Bike Parking at Metro Stations

[Greenbelt]

About a week ago WashCycle posted updated information about bike parking at Metro stations.

Here is the WMATA post, which includes a link to the downloadable data files from the survey: http://planitmetro.com/2012/08/02/2012-bicycle-parking-census-at-metrorail-stations/

I was curious about my local station, Greenbelt (duh). The WMATA survey showed that there were more empty spaces than used spaces. That didn’t conform to my eyeball inspections when I ride past.

So I took some pictures on last Wednesday afternoon at 3pm. There were some empty spaces, but not 52 I don’t think!

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How accurate (or not!) was the survey at your Metro station? -Jeff

WMATA Bike Parking Census 2012
SHORT_NAME Capacity Total Bikes Parked Bikes not at racks Empty rack spaces
Addison Road 16 1 0 15
Anacostia 14 0 0 14
Archives 20 7 1 14
Arlington Cemetery 0 0 0 0
Ballston 88 56 4 36
Benning Road 26 1 0 25
Bethesda 94 71 3 26
Braddock Road 136 92 11 55
Branch Avenue 20 11 0 9
Brookland-CUA 30 13 4 21
Capitol Heights 50 0 0 50
Capitol South 24 22 1 3
Cheverly 36 10 0 26
Clarendon 26 17 1 10
Cleveland Park 16 13 2 5
College Park 124 60 0 64
Columbia Heights 72 47 3 28
Congress Heights 20 2 0 18
Court House 30 6 0 24
Crystal City 12 16 1 0
Deanwood 12 0 0 12
Dunn Loring 74 52 0 22
Dupont Circle 48 39 7 16
East Falls Church 136 71 0 65
Eastern Market 40 25 2 17
Eisenhower Ave 36 7 0 29
Farragut North 60 40 3 23
Farragut West 40 32 15 23
Federal Center SW 28 10 1 19
Federal Triangle 40 46 6 0
Foggy Bottom 34 35 11 10
Forest Glen 82 31 0 51
Fort Totten 44 39 0 5
Franconia-Springfield 69 75 22 16
Friendship Heights 72 46 0 26
Gallery Place 40 21 1 20
Georgia-Petworth 60 12 1 49
Glenmont 80 28 0 52
Greenbelt 78 35 9 52
Grosvenor 104 67 4 41
Huntington 44 27 0 17
Judiciary Square 57 8 0 49
King Street 92 68 5 29
Landover 26 6 0 20
Largo Town Center 44 7 0 37
L’Enfant Plaza 24 24 0 0
McPherson Square 16 7 3 12
Medical Center 99 44 0 55
Metro Center 32 15 2 19
Minnesota Avenue 36 1 0 35
Morgan Boulevard 20 3 0 17
Mt. Vernon Sq. 8 7 0 1
National Airport 16 4 0 12
Navy Yard 21 5 0 16
Naylor Road 20 5 2 17
New Carrollton 68 11 0 57
New York Ave-NoMa 80 27 0 53
Pentagon 24 20 0 4
Pentagon City 45 30 0 15
Potomac Ave 18 5 1 14
Prince George’s Plaza 58 36 6 28
Rhode Island Ave. 42 8 0 34
Rockville 124 40 3 87
Rosslyn 16 14 3 5
Shady Grove 64 46 2 20
Shaw 30 6 2 26
Silver Spring 80 50 7 37
Smithsonian 20 1 0 19
Southern Avenue 12 1 0 11
Stadium-Armory 14 4 0 10
Suitland 18 3 0 15
Takoma 104 87 6 23
Tenleytown 52 34 5 23
Twinbrook 90 59 0 31
U Street 10 8 0 2
Union Station 56 58 3 1
Van Dorn St. 60 19 0 41
Van Ness 46 22 0 24
Vienna 130 82 8 57
Virginia Square 18 20 3 1
Waterfront-SEU 32 7 2 27
West Falls Church 80 38 0 42
West Hyattsville 128 60 1 69
Wheaton 50 32 16 34
White Flint 32 14 0 18
Woodley Park 52 42 0 10
SYSTEMWIDE TOTAL 4,239 2,271 193 2,165

Topic

[MCL1981]

WMATA’s staff is on salary to lie 24/7 to the media and customers. Assume anything they say, especially anything from the mouth of Dan Stessel, is a bold face lie. So this is not surprising. Also, WMATA is not a transit agency. It is a jobs program. Once you realize that, everything else about them makes sense. Of course they can’t count.

[chris_s]

You’re counting each staple as two spaces right? One bike on each side of the staple?

[DaveK]

@MCL1981 27817 wrote:

WMATA’s staff is on salary to lie 24/7 to the media and customers. Assume anything they say, especially anything from the mouth of Dan Stessel, is a bold face lie. So this is not surprising. Also, WMATA is not a transit agency. It is a jobs program. Once you realize that, everything else about them makes sense. Of course they can’t count.

