Dock blocking…

[dasgeh]

I’m an avid cyclist, occasional CaBi user (I ride my own to work, then use CaBi to get around DC, so I don’t have to lock my nice bike on the street). Today, for the first time, I was dock blocked. Unfortunately, it happened twice (19&Penn/17&K at 11am and 21st&Virginia at 1pm), and both times the Spotcycle app showed empty docks at my location. While today has been frustrating, I don’t have enough experience to know whether this is an anomaly. There’s an older thread on this forum where some users express frustration with CaBi’s rebalancing, but it’s not clear whether their experiences were widespread, or whether CaBi is effectively addressing the problem.

So sound off- when/where are you experiencing dock blocking? How is CaBi’s rebalancing going?

Topic

[PotomacCyclist]

Most of the balancing problems occur downtown and in the areas around Columbia Heights/Adams Morgan. In the morning, many people check out the bikes from Columbia Heights and ride to the downtown stations. In the evening rush hour, it’s the reverse. So downtown stations tend to be full in the morning rush hour, and empty at the start of the evening rush hour.

CaBi is trying to add more vans and employees to help with rebalancing. They also sponsored a summertime contest to encourage CaBi users to contribute to rebalancing the bikes, but I don’t know how effective that was.

More importantly, CaBi will be expanding the system in the fall. They will add and expand many stations. They will expand the Metro Center station but I don’t think they are adding many other stations downtown. You can search online for Capital Bikeshare news to see the map of proposed stations and expansions. I don’t know what the exact timetable is. I probably wouldn’t expect to see many of the new stations and docks until October or so. Arlington will also expand their CaBi network, primarily in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. They will stretch out the schedule for their additions into the fall and winter. Maybe into next spring.

[CCrew]

I read this title and every time I think D.U.F.F.

:p:p:)

[jrenaut]

@dasgeh 7618 wrote:

. . . both times the Spotcycle app showed empty docks at my location. . ..

I’ve wondered a few times if this is a bike that’s not pushed all the way in to the station, so the person who left it thinks it’s in the station, and the station doesn’t. It happened to me a few times when I was doing CaBi every day to work.

If that’s the problem, it’s more an education issue than anything – people have to wait until the dock light turns green.

[Author]

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