Bike stations along GWMP may not be installed

[dbb]

@PotomacCyclist 115088 wrote:

– Gravelly Point. Either there is a bike station there or there isn’t. NPS can’t really claim that there are good alternative locations. Just as with Roosevelt Island, they can tuck the bike station into a back corner of the parking lot, where it won’t be visible from the GWMP or the MVT. Or if it is visible, it would have only a very minimal visual impact, especially when there are parked cars there. The aesthetics and viewshed arguments don’t make much sense to me on this one either.

I’m not sure anything could make Gravelly Point less inviting. From the permapotties to the piles o’trash every Monday to the mudhole in front of the permapotties; begriming the area with a CaBi station would be an improvement!

[scoot]

@chris_s 115084 wrote:

Word on the street is that NPS is saying that they are supportive publicly while at the staff level pushing to shift the station locations in a way that either makes them useless or delays them ridiculously.

Stuff like:
instead of bikeshare at the airport, bikeshare in Crystal city right next to the trail connector (90% less useful for reaching the airport)
instead of bikeshare on NPS property at the cemetery, bikeshare on cemetery property (passing the buck…)
instead of bikeshare at Roosevelt Island, more bikeshare in Rosslyn near the trail (90% less useful for bikesharing to Roosevelt Island)
instead of bikeshare at the Air Force Memorial, more bikeshare in Pentagon City (90% less useful for reaching the memorial)

I’m guessing there is some history here of which I am unaware.

You are implying that NPS is actively seeking to sabotage bikeshare under the radar while avoiding any appearance of responsibility. Which begs the question… why? If NPS seeks to block bikeshare, why not just come out and say so and why? There’s going to be public debate over it at some level anyway, so why not participate?

[PotomacCyclist]

I mentioned earlier in the thread that NPS tried to block bikeshare from the National Mall, while hiding the true reasons. So there is a history here, not too long ago.

NPS used the aesthetics and “historic nature” of the National Mall arguments as justification, even though they allowed massive tour buses and the old Tourmobile buses to ride through the Mall. The arguments didn’t even make any sense. Then it was revealed that the exclusive Tourmobile contract was behind the objections. NPS wanted to block Capital Bikeshare because of the Tourmobile contract. Then it was revealed that the Tourmobile contract had been renewed illegally, on an annual basis, for decades. It was awarded without going through a competitive bid process, for 42 years. Shortly after this was reported, NPS quickly backtracked on the matter of bike stations on the Mall. They said that they were in favor of bike stations all along, but they were looking for the right arrangement and the right time. They also let the Tourmobile contract lapse in the following weeks or months.

Clearly something was going on, and had been going on for a very long time, since the late 1960s. The general public still doesn’t know how this managed to continue for so long. Who was behind it? Were there people in Congress who were benefiting or allowing this to happen? I wrote to my Congressional rep about this. He replied that he looked into it and didn’t see anything to pursue. My guess is that there was an old Washington insider who would have been exposed and embarrassed (or even imprisoned) and that an investigation would ruffle too many feathers. There wasn’t enough outrage about this, so the matter was allowed to fade away. I suppose that it’s not the type of scandal to generate headlines and daily TV/Web news stories. Illegally renewed tourist bus contract? Someone broke the law, for a long time, but the effects didn’t hit enough people and it didn’t directly cause any deaths or wide-scale loss of life or money. So there was no incentive to open an investigation, which could have caught many people in its net. But some of us still remember it. The news broke just 3 1/2 years ago, but I guess that is a couple eons ago in the Internet Age.

[chris_s]

@scoot 115094 wrote:

You are implying that NPS is actively seeking to sabotage bikeshare under the radar while avoiding any appearance of responsibility.

Nothing so nefarious, merely the standard result you get when the top brass are behind something, but haven’t taken the time to get buy-in from those who actually have to implement it. It seems like the folks doing the actual implementing don’t really “get it” and so are trying to get it off their plate with the minimum required effort and maximum ass-covering. So agitating for the station locations that require the least effort and are likely to generate the least “but you RUINED the historic viewshed” criticism. Confronted with that reality, I think as bikeshare advocates the options are 1) educate and get buy-in among those doing the implementing (if you can find them/figure out who they are/get access to them) or 2) make it clear that they’ll get equal or harsher criticism from the community for picking useless locations.

