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.
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