Proposed Capital Bikeshare Locations opposed by Bluemont Civic Association – vote

[bobco85]

I wonder, did they mention that only the Bluemont Junction Park location is planned for 2015? The Harrison/Fairfax one is planned for 2016. The CaBi proposed locations map http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/bikesharing/planned-arlington-stations/ shows these. Additionally, both locations are on the CaBi crowdsourcing map http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/bikesharing/capital-bikeshare-crowdsourcing-map/ with multiple comments saying how people would like to have them, so it’s not like these stations were chosen at random.

I think that the opposition came really quickly and strongly, so education is necessary. Maybe the subcommittee can help with that, as the Bluemont neighborhood has had 2 bikeshare stations (George Mason/Wilson and Glebe/Wakefield) for at least a year, and I don’t remember hearing about any sort of huge opposition to it.

[rcannon100]

@lordofthemark 114441 wrote:

I am not sure which areas in Arlington are begging for stations.

Really??? How much more begging do I have to do????

For the record ~ if there is any lack of clarity what so ever ~

On behalf of every single sole in Lee~Heights, I am begging for a station. It would be well connected to the current grid. It would connect the CABI grid to yet another excellent destination area (Metro 29, Casata, Lebanese Taverna, Lone Star or whatever it is pub, ). There is a big huge development there and it could promote car free. There are lots of public transportation users there cause of the 3 Bus line, who would probably love it. Marymount students could probably use it.

There is also excellent government land where the station could be placed.

[baiskeli]

@rcannon100 114440 wrote:

I am still not understanding why CABI would work hard to install a station in a ‘hood that doesnt want it ~ when so many other ‘hoods are begging for stations. Go after the low hanging fruit first. If they dont want it, others do. Why would $1 of effort be spent on outreach or anything at this point for a ‘hood that says they dont want it?

They explicitly said they DO want CaBi, just not at the locations proposed.

As BobCo noted, there are already two stations in Bluemont, and nobody opposed them.

[baiskeli]

@rcannon100 114445 wrote:

On behalf of every single sole in Lee~Heights

You speak for the feet?

I am begging for a station.

Is it on the crowdsharing map? You should get people to vote for it.

Do your dogs know you’re putting pics of CATS up here?

[bobco85]

@rcannon100 114445 wrote:

Really??? How much more begging do I have to do????

For the record ~ if there is any lack of clarity what so ever ~

On behalf of every single sole in Lee~Heights, I am begging for a station. It would be well connected to the current grid. It would connect the CABI grid to yet another excellent destination area (Metro 29, Casata, Lebanese Taverna, Lone Star or whatever it is pub, ). There is a big huge development there and it could promote car free. There are lots of public transportation users there cause of the 3 Bus line, who would probably love it. Marymount students could probably use it.

There is also excellent government land where the station could be placed.

I don’t think it will bring much solace, but at the very least there is a bikeshare station planned for the area you described (Lee Hwy/Woodstock) in 2016.

[dasgeh]

The problem is that Civic Associations are really just vocal minorities in democracy’s clothing. They only allow voting (and in Bluemont, speaking) if you’re a paid member and you can go to the meeting. It’s certainly important to consult with “the neighborhood”, but a neighborhood shouldn’t get veto power, because they are part of a wider community. And an uninformed, vocal minority of the neighborhood certainly shouldn’t get veto power.

[scoot]

@rcannon100 114445 wrote:

I am begging for a station

Will a CaBi station make you less likely to double-park at Ballston Metro? :p

[DCLiz]

I’ve seen a couple of posts on this thread referencing that people who are inclined to bike and live in single family homes would own their own bikes, and therefore bikeshare wouldn’t be useful in such neighborhoods. I don’t understand that argument. I own my own bike and I also use bikeshare regularly. When I have guests in town, we almost always make use of bikeshare.

One of the very early arguments against bikeshare in general was that people who wanted to bike already owned bikes and therefore wouldn’t use it, and we see how that turned out.

[PotomacCyclist]

I have two bikes but I do most of my rides on bikeshare.

[baiskeli]

@PotomacCyclist 114543 wrote:

I have two bikes but I do most of my rides on bikeshare.

That’s interesting – can you explain why?

