N. Henry Streets
    Intersection of King and N. Royal streets
    Intersection of N. Union and Cameron streets
    Near Trader Joe’s at the Intersection of Pendleton and N. St. Asaph streets
    Near the Henry building at Pendleton and N. Henry streets

    The City will add a second wave of stations, perhaps late in the year or in 2013. The nine proposed locations include the Van Dorn St. Metro station and others in Carlyle/Old Town. There are no proposed stations in Del Ray, Arlandria or the far West End.

    The blue dots indicate the first group of Alexandria stations. The green dots show the proposed stations for the second group.

    [ATTACH=CONFIG]556[/ATTACH]

    Interestingly, an Alta/CaBi representative said that Arlington is only going to install about 20 new stations this year. Earlier announcements stated that Arlington could end up with 70 total stations by the end of 2012. There are 23 Arlington stations as of today. Not sure who is correct.

    I’m glad that the Alexandria CaBi expansion will happen quickly. I guess it’s best that the stations be grouped relatively close together in Old Town. But I was hoping for a couple stations in Potomac Yard/Arlandria, to help connect the Crystal City stations to Old Town. The trip from S. Glebe in Arlington to the stations on Pendleton St. in Alexandria will be kind of long, especially on the slow CaBi bikes. I don’t know if too many people will make the ~20 min. trip. The proposed station near Madison and St. Asaph (2nd wave of stations) is only 1 or 2 blocks closer to Arlington.

    Maybe I’ll do a Grand Tour of all the Arlington and Alexandria CaBi stations next summer, trying to ride to and dock at every station in a single day. I know that a couple people rode to every single CaBi station (in DC and Arlington) on a single day during the Winter Weather Warrior contest last year. That’s much tougher. The Arlington/Alexandria CaBi Tour won’t be as difficult.

    March 28, 2012 at 4:09 am #938443
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    According to a USA Today article, CaBi stations will be installed in Alexandria in May.

    March 29, 2012 at 11:18 am #938477
    Arlingtonrider
    Participant

    Thx for posting all this info. I agree with you that it’s a shame they didn’t add Potomac Yards. Alexandria would get a lot of business by putting a station there because of the nearby Arlington stations. Del Ray would be a good next step after that.

    March 29, 2012 at 5:23 pm #938504
    chris_s
    Participant

    @PotomacCyclist 12661 wrote:

    Interestingly, an Alta/CaBi representative said that Arlington is only going to install about 20 new stations this year. Earlier announcements stated that Arlington could end up with 70 total stations by the end of 2012. There are 23 Arlington stations as of today. Not sure who is correct.

    This map shows 23 new stations coming this Spring (probably what the Alta/Cabi rep was referring to) along with 26 existing stations. I believe more stations are supposed to come online this Fall bringing the total to 70 stations – the Fall stations having been funded with a more recent CMAQ grant. I imagine it is possible that the Fall round of stations has slipped into 2013 at this point. I know Arlington has had delays getting VDOT to sign over the CMAQ money in the past.

    March 29, 2012 at 6:23 pm #938510
    KLizotte
    Participant

    Just out of curiosity, does anyone actually ride a CaBi from Rosslyn *up* to the Clarendon/Ballston area? I rather doubt many do so one has to wonder how Alta goes about dealing with the fact everyone rides down hill but not up. Their trucks must be making a lot of trips and this increases operating costs.

    In Paris, the bike share system rewards riders who ride uphill by giving them a credit on their account. It has helped with the balancing problem.

    March 30, 2012 at 4:47 pm #938555
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    @chris_s 17318 wrote:

    This map shows 23 new stations coming this Spring (probably what the Alta/Cabi rep was referring to) along with 26 existing stations. I believe more stations are supposed to come online this Fall bringing the total to 70 stations – the Fall stations having been funded with a more recent CMAQ grant. I imagine it is possible that the Fall round of stations has slipped into 2013 at this point. I know Arlington has had delays getting VDOT to sign over the CMAQ money in the past.

    I read somewhere that Arlington won’t reach 70 stations until next year.

    May 14, 2012 at 5:39 pm #940530
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    The rumor is that Alexandria wants to have its CaBi stations installed in time for Bike to Work Day on Friday. (It’s already too late to install them before Bike to Work Week, which started today.) If they can manage it, it would be nice. But I think Arlington or D.C. tried to do something similar last year, installing a set of stations before Bike to Work Day, and they didn’t quite make the self-imposed deadline. I won’t be using any CaBi bikes in Alexandria this week, but if they can at least get them installed before the end of the month, I won’t complain.

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