Bicycling developments in DC

From email:

1. DDOT AND EAST COAST GREENWAY ALLIANCE WELCOME BICYCLISTS ON EAST COAST TOUR: DDOT to Discuss New Bicycling Initiatives

Emeka Moneme, Director of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) will welcome East Coast Greenway bike trail cyclists who just completed a three-day ride of the trail from Baltimore to Annapolis to Washington, DC.

The bicyclists are promoting the "closing of gaps" on the trail as various jurisdictions work to build new trails to connect the Greenway. Marking the District's efforts to "close the gaps," Moneme will announce the following steps forward:

* A planned re-design of Union Station Columbus Circle/Plaza that includes construction of the Metropolitan Branch Trail through the plaza and safer pedestrian access at this busy center
* Status of design for planned Union Station DDOT Bicycle Station
* Commitment by DDOT to install the symbolic mid-point trail marker in the District.
*See architectural renderings of the planned Bicycle Station and Metropolitan Branch Trail layout.

WHO:
Emeka Moneme, DDOT Director; Tommy Wells, Councilmember, Ward 6; Jim Sebastian, Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Coordinator, DDOT; Chuck Flink, Chair, East Coast Greenway;
Other invited guests

WHEN: Friday June 15, 2007 at 1 p.m.

WHERE: Union Station - West Entrance @ First and Massachusetts Avenue, NE (near DC Circulator Bus stop)

2. Rolling out Bikesharing in DC.

As you may know, DDOT is working with our bus shelter partners, Clear Channel Adshel, to launch an automated bicycle rental system in DC. Similar to car sharing, the system would allow members to swipe a card and release a bike from a kiosk. (Think airport luggage carts).

Clear Channel is operating similar systems in Europe. View a photo of the equipment.


If you read Spanish, view the web site for the Barcelona system.

The reason for this message is to solicit suggestions for locations for the rental kiosks. The contract allows for 120 bikes at 10 kiosks. Research and experience indicate that the kiosks should be located near each other, so we are limiting the system to the greater downtown area.

Some other things to keep in mind as we think about locations:

- Locks will not be provided by the system, so cyclists can only park at the smartbikes kiosks.

- Because of the web-based registration and member card requirement, the system is not geared toward tourists.

- We need a space roughly 30 feet by 6 feet for each kiosk, considerable space, but we will scope out the exact site.

- Locations with lots or jobs, housing, retail, major attractions, and nearby bike facilities are obviously best.

We have reviewed census data, discussed locations internally and at our bicycle advisory council meeting, and have some initial ideas, but we wanted to include as much public input as possible. Please take a minute to respond to the survey.

This is a new and exciting project for us. It will be the first of its kind in North America. I know many of you will have lots of questions about the system. Some we have answers to, and some we are still working on. I will do my best to answer them. We hope to have more basic facts up on our web site soon. We will likely talk more about the project at our next bicycle advisory committee meeting on July 11.

We hope to have the first few kiosks installed by the end of the summer, with all 10 in place by next summer.

Thank you in advance for your input

James R. Sebastian, AICP
Manager, Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Transportation Demand Management Programs
Transportation Policy and Planning Administration
District Department of Transportation