[DCLiz]

I realize you weren’t asking me, but here are some of the reasons I use bikeshare instead of my own bike:
1. I’m at the office without my bike and need to run an errand that would be much quicker by bike.
2. I didn’t ride to work in the morning because I was running late or it was bad weather, but the afternoon is perfect for a bike ride home.
3. I’m going out after work and want to ride to my destination, but don’t want to ride home late at night, so I can just take bikeshare there and then another form of transportation home.
4. I’m going to a beer/wine festival and don’t want to ride while intoxicated on the way home.
5. I want to ride to work in the morning, but I know I won’t be able to ride home due to meetings, etc., and I don’t want to leave my bike at work that day.
6. I’ve left my bike at work some other day and I want to ride to work.
7. Not so much anymore but when I was starting to bike again as an adult, I learned to stop/start better and also take my hand off the bar to signal (more stable than my bike).
8. Somewhat of a corollary to 3/4 – biking is the fastest way to get someplace, but I don’t know for sure I’ll be biking on the return trip.
9. Metro breaks down halfway to my destination and I can bail and take bikeshare the rest of the way.
EDIT: 10. My bike is in the basement of my walk-up apartment building and it’s easier/faster to walk two blocks to the bikeshare station than it is to unlock my bike, take it through three doors, and a twisty flight of narrow stairs with two turns.
11. It’s dark and I’ve forgotten my lights.

I’m sure there are others, but these are the reasons that come to mind right away.

[baiskeli]

@DCLiz 114556 wrote:

I realize you weren’t asking me, but here are some of the reasons I use bikeshare instead of my own bike:
1. I’m at the office without my bike and need to run an errand that would be much quicker by bike.
2. I didn’t ride to work in the morning because I was running late or it was bad weather, but the afternoon is perfect for a bike ride home.
3. I’m going out after work and want to ride to my destination, but don’t want to ride home late at night, so I can just take bikeshare there and then another form of transportation home.
4. I’m going to a beer/wine festival and don’t want to ride while intoxicated on the way home.
5. I want to ride to work in the morning, but I know I won’t be able to ride home due to meetings, etc., and I don’t want to leave my bike at work that day.
6. I’ve left my bike at work some other day and I want to ride to work.
7. Not so much anymore but when I was starting to bike again as an adult, I learned to stop/start better and also take my hand off the bar to signal (more stable than my bike).
8. Somewhat of a corollary to 3/4 – biking is the fastest way to get someplace, but I don’t know for sure I’ll be biking on the return trip.
9. Metro breaks down halfway to my destination and I can bail and take bikeshare the rest of the way.
EDIT: 10. My bike is in the basement of my walk-up apartment building and it’s easier/faster to walk two blocks to the bikeshare station than it is to unlock my bike, take it through three doors, and a twisty flight of narrow stairs with two turns.
11. It’s dark and I’ve forgotten my lights.

I’m sure there are others, but these are the reasons that come to mind right away.

Thanks. Do you also do most of your cycling by bikeshare, like PostomacCyclist said? What percentage of rides? I understand why someone who owns a bike would use bikeshare sometimes, but what struck me was that Potomac rides bikeshare more often than his own bikes. Perhaps it’s a function of how much you use your bike for utility vs. recreation.

[dasgeh]

@baiskeli 114557 wrote:

Thanks. Do you also do most of your cycling by bikeshare, like PostomacCyclist said? What percentage of rides? I understand why someone who owns a bike would use bikeshare sometimes, but what struck me was that Potomac rides bikeshare more often than his own bikes. Perhaps it’s a function of how much you use your bike for utility vs. recreation.

I’m sure it’s also a function of station location. The station in my neighborhood is 3 blocks from my house. When I head to the R-B corridor (when I’m not with children), I prefer the security of not locking my own bike and the flexibility of not having to bike home, especially if I’m meeting people that might not want to bike. But when I’m headed somewhere else, often the combined walking to/from the stations and destinations makes it not worth it.

[PotomacCyclist]

Capital Bikeshare: Convenience, safety and cost.

