Advice on proposing a Capital Bikeshare station / what data might be needed

[jonathandueck]

Dear WABA folks,

I’m writing to ask for advice on proposing a Capital Bikeshare station, and in particular on what data one might need to make a convincing case.

My interest is in exploring the possibility of a station at GWU’s Mt Vernon College campus, where 687 students presently live and several hundred faculty and staff also teach. The nearest Metro station is Rosslyn, which has Bikeshare, but the closest Bikeshare station to the GW’s Mt Vernon College campus is at Georgetown University, just under two miles away. So commuting to campus using Metro+Bike is much more difficult than it might otherwise be (and, though I always bike, for my colleagues driving is also difficult, since off-campus parking is not allowed and the expensive on-campus parking fills up). The nearest “college town” amenities, which our students might use, are in Georgetown–which is easiest and quickest to bike to (bus options are not good).

So I think a case could be made for our campus, or a spot very near it, as a potential expansion site for Bikeshare. I _might_ be able to survey members of the campus to gather data on when and how they might use Bikeshare, and their current transportation situation.

In short, if anyone has advice on proposing a station and on the data that would be most needed by Capital Bikeshare in evaluating the site, I’d love to hear it!

Best,
Jonathan Dueck

Topic

[Tim Kelley]

@jonathandueck 125698 wrote:

Dear WABA folks,

I’m writing to ask for advice on proposing a Capital Bikeshare station, and in particular on what data one might need to make a convincing case.

My interest is in exploring the possibility of a station at GWU’s Mt Vernon College campus, where 687 students presently live and several hundred faculty and staff also teach. The nearest Metro station is Rosslyn, which has Bikeshare, but the closest Bikeshare station to the GW’s Mt Vernon College campus is at Georgetown University, just under two miles away. So commuting to campus using Metro+Bike is much more difficult than it might otherwise be (and, though I always bike, for my colleagues driving is also difficult, since off-campus parking is not allowed and the expensive on-campus parking fills up). The nearest “college town” amenities, which our students might use, are in Georgetown–which is easiest and quickest to bike to (bus options are not good).

So I think a case could be made for our campus, or a spot very near it, as a potential expansion site for Bikeshare. I _might_ be able to survey members of the campus to gather data on when and how they might use Bikeshare, and their current transportation situation.

In short, if anyone has advice on proposing a station and on the data that would be most needed by Capital Bikeshare in evaluating the site, I’d love to hear it!

Best,
Jonathan Dueck

I’m not WABA, but I work more closely with Bikeshare than the staff there.

So, to start, here’s some reading for you…

DC’s Expansion Science: https://www.capitalbikeshare.com/news/2015/10/05/expansion-science

Here’s DC’s plan: http://ddot.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ddot/page_content/attachments/Draft%20DDOT%20Bikeshare%20Development%20FINAL%20reduced.pdf

You can comment on DC current plan here: http://dcforms.dc.gov/webform/capital-bike-share-form

Is there one planned to go in nearby?

Here’s Arlington’s Plan: http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/bikesharing/arlington-bikeshare-transit-development-plan/

So…

If you want to officially propose a station, you can do so here: http://cabistations.com/

If you want to ensure that you get a station that isn’t on the map, your best bet is to come to the table with some money. Check with the GWU transportation department. Check with the HR department or student services department. Do the survey and use that to lobby your administration to provide funding.

Good luck!

[Drewdane]

@Tim Kelley 125702 wrote:

If you want to officially propose a station, you can do so here: http://cabistations.com/

Good luck!

That crowdsharing map is nice and all, but it needs to include feedback/comments from Bikeshare staff. Several sites seem to get a lot of requests with no apparent notice from CB.

[americancyclo]

@jonathandueck 125698 wrote:

My interest is in exploring the possibility of a station at GWU’s Mt Vernon College campus

Is this the campus at

2100 Foxhall Rd NW

Washington, DC 20007

If so, what about the station at Stoddert Elementary School, 4001 Calvert Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20007

looks to be 1.1 miles walking.

[PotomacCyclist]

In the early days of CaBi, I added many suggestions to the crowdsourcing map, based on areas that were popular and likely to see a lot of bikeshare traffic. Many of those locations eventually received bike stations over the years. (Especially after the NPS dropped their resistance to bikeshare on the National Mall.)

Definitely add some input on that map. It doesn’t cost anything and once you have registered, it only takes a minute or two. You could suggest that students, faculty and staff provide input on the crowdsourcing map too. The more demand there is for stations at a particular location, the better the chances that DDOT will put a station there. Of course, if GWU is willing to pay for a station or two, that would really increase the chances.

Occasionally, there has been some reluctance to add stations in places that are too far from existing stations, because that introduces rebalancing issues. But that shouldn’t be the case with the Mt. Vernon campus. It’s not that far from the Georgetown and Wisconsin Ave. stations. American University has a bike station and that is somewhat removed from nearby stations.

=====

The DDOT bikeshare planning document lists proposed additions to the network over the next 3 fiscal years. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that they plan to add new stations at the Mt. Vernon campus. The nearest proposed location is on the north end of the Georgetown Univ. main campus, too far to be of use for most on the Mt. Vernon campus.

