Will the bikeshare dock at 1420 14th Street be empty every morning?

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  • #915546
    best bessenger
    Participant

    When I leave for work every day at around 10am, the bikeshare dock at 1420 14th Street NW has been empty nearly every time. I’ve walked to the Reeves Center and usually get the last bike or one of the few there. I ride to 15th & P, where there’s barely room to park. Does Cap Bikeshare move bikes around in their big vans and if so, where or how might I point out this little problem, anyone know?

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  • #1005192
    jrenaut
    Participant

    They’re responsive on Twitter, you can request some extra rebalancing there

    #1005284
    Terpfan
    Participant

    Don’t they post online how many bikes are left at a given station? When I rode them a few times, I found a link somewhere showing me how many were at each station.

    #1005321
    PotomacCyclist
    Participant

    Dockblocking (full or empty stations) has been a problem in high-demand areas like downtown D.C. and Columbia Heights/U St. Alta does operate rebalancing vans as part of Capital Bikeshare operations, but the vans can get stuck in traffic. Or they may have too many stations to cover to get to everything immediately.

    I do notice that the downtown stations tend to stay full throughout the day, but I’ve also seen some rebalancing vans removing bikes from the full stations too.

    10 am is going to be a difficult time to find a bike or an empty dock on weekdays in the high-demand areas. I find that the downtown stations start to fill up by 8:45 am or so. Some of them fill up even sooner than that. You can check the Capital Bikeshare website for bike/dock info. The Spotcycle app can provide that info while you’re away from home.

    ****
    I noticed that you are only riding a block or two (unless I’m misreading the post). Is it really worth the hassle of dockblocking for such a short ride? I would probably walk that distance instead. DDOT had been planning to add 40 more stations this year, but the bankruptcy of Bixi (the previous supplier of bikes and stations) has upset those plans. Those stations will be added eventually. I think many of those will be located in downtown and other high-demand areas. That should help with dockblocking but there will still be empty or full stations during the mornings and evenings.

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