[PotomacCyclist]

14th Street Bridge is currently closed to all traffic because of a “suspicious package.” It may just be the usual false alert. In any case, you won’t be able to cross the bridge at this time. No word on when the bridge will reopen.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/14th-Street-Bridge-Closed-for-Suspicious-Package-351815101.html

[PotomacCyclist]

@PotomacCyclist 128218 wrote:

I noticed malfunctioning lights at 15th & Constitution a year or two ago, but I haven’t ridden through that intersection recently.

I just remembered the specifics of the problem I noticed a couple years ago. The countdown timer for pedestrians in the crosswalk would get stuck on a certain number and stay on that number for 20 or 30 seconds, before resuming the countdown. At the time, I thought it had something to do with the construction work at the African American History Museum, which is right at that intersection. Maybe the work crews cut or loosened a wire or knocked a traffic control device.

[PotomacCyclist]

I noticed malfunctioning lights at 15th & Constitution a year or two ago, but I haven’t ridden through that intersection recently.

[PotomacCyclist]

@chris_s 128183 wrote:

That Post article made it sound like the equipment was supposed to arrive from the supplier in November, not necessarily be installed in November and November’s not even over yet. Seems a bit early to complain about timeline.

That was just the most recent timeline. Some of these stations were originally scheduled for 2013, I believe. I know it’s not Arlington’s fault. They weren’t responsible for the Bixi bankruptcy, but it’s still mildly frustrating to have the lengthy delays.

The new stations won’t actually affect/benefit me that much, since there are already plenty of bike stations in my area. I’m actually more interested in the DC expansion, even though I haven’t been commuting to downtown DC that much this fall. I just like the idea of new bike stations in general. More places where I could potentially check out a CaBi bike on a whim. That and I still remember all the mornings that I’ve ridden to downtown DC to find all the stations completely full.

[PotomacCyclist]

@Steve O 128182 wrote:

Yeah, well 81 in Arlington was plenty enough for me.

Like they do in Ninja Warrior, if someone beats the course, they change the course and make it harder the next year.

200 Arlington CaBi stations in 2016!

[Not really, but that would be awesome.]

[PotomacCyclist]

I’d point out that it might be better to use the word “crash” or “collision” instead of “accident,” because the use of that word confirms the common belief among many that all of these traffic crashes, injuries and fatalities are somehow inevitable and “accidental,” when they aren’t. If the words “crash” and “collision” are used more frequently, maybe that might wake up more people to the fact that road and neighborhood design, and transportation infrastructure decisions, can have a significant effect on the number of such incidents and deaths, not just in Alexandria but across the region and the country. (And in other countries too.)

[PotomacCyclist]

Although the earlier announcements said that the corrals would run through September, Motivate extended them into November.

They announced that the 21st & I NW corral has closed for the winter, as of Mon. Nov. 16.

The 13th & NY Ave NW corral will operate through Fri. Dec. 18. (The corral will not operate on Nov. 26 and 27: Thanksgiving and Black Friday.)

Both corrals will start up again in the spring.

http://www.capitalbikeshare.com/news/2015/11/16/corral-service-updates

***
On a side note, I had been so eager for the corrals. I was working close to one of them. But then I moved to a different building. Then I started doing some work from home. So I didn’t use the corrals that often this year. But I’m still glad they were added. The more efficiently the overall system runs, the more members CaBi can attract. That also leads to better political support for expansion.

(However, the main problem hasn’t been funding for expansion. It’s the equipment supplier problems that have slowed down expansion so much. DC, Arlington and Alexandria would have added many more stations by now, if not for the Bixi bankruptcy and current delays with Motivate’s new supply chain. CaBi will receive a final shipment of equipment under an old order. My guess is that this is being done because all of Motivate’s new bikes and stations are going toward the large-scale expansion in NYC and they don’t have enough left over for CaBi at this point.)

[PotomacCyclist]

@PotomacCyclist 121529 wrote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2015/08/05/a-3-5-million-capital-bikeshare-bike-purchase-explained/?wprss=rss_traffic

According to the article, Capital Bikeshare will expand in November.

DC: 40 stations, 435 bikes
Alexandria: 4 stations, 28 bikes
Arlington: 8 stations, 64 bikes
Montgomery: 7 stations, 58 bikes

It’s November and I haven’t heard about any significant additions. Only a station or two in Arlington and DC during the fall.