I think the best bet is to convince GWU administrators to fund a new station. There are already a few stations on the main campus and several others next to the main campus. If many cyclists on campus also ask for a bike station, that could increase the odds of getting the funding.

[dasgeh]

I think it’s a great idea, and you should do all the things others have suggested (especially the part about getting money from GW)

Though I still don’t understand why Georgetown didn’t buy that campus when it had the chance….

[PotomacCyclist]

GU and GWU decided who would control the campus through a secret, underground arm-wrestling match. Or not.

[jonathandueck]

Thanks so much for the below, particularly the current expansion plan and the advice on approaching GW and Bikeshare.

The current map does expand service at Georgetown, which is helpful since those docks are often full (you can’t drop a bike off there in the AM) but there’s nothing closer than the current Georgetown station. I’ll comment! And I’ll start to think about data and GW.

@Tim Kelley 125702 wrote:

You can comment on DC current plan here: http://dcforms.dc.gov/webform/capital-bike-share-form

Is there one planned to go in nearby?

…(snip)

If you want to ensure that you get a station that isn’t on the map, your best bet is to come to the table with some money. Check with the GWU transportation department. Check with the HR department or student services department. Do the survey and use that to lobby your administration to provide funding.

Good luck!

[jonathandueck]

Thanks! Yes, that station is close, but actually a longer walk than Georgetown, since going through Rock Creek is the shortest way. And GW has closed the W Street entrance to the campus to foot traffic from outside, which eliminates a potential shortcut there. It works out to about a .5 hour walk (quite a pleasant walk, but one that adds time to the commute–I suspect almost no GW-Mt Vernon students or employees take advantange of the station). It _is_ relatively close, though.

@americancyclo 125705 wrote:

Is this the campus at

2100 Foxhall Rd NW

Washington, DC 20007

If so, what about the station at Stoddert Elementary School, 4001 Calvert Street Northwest, Washington, DC 20007

looks to be 1.1 miles walking.

[jonathandueck]

This is really helpful! I like the idea of getting on-campus people to comment on the maps.

On funding, I’d be curious to know what a station costs (since of course GW will want numbers if I propose something). If this is something that’d be better addressed in a private message, happy to see one, but I thought I’d ask on-list first!

Cheers,
Jon

@PotomacCyclist 125714 wrote:

In the early days of CaBi, I added many suggestions to the crowdsourcing map, based on areas that were popular and likely to see a lot of bikeshare traffic. Many of those locations eventually received bike stations over the years. (Especially after the NPS dropped their resistance to bikeshare on the National Mall.)

Definitely add some input on that map. It doesn’t cost anything and once you have registered, it only takes a minute or two. You could suggest that students, faculty and staff provide input on the crowdsourcing map too. The more demand there is for stations at a particular location, the better the chances that DDOT will put a station there. Of course, if GWU is willing to pay for a station or two, that would really increase the chances.

Occasionally, there has been some reluctance to add stations in places that are too far from existing stations, because that introduces rebalancing issues. But that shouldn’t be the case with the Mt. Vernon campus. It’s not that far from the Georgetown and Wisconsin Ave. stations. American University has a bike station and that is somewhat removed from nearby stations.

=====

The DDOT bikeshare planning document lists proposed additions to the network over the next 3 fiscal years. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that they plan to add new stations at the Mt. Vernon campus. The nearest proposed location is on the north end of the Georgetown Univ. main campus, too far to be of use for most on the Mt. Vernon campus.

I think the best bet is to convince GWU administrators to fund a new station. There are already a few stations on the main campus and several others next to the main campus. If many cyclists on campus also ask for a bike station, that could increase the odds of getting the funding.

[Tim Kelley]

@jonathandueck 125789 wrote:

On funding, I’d be curious to know what a station costs (since of course GW will want numbers if I propose something).

In Arlington, the 11 dock stations start $40K. Get a 19 dock for only $57K!

https://www.capitalbikeshare.com/assets/pdf/stationcosts_bikearl.pdf

Here’s the CB partners page: https://www.capitalbikeshare.com/partners

[americancyclo]

@Tim Kelley 125792 wrote:

In Arlington, the 11 dock stations start $40K. Get a 19 dock for only $57K!

https://www.capitalbikeshare.com/assets/pdf/stationcosts_bikearl.pdf

Here’s the CB partners page: https://www.capitalbikeshare.com/partners

GWU is a silver sponsor!

[chris_s]

Back in 2010, the direct costs were as follows (I’m sure they’ve changed, but this should get you in the right ballpark):

Extra Small Station (4 bikes & 7 docks): $26k
Small Station (7 bikes & 11 docks): $34k
Medium Station (10 bikes & 15 docks): $43k
Large Station (13 bikes & 19 docks): $52k

Motivate also charged a station install fee ($4500 at the time) and Bikeshare may want some of their soft costs covered (employee time, etc).

Source: Arlington’s original 2010 contract with Alta.

[jonathandueck]

Thanks, everyone. This is really useful!

[Drewdane]

@Drewdane 125704 wrote:

That crowdsharing map is nice and all, but it needs to include feedback/comments from Bikeshare staff. Several sites seem to get a lot of requests with no apparent notice from CB.

Bump to reiterate this point.

[Author]

Replies