Would you park your bike at Ballston metro bike racks?

[rcannon100]

I have heard talk that East Falls Church Metro has been having trouble with bike theft.

I see bikes parked at Ballston for extended time ~ but they are usually high quality beater bikes.

Are you getting on the metro? You could park the bike in front of George Mason Law School – and get on at Virginia Square. Or you could park at Clarendon which has…. covered bike parking. Very visible and I think on the safer side.

[GB]

I’ve parked my newish road bike with a U-lock at the racks in the Ballston mall for the past 3 months. So far no problems, haven’t even had the tail light or saddle bag stripped off. I’d be pretty comfortable leaving it at the racks by the metro during the day.

With that said, 2 ppl from my office who have been working there longer bring their bikes into the office.

[eminva]

I had my bike stolen from the racks by the Ballston Metro station in 2008. It had been there all day. When I returned, there were broken locks (both cable and U-locks) all over the ground so I think someone came with a truck and cleared everything out. Great big daylight heist.

My bike was a recent model low end Trek hybrid. They left behind the carcasses of bikes that had probably been there for months. I guess they took everything else.

That said, I’ve never heard about other people having problems there so it may have been a one time thing. However, if I needed to park in that neighborhood, I’d probably find a public parking garage and find some place to lock up. No greater security, but it would put it out of sight a little better.

Liz

[vvill]

I probably wouldn’t unless it was a beater bike and there were nicer bikes there, but I’m a bit more paranoid than most with locking my bikes up.

[oldbikechick]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I ended up chickening out and taking the bus. It’s killing me since that was my only chance to ride today and there was probably a very low chance of it being stolen, but it’s my only bike and there’s the hassle factor of replacing all the various add-ons. Time to invest in a beater bike I guess! Or hope for a CaBi station near my house some day.

[Steve O]

If the opportunity arises again, you could get in touch with officer Heather Hurlock at ACPD. She tracks all the bike crimes. She would know if there had been any reported thefts at that (or any other) location.
Her email is: Hhurlock@arlingtonva.us

[dasgeh]

While I’ve heard of the bike racks right at the Metro having issues, I haven’t heard of issues at any other racks. Thieves may get satisfied on the low hanging fruit at the Metro racks, in which case, you’d be good parking anywhere else.

[oldbikechick]

@Steve O 79314 wrote:

If the opportunity arises again, you could get in touch with officer Heather Hurlock at ACPD. She tracks all the bike crimes. She would know if there had been any reported thefts at that (or any other) location.
Her email is: Hhurlock@arlingtonva.us

Thanks! I’ll have to try this next time.

[oldbikechick]

I ended up taking a CaBi ride from DC to Rosslyn to get my ride in. What a beautiful day for it. I was wishing that there were higher gears on it though. Although when I found the rack in Rosslyn completely full and had to hoof it to the next station straight up Key Blvd, I was glad to have the low gear!

[Author]

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