DC Bicycling and Earth Day...

Washcycle reports about the expansion of SmartBike within the context of the DC Green Agenda here "Fenty announces Smartbike Super-Expansion" and here "Union Station Bike Station to Open in July 2009." And I agree that adding different kinds of bicycle "vehicles" to bicycle fleets expands the usability of such systems, as Arlington has done, see "Arlington's Tricycles."

In what we might call the Bicycle Master Plan 2.0, the expanded paper I wrote last year, here's what I wrote about SmartBike, the DC Bicycle sharing program:

• Consider need to cross borders (Takoma Park, MD; Rosslyn, etc.) and see if this can be accommodated.
• Deal with the issue of regional compatibility, including access to WMATA property
• Add more locations (TEA grant?)
• Work to better accommodate tourist needs
• Can institutional memberships be incorporated into the system, in order to give the organizations “bike fleet” capabilities, without having to create and maintain such systems independently?
• Colleges and universities should participate as well, on an institutional membership basis.
• Can different types of non-Velib style bicycles be added to the system, in order to accommodate different trip needs? The addition of these types of bicycles could be funded by the TEA grant.

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As I wrote last week-- Car culture vs. urban culture and bicycling -- collectively, DC is doing a lot right, incrementally, with the development of a bicycling-supportive infrastructure.

We still have to do much more, however, in order to make the situation better, to better balance other modes "against" the dominant paradigm of automobility.

And, why isn't there decent promotional information about the SmartBike system posted on the SmartBike locations?