I don’t know why Motivate didn’t just cancel the equipment order from the old suppliers. Wouldn’t there be an opt-out clause if the supplier went bankrupt (which they did)? Or maybe Motivate doesn’t have enough of the new bike and station models because those are going toward the major expansion in the NYC system.

Whatever the case may be, it’s November and there haven’t been any updates about the 40-station expansion in DC. Two stations were moved and expanded a couple weeks ago. The Kennedy Center station has a better placement, instead of being tucked away at the far end of the plaza. But I’d like to see the new stations soon. Bikeshare expansion seems to follow the same timeline process as other transportation projects or large building construction projects. The deadline is there until it’s not met. Then add another six months. Then that deadline is there until it’s not met. Then add another three to 18 months. And so on…

[PotomacCyclist]

One problem with me is that loud car horns physically hurt my ears. I used to play guitar in a high school rock band. Definitely cranked up the amp a little too much on a couple occasions. I probably lost a little of the top end of my hearing (higher frequencies). While it’s not a major problem in most situations, loud noises cause pain. This includes the loud horns on Metro trains and even the release of the hydraulic brakes on the Metro trains. I usually cover my ears.

I haven’t been honked at by many drivers, but when it has happened, it has been unexpected, so I couldn’t cover my ears. On one occasion, I was just walking on a sidewalk. Some older woman honked to get my attention so she could ask directions! I would gladly provide directions to courteous people, and I did provide directions that day. But I was also upset because of the pain from the car horn. I said sternly that it was obnoxious to use a car horn like that, simply to get the attention of a nearby pedestrian in a non-emergency situation. She was driving at about 5 mph on a completely empty side street, so there was no reason why she couldn’t have just pulled over, rolled down her window and spoken.

I don’t usually get into many tricky situations on CaBi. The slower speeds and upright riding position help ward off potential close calls and tense situations before they have a chance to develop. I haven’t done many non-CaBi rides lately. Maybe only a couple short ones the entire year.

I did have a couple encounters with roided/hyper aggressive jerks a few years ago. In both instances, they were speeding up right behind me and laying on the horn. I turned around to look at one guy. I didn’t flip him off or even say anything, but he still flipped out. He started screaming F-bombs non-stop and threatening me, just because I dared to turn around and look at the car that was racing up on me from behind. (I could hear the engine noise very clearly.) Then he passed me on the side street and did a high-speed turn and raced off onto Rte. 1. This was maybe 2 or 3 years ago.

[PotomacCyclist]

I rode bikeshare over to last night’s outdoor concert at the African American History and Culture Museum, the new Smithsonian museum next to the American History Museum and near the Washington Monument. If you’ve ridden along 15th St. on the National Mall, you’ve seen it. The exterior appears to be finished but the museum is not open yet. The concert and video presentation (displayed on the exterior walls of the building) were intended to kick off a countdown for the opening of the museum in Fall 2016.

Actor Erik Todd Dellums was the host. Performers included gospel singer BeBe Winans, the Soulful Symphony and the Heritage Signature Chorale. There were also readings of famous speeches from American history related to the African American experience. Local political leaders also spoke, but I missed the first part of the program.

They showed the seven-minute video again, after the concert concluded. The video will air again tonight on a continuous loop from 5:30 to 9:00 pm, and also on Wednesday from 5:30 to 9:00 pm. If you’re riding past the Museum during those hours, you can’t miss it.

There was a decent-sized crowd for a Monday evening. Invited guests were seated in front of the stage. Others watched from the small hill on the other side of Madison Drive from the museum.

I thought it was a cool ceremony. (Of course, I know some/many people, not necessarily those here, get enraged by this sort of thing, but what can you do. Unrelenting expressions of racial hatred, racial supremacy and even calls for violence against all members of certain racial groups, on social media from a certain individual is why I quit one of the local triathlon clubs. Large groups have all types of people but if someone like that is running some of the programs, then I’m out of there. I’m not African American myself but I am not going to associate with someone like that. Most people in the group are not like that, but no matter. I don’t need that in my life when triathlon is supposed to be a fun hobby.) The Museum will supposedly explore different elements of the African American experience, good and bad, uplifting and controversial. I don’t know exactly what they will include because it hasn’t opened yet. I do know that they moved a large locomotive onto the site, then built the museum around it. There should be many other notable items as well as live cultural events like lectures and music performances after the museum opens.

