Six-Year Expansion Plan for Capital Bikeshare in Arlington Posted

[Arlingtonrider]

[Guus]

Glad to see that there are plans for Arlington Cemetery as well. By foot, the Cemetery is just a little too far for many tourists on the Mall; by bike it’s a great distance.

[PotomacCyclist]

I’ve been wondering about a possible bike station at the Pentagon Metro. On the crowdsourcing CaBi map, all of the suggestions for a station at the Pentagon have been deleted. In previous months, there were several proposed markers on the map along with numerous favorable votes for that location. I suspected that someone in DOD said no and told CaBi to remove even those suggested pins on the crowdsourcing map. Or maybe I’m just being paranoid.

Anyway, I’m glad to see that there may be bike station connections between Crystal City and Shirlington and between Pentagon City and Clarendon (on Columbia Pike). Hopefully more private organizations can be convinced to contribute toward the funding of additional stations in the future. As Potomac Yard gets redeveloped on the Alexandria-Arlington border, there could be a need for CaBi stations there. Other than that, the proposed locations of Shirlington and Columbia Pike make sense to me.

[Tim Kelley]

@PotomacCyclist 23809 wrote:

I suspected that someone in DOD said no and told CaBi to remove even those suggested pins on the crowdsourcing map. Or maybe I’m just being paranoid.

I think you’re being paranoid. I don’t recall any suggestions being removed from the map, but it does seem strange that there aren’t more locations around the Pentagon.

[PotomacCyclist]

There used to be several suggestions right at the Metro station and dozens of positive votes. Then one day, they all disappeared.

[Mark Blacknell]

@PotomacCyclist 23809 wrote:

I suspected that someone in DOD said no and told CaBi to remove even those suggested pins on the crowdsourcing map.

I’d be surprised by that. In any event, it’s my understanding that that’s Metro property, anyway. Sure DOD probably has a practical veto over it, but if they did that, they’d have to explain why they were trying to make life harder for all of their employees (and helping condemn them to eating lunch at the Pentagon every day).

[chris_s]

Do I have my rose-colored glasses on or is the final draft expansion plan essentially my suggestion + a route up the Glebe Corridor?

[PotomacCyclist]

Maybe the crowdsourcing map got Stuxnet’ed…

[Mark Blacknell]

@chris_s 23819 wrote:

Do I have my rose-colored glasses on or is the final draft expansion plan essentially my suggestion + a route up the Glebe Corridor?

No. Those are your mirrored-glasses.

[chris_s]

@PotomacCyclist 23809 wrote:

I’ve been wondering about a possible bike station at the Pentagon Metro

Page 5-32 of the plan says “Stations will also be placed at Arlington National Cemetary and at the Pentagon pending approval by the National Park Service and Department of Defense respectively.”

Of course the best way to ensure that DoD approval is for Pentagon employees to make some noise about it. DoD couldn’t care less about Arlington’s desires.

[chris_s]

@Mark Blacknell 23821 wrote:

No. Those are your mirrored-glasses.

Bad day to leave home without my burn cream – yikes!

[PotomacCyclist]

Isn’t there already bike parking at the Pentagon Metro? I guess one security issue with CaBi would be the rebalancing vans. Maybe a Pentagon bike station could be rebalanced manually by having ALTA employees ride bikes to the station from nearby stations in Pentagon City or taking Metro to the Pentagon and then riding bikes out to Pentagon City/Crystal City. Maybe not as efficient as a van, but if it’s the only way to convince DOD to accept a CaBi station, then it could be a solution.

[Tim Kelley]

Bump!

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up that comments are being taken until July 27th, which is this Friday. If you’ve got something to say, now is your chance to say it!

[creadinger]

Not sure how this fits into the Arlington expansion plan, but we drove past a new CaBi station on Potomac Ave last night. It’s one block north of the older station at Potomac Ave and S. Glebe Rd. The new station is huge! It has 17 bikes and 6 available docks.

Unfortunately Potomac Ave is no longer the quiet side street that it was when it opened earlier this year. On our grocery trips we’ve noticed that it’s already being used as an alternate commuter route and many of them are pretty aggressive. These are the same idiots that rocket down Clark Street thinking it’s a continuation of 395 or something. They’re a real pain in the ass. Also highly annoying is the stop light at Potomac Ave and S. Glebe. When there are cars present in all 3 directions it acts more like a stop sign because it’s so bloody short.

Anyway, it’s nice to see CaBi growing. It would be cool to see one go in actually at the Potomac Yard shopping center a few blocks south.

[Tim Kelley]

@creadinger 35856 wrote:

Anyway, it’s nice to see CaBi growing. It would be cool to see one go in actually at the Potomac Yard shopping center a few blocks south.

The history behind that station being where it is and the size it is, is that FAST Potomac Yard TMA sponsored the station (they paid for it, so they get to choose the location). That area is growing very quickly so the idea is that down the line the station would actually be broken up into two smaller stations. Just one of the benefits of having a modular system!

If you’d like to see more expansion of CB in Alexandria, like in Potomac Yard for example, please add your suggestions to the crowdsourcing map (http://www.bikearlington.com/pages/bikesharing/capital-bikeshare-crowdsourcing-map/)

You should also contact Alexandria directly. This website says, “For more information about the bike share program, please call 703.746.4686 or email: localmotion@alexandriava.gov.”

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