[Steve O]

@PotomacCyclist 115088 wrote:

The Roosevelt Island alternative would be a problem. I don’t know why they can’t put the bike station in a corner of the parking lot. The cars would block the view of the station from the GWMP for the most part, so I can’t see how there would be any substantive infringement on the aesthetics of the viewshed.

A view of the Roosevelt Island parking lot. The GWMP is elevated above the parking lot. A bike station would barely be visible to any drivers. (Not that it should matter, but the NPS is very hung up on this.) The station would be visible to users of the MVT, but so are all of the cars, SUVs and station wagons in that parking lot. A bike station is not going to alter the aesthetics of that particular section of the trail that much. There are plenty of manmade objects in and around that parking lot.

https://goo.gl/maps/JLRWS

This is the view of that area from the GWMP: https://goo.gl/maps/53ayd

Give me a giant “F”ing break! There are currently two dozen butt ugly metal barriers all around the south end of the parking lot, serving no particular purpose that I can discern. Prior to that there were two dozen of those butt ugly orange plastic barriers serving the exact same purpose. It’s been that way for how long? Six years? Longer? I can’t even remember anymore.
Aesthetics?? C’mon.

[Steve O]

@PotomacCyclist 115088 wrote:

Gravelly Point. Either there is a bike station there or there isn’t. NPS can’t really claim that there are good alternative locations. Just as with Roosevelt Island, they can tuck the bike station into a back corner of the parking lot, where it won’t be visible from the GWMP or the MVT. Or if it is visible, it would have only a very minimal visual impact, especially when there are parked cars there. The aesthetics and viewshed arguments don’t make much sense to me on this one either.

A view of the Gravelly Point parking lot. If a bike station were placed on the far end of the parking lot from this perspective, no one would be able to see it from the GWMP or the MVT.

https://goo.gl/maps/YoyVO

Wouldn’t want to mess up the aesthetics of Gravelly Point now, would we?
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8492&stc=1[/IMG]

[rcannon100]

Those are historical porta-potties. GW pooped there.

[PotomacCyclist]

I wonder if Gadsby’s Tavern has a plaque with those words in its bathroom.

[PotomacCyclist]

The porta-potties have an educational purpose though. They are meant to resemble the odor of the town streets when horses used to do their business. That just doesn’t happen anymore… oh wait. It doesn’t happen anymore, except when the Park Police horses drop a load all over the sidewalks near the Tidal Basin.

[scoot]

@rcannon100 115104 wrote:

Those are historical porta-potties. GW pooped there.

While his SUV was parked in the lot, no doubt.

[scoot]

@Steve O 115102 wrote:

serving no particular purpose that I can discern

To prevent those pesky bicycle riders from clogging up traffic in the parking lot?

[Kolohe]

@Potomac Cyclist re: the mall & tourmoblie

Wasn’t NPS still trying make that other bikesharing thing work even though it was pretty much defunct even by the time CaBi started up?

[PotomacCyclist]

You’re referring to SmartBike. Yes, NPS had one of the rare SmartBike stations at their East Potomac Park location. But they weren’t operating the system. Clear Channel was, as an advertising program.

You are correct that SmartBike was already fading fast when CaBi started up. (However, SmartBike is also considered to be the pilot program that showed what might be possible. It helped inspire Arlington to start up their own bikeshare system. DC heard about the plan and the two agreed to start up a joint, multi-jurisdiction, regional bikeshare system. That turned out to be Capital Bikeshare.)

[Starduster]

@Steve O 115103 wrote:

Wouldn’t want to mess up the aesthetics of Gravelly Point now, would we?
[IMG]http://bikearlingtonforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=8492&stc=1[/IMG]

Surely, you jest. [he said, holding his nose]

[mstone]

@chris_s 115096 wrote:

make it clear that they’ll get equal or harsher criticism from the community for picking useless locations.

mission: accomplished

[Author]

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