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[PotomacCyclist]

@Brendan von Buckingham 128060 wrote:

When I’m breaking the law, I’m doing it the right way. When you’re breaking the law you’re doing it the wrong way. I just explained bias, just war theory, racism, Wall Street and traffic behavior, in two sentences. Conversation over. Let’s go for a ride.

Also illegal drug use, i.e., getting sentences 10 to 100 times longer for crack cocaine vs. powder cocaine. Both are deemed dangerous and illegal, but the use of one is punished far more severely. Guess where those different forms used to be common?

[PotomacCyclist]

For many people, law-breaking is only bad when someone else does it. Or someone from a different group. I’m mostly thinking of the enraged screams of “scofflaw cyclists!” by drivers who tend to break multiple laws every single day. The vast majority of drivers speed on highways and many arterials in my experience. Anywhere from 15-25% are texting while driving. (Sometimes I count numbers while I’m riding in a taxi. Or I look at drivers as they pass by while I’m standing on a sidewalk. Large-scale surveys and studies show similar rates.) About 20-30% of drivers will run a red light when they are the first to reach the light at an intersection. A Montgomery County traffic enforcement operation showed that almost no drivers will yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk at certain locations without a traffic light. And so on and so on. And yet there are many people out there who get enraged about cyclists running red lights. I’m not condoning that behavior. Just pointing out the hypocrisy of those outbursts.

This applies to many other situations, where people call for zero tolerance of crime in some scenarios, but completely ignore or accept rampant lawbreaking in other areas or groups.

Even worse, for far too many people, killing people is only bad when someone else does it. This is especially relevant given last week’s attacks in Paris. No doubt there is a serious and ongoing threat from some of those overseas groups (as well as lone wolf actors here), and we should be trying to stop them. But a lot of people seem more concerned about ramping up the hatred than worrying about American deaths. If they were truly concerned about American death tolls, they wouldn’t keep focusing on building more roads, expanding roads and making as many roads faster as possible, while cutting back on transit and bike/pedestrian infrastructure spending. Transit tends to have much lower death rates per mile traveled. In many cases, the rate is half that of car driving. You wouldn’t think this were the case, given all the recent negative press about Metro, for example. But one fatal incident every six years seems a lot better than the one fatal car-related incident every one to four days just in this region. Last week was another bad week for such cases.

Neighborhoods and cities with solid bike and pedestrian infrastructure tend to be safer for people in general. Even when you include 9/11, overseas terrorists have killed about 3,000-3,300 Americans since 2001. While that is certainly terrible, what about the more than 500,000 Americans who have died because of cars since 2001? How is that not horrific? That’s 90 Americans dead every single day of every week of every year of every decade (and an even higher death rate a decade ago). Many of those deaths are preventable, if we built safer systems and cities. But a lot of people just don’t seem to care whatsoever.

[PotomacCyclist]

I added all the bike racks and bike lockers at the Metro stations in the Tysons area (which will no longer be referred to as Tysons Corner, officially). I saw some bikes locked at the racks. There might be more on weekdays.

It’s going to be a while before Fairfax transforms Tysons into a true walkable/bikeable urban center. I can only go from what I observed around the Metro stations but also from other reports and also the video that someone posted on the forum a few months ago. But I did see several new construction projects very close to the Metro stations. I’ve read about those projects too.

If Fairfax follows through on plans to join Capital Bikeshare (first in Reston, and possibly in Tysons and Mosaic District later on), they need to continue to work at improving bike and pedestrian infrastructure there. Since I don’t work or live in Tysons, I don’t think I’ll be biking around there anytime soon.

Are there many bike racks at all in Tysons, apart from the Metro stations? It doesn’t seem likely but maybe there are.

[PotomacCyclist]

On a more general note about SmarTrip, if you register the card online, you will be able to retrieve the balance if you ever lose the card.

(Some people may object over privacy concerns, but registration is optional.)

[PotomacCyclist]

Apparently in Copenhagen and in other European cities, parents leave their babies in strollers on the sidewalk while they dine in a restaurant or cafe.

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/14/nyregion/toddler-left-outside-restaurant-is-returned-to-her-mother.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/08/12/339825261/global-parenting-habits-that-havent-caught-on-in-the-u-s

Apparently this was also common practice in the U.S. in previous decades. According to some accounts it continued into the 1950s, perhaps later.

http://www.shorpy.com/node/15113
http://www.chronicallyvintage.com/2011/01/vintage-365-1940s-ad-reminds-parents.html

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