CONVENIENCE

– One-way trips. Various reasons for doing this. Sometimes I don’t feel like riding twice in the same day. On CaBi, that’s a simple matter. Not so simple if I had to lock a personal bike somewhere and leave it overnight. Or it might rain or snow in the morning but not in the evening. Or vice versa. Or I might have somewhere else to go in the evening and I wouldn’t get out until later in the evening. (I prefer not to bike back late at night now, although I’ve probably ridden at all times of the day and night over the years.)
– Not having to worry about bike theft.
– Not having to worry about bike maintenance or fixing flat tires. I’ve only had one flat on a CaBi bike. That was when I rode directly over a large metal screw, which went straight into the tire. I didn’t even notice at first. (This also goes to the safety issue.) I rode for about half a block before I realized that the strange sound was the rear tire. Even though the screw went straight into the tire and the air eventually went out, the bike didn’t wobble at all. It felt a little sluggish and then it felt strange. But at no time was I at risk of tipping over or crashing because of the screw. That just wouldn’t happen if I were on the triathlon bike. (The mountain bike might be somewhere in between the two cases.) There was a bike station nearby. I walked the bike over, docked it, turned the seat around (to signal that the bike was disabled) and pressed the red repair button to lock the bike and indicate to CaBi employees that the bike needed to be repaired. Then I got another bike and continued on my way. Far easier than if I had to repair the tire and replace the tube on a personal bike.

– I’ve found that an easy bike ride is a great way to recover or warm-down/cool-down from a run, especially after harder run workouts (long runs, speedwork). It would be a hassle to go get my personal bike after a run. But with CaBi, I can just plan my run so that I finish near a bike station. I usually run by time and I’m generally familiar with how long it takes to get between various locations in the Pentagon City/Long Bridge Park/Crystal City/Potomac Yard/Old Town Alexandria areas. I also know where most of the stations are. So I do some easy jogging at the end, and stop right by a station. I’ll walk around for a couple minutes. Then I will hop on a CaBi bike and ride super-easy for a while, barely pedaling at times, or swinging my legs back and forth to get the circulation going without the stress of additional running that day. (I’ve seen Thomas Voeckler doing this at the Tour de France, when he is out of the running for a stage win that day. He will unclip both shoes and swing both of his legs back and forth while still seated on the bike, to get some blood circulation going. It’s actually a good recovery move. Nothing magical or anything, but it feels good after a hard effort. I started doing this on my own. Then I saw Voeckler doing this on TV and confirmed that I wasn’t being odd for doing it. Or maybe I am, but I’m not the only one.) Yes, I don’t have a bike helmet on these recovery rides. But as I note below, there are specific reasons why CaBi rides are safer than rides on regular bikes, along with the general reasons that helmets are not the most vital element of bike safety. (They help, but other tactics can be more important, in combination, such as slow speeds and the heavy, stable CaBi bike.) I generally ride very, very slowly on these post-run recovery rides, and I’m not riding near any high-speed traffic. I might average 4-6 mph on many of these rides, where I alternate between coasting and very easy pedaling. The risk of injury is very low in these rides. (See below for more details about this.)

SAFETY

I already mentioned the flat tire. That showed me that it’s very difficult to knock over a CaBi bike.

I also know this from other incidents. I’ve ridden in the evenings on local roads and landed in medium-sized (and unmarked) construction ditches that were cut across road lanes or at the ends of sidewalks. Some of these were a few inches deep. If I had been on a tri or road bike, most likely I would have tumbled off the bike, either off the front or off to the side. On CaBi, I landed with a thud, which was unpleasant. But the bike didn’t even come close to tipping over. Unless I happened to be riding down a near-vertical cliff, I’m not sure I could get myself to do a header over the handlebars of a CaBi bike (or unless it were a high-speed accident involving a car or truck, but I don’t ride on highways and it’s not easy to ride super-fast on CaBi, which is not necessarily a bad thing).

I’ve heard other people report that they saw CaBi users get doored, but that only caused the rider to veer off slightly to the side. Then they were able to resume riding. I haven’t witnessed this myself, but I completely believe those accounts, based on my experiences with construction ditches and the flat tire. The bikes simply don’t wobble around that much. They are heavy tanks, which make them slow, but which also makes them very sturdy and stable.

I mentioned the slow speed. I consider this another safety feature. It’s well-known that the faster the objects in a collision, the greater the forces and the greater the potential for injury. Most CaBi riders are traveling relatively slowly. Yes, it’s possible to ride fast, but that takes quite a bit of effort. Most people aren’t going to be doing that. So when the occasional collision occurs, the forces tend to be less than in the typical crash involving a cyclist.

