[kwas]

@dasgeh 47104 wrote:

In other words, within 5 miles of work, I don’t think the bike aspect is going to limit you. Then it comes down to what you want in a neighborhood. You say apartment: do you want highrise? group house? small apartment building? Do you want to walk out of your door and be at bars/restaurants? In a park? At a zoo? how important is it to you to have a grocery store nearby? movie theater? to be on a quiet street?

And the big question: what’s your budget?

Yes, unfortunately bikability is only one factor! I am pretty flexible, and have been happy living on a major downtown street and in a more quiet residential area, though I do prefer older/smaller buildings to new highrises. I do have some friends that live in the area (Alexandria) who can give general neighborhood advice, but they don’t bike.

The multiple suggestions for Arlington are certainly useful – I hadn’t really considered that area, for some reason, but will add it to my list of possibilities, especially since I don’t have a car and it would be handy to be able to take the Metro if it snows.

[kwas]

Thanks, everyone! This is all really helpful so far, especially the N-S suggestion, and I will definitely use the Bikeshare. I did suspect that things weren’t all that bad, and am glad to have it officially confirmed!

[kwas]

@jrenaut 47089 wrote:

Do you want DC or Virginia? What type of neighborhood? Your description fits almost all of NW DC, and a bunch of Arlington VA, too.

I had planned on living in DC proper, but am open to Virginia. Ideally, I would be able to get to work on bike lanes or paths. From what I can tell, a lot of downtown DC has bad traffic. I guess my main problem is that people mostly write stuff on the internet about bad experiences with cars or getting bike-jacked, so it’s hard for me to tell how bike-friendly different areas really are. I will probably rent a bike to try things out during my apartment search, but wanted to know if there are any areas that bikers should focus on or avoid.

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