Not everyone at WMATA is useless. They have some dedicated and talented planning staff working on bike issues.

[Greenbelt]

@chris_s 27839 wrote:

You’re counting each staple as two spaces right? One bike on each side of the staple?

Yes — that’s how WMATA counted. So my pictures probably make the racks look fuller than they actually are. Still, I was surprised that they showed Greenbelt having so many emptys. Plus, they just added 6 or 8 racks on the west side recently and they’re already (mostly) filled even with lots of people still locking to the MARC fence.

[5555624]

They are also only counting “their” bike racks. At Ballston, for example, there are a couple of racks closer to the escalators than the “official” racks.

[MCL1981]

@DaveK 27841 wrote:

Not everyone at WMATA is useless. They have some dedicated and talented planning staff working on bike issues.

I’m sure they do. Sadly, they’re a vast minority. It starts at the top, and trickles all the way down.

[Justin Antos]

Yes, the census counted each rack as space for 2 bikes. Also, the map shows the net availability for each station, so for stations with more than one entrance, one side may have been full, and the other not. (Data at the station-entrance level should also be in that spreadsheet). And we try to hit “peak” by counting in late spring, but it’s just a single snapshot in time.

Thanks for the tip on the west side of Greenbelt station. We installed more racks on that side a couple weeks ago, in response to the census actually, and it’s great to see them being used. Looks like we need even more! Especially to give people an alternative to locking to the MARC railing there.

If you see inadequate bike parking at your Metro station, please let us know!

[Greenbelt]

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Brand new bike racks at Greenbelt Metro — inside even! Thanks Justin.

PS — I think they intend to install this “inside” rack outside, but wouldn’t it be great to have some indoor parking? I hope so many cyclists lock up there that it becomes a permanant site.

[Terpfan]

@Justin Antos 28143 wrote:

Yes, the census counted each rack as space for 2 bikes. Also, the map shows the net availability for each station, so for stations with more than one entrance, one side may have been full, and the other not. (Data at the station-entrance level should also be in that spreadsheet). And we try to hit “peak” by counting in late spring, but it’s just a single snapshot in time.

Thanks for the tip on the west side of Greenbelt station. We installed more racks on that side a couple weeks ago, in response to the census actually, and it’s great to see them being used. Looks like we need even more! Especially to give people an alternative to locking to the MARC railing there.

If you see inadequate bike parking at your Metro station, please let us know!

Glad to know some WMATA employees are on the ball and that you’re out seeking input. So thank you.

As for parking, my station (Braddock Rd) is usually fine, at least at the times I go. I’m sure the collective group of cyclists would love on of those fancy lockup type stations such as at College Park, but we don’t have nearly that level of space.

[KLizotte]

@Greenbelt 29408 wrote:

Brand new bike racks at Greenbelt Metro — inside even! Thanks Justin.

PS — I think they intend to install this “inside” rack outside, but wouldn’t it be great to have some indoor parking? I hope so many cyclists lock up there that it becomes a permanant site.

Rosslyn also has indoor bike parking (but using a different type of rack). The first time I saw it, I thought, “Wow”, what a great idea. Less theft and out of the elements.

[Justin Antos]

Yes, we just installed even more outdoor racks on the west side of Greenbelt (the row on the left in the second picture), in response to usage. And, we intend to try keeping the racks on sleds inside the station area to provide weather protection.

[Greenbelt]

@Justin Antos 29517 wrote:

Yes, we just installed even more outdoor racks on the west side of Greenbelt (the row on the left in the second picture), in response to usage. And, we intend to try keeping the racks on sleds inside the station area to provide weather protection.

Excellent work! The indoor option is really cool.

[Greenbelt]

I rode through the station this afternoon — there was nobody parked on the inside racks, even though the outside racks were medium filled up and plenty of bikes on the MARC rail.

I think people don’t realize it’s OK to park there. Maybe a temporary sign would say it’s OK and get the ball rolling?

[CPTJohnC]

@Justin Antos 28143 wrote:

And we try to hit “peak” by counting in late spring, but it’s just a single snapshot in time.

If you see inadequate bike parking at your Metro station, please let us know!

I would have to say that the counts at Vienna, East Falls Church and West Falls Church seem pretty low (or high) in terms of my experience of the usage of rack spaces; Prior to the current construction, Vienna frequently had all or almost all rack spaces filled and many bikes parked along railings, against trees, etc… likewise, I can never recall seeing anywhere close to the number of available spots listed at EFC or WFC (based on the many times I’ve used each, or walked through the bike parking). Obviously I wasn’t doing a ‘scientific’ survey, but I was often trying to park my bike, and finding a vacant spot at the racks could be tough. I wonder, though, if Metro had done a recent sweep to eliminate abandoned bikes, which seem to take up anywhere from 5% to 15% of available spots sometimes.

[Author]

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