Those slower speeds also make it much easier to avoid collisions in the first place, which is ultimately what you want. The rider has an easier time seeing hazards at slower speeds. Nearby drivers can react to cyclists better when the cyclists are moving more slowly. The safety record for CaBi and for bikeshare across the U.S. in general has been pretty amazing. Even though most CaBi riders don’t wear helmets, I don’t think there has been a single serious head injury. Or if there have been, it has been rare. (The last time I checked this, I couldn’t find a single report of a serious head injury on CaBi. There have been a few serious non-head injuries though.) Now that there have been several million individual bike trips on CaBi over several years involving numerous residents and visitors, the data is convincing. No deaths here and no deaths nationwide. It was widely reported that as of last year, there had been 23 million individual bikeshare trips in the U.S. and not a single death. Amazing.

The upright riding position, which slows speeds down even more, also contributes to the safety factor. It’s much easier to see the immediate environment while upright. I know that when I’m riding on the triathlon bike, it takes some effort to hold my head up. Even then, my peripheral vision isn’t as good, because of the awkward head position. It’s not natural to have the head in that position for extended periods of time. That throws you off and it affects your mental focus. It’s not that easy to look around in all directions on a tri bike. A road bike won’t have as severe a riding position, but it’s still different from the upright position of a CaBi bike. You are in the normal upright position on those bikes, with the usual peripheral vision. It’s easy to glance to the sides. It’s much easier to look back briefly if you are going to make a turn or switch lanes.

(con’t.)

[PotomacCyclist]

COST

Obviously, on CaBi, I don’t have to worry about bike maintenance costs, other than the annual membership fee (which has the shared system costs built in). I don’t have to replace tires, tubes, cables, brakes, brake pads, chains, cassettes or derailleurs. I don’t have to change seat pads or brake levers.

If I choose to ride in the rain, it’s almost always on CaBi. It’s a hassle with a personal bike, because I have to wipe down and clean/lubricate the chain immediately afterward. On CaBi, I don’t have to do anything different with the bike, other than wiping off the seat before I ride. The CaBi bike is going to be out in the rain anyway, whether I’m riding it or not. So my trips in the rain won’t add extra water damage to the bike. (The bikes have long fenders and the drive train is mostly covered up. But maybe riding might cause some extra water to get into some areas of the bike. I don’t know, but I do know those bikes are covered up and sealed much more than most bikes are.)

Sometimes I go over the 30-min. limit, but not too often. As long as I don’t do this too frequently, I don’t mind. I figure that it’s a way of paying a little extra into the system. CaBi is a good deal for me, and for most members, so $10-15 a year in over-limit fees is OK with me.

CaBi saves a lot of money by saving on Metro or driving/taxi expenses, without the extra bike maintenance costs of riding a personal bike all the time. I’ve read some of the threads here about how much some people spend on bike maintenance every year. I have very few of those costs. I only ride the tri bike a few months of the year at most, and just for some of the long rides and tempo sessions during those months. Even then, I still use CaBi for commuting, for errands, for recovery rides and for lazy tourist-type rides.

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If I’m training for a race or event, I should probably spend more time on the race bike. But I’ve realized that I’m not a professional athlete and I’m not going to be winning any races or age group awards, so I’m not too concerned about dialing in my fitness specifically on the race bike. Perhaps if I sign up for a longer race again in the future, I will temporarily switch to doing more riding on the race bike. But I would also be tempted to add those extra hours on the race bike indoors, on a bike trainer. It’s easier to do tempo and speed workouts indoors, because you can just ride, without having to worry about traffic, intersections, other hazards and traffic lights. It’s more efficient and apart from the bike handling skills, it’s actually better for your fitness, to train indoors. It’s also safer, because there are more risks if you are doing fast rides outdoors. I would still ride outside a lot, but it would be my usual mix of CaBi and the mountain bike (which is a little faster than CaBi, but not that much faster).

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I recognize that not everyone can do this. If you don’t live near and work near an area with bike stations, this won’t work. Fortunately, I do live and work near bike stations. Many people in Arlington and DC do as well. More and more people find CaBi to be convenient, as the system continues to be expanded. Likewise in Alexandria and Montgomery County (and maybe one day in Prince George’s and Fairfax counties, and Falls Church city).

I had both of my bikes before CaBi started. When I read about it, I wasn’t sure why I would need to sign up. But I thought about it and decided to sign up within a week after the system first started. Now it has become a big part of my cycling routine.

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