DC Gets Bikeshare

I am gone from the US for 2 weeks and I get back and DC is sharing bikes! What a pleasant surprise. I had a great time in Italy and will be sharing bike stories/info about each city that I visited and there were some good and bad things to take away from the trip about their bike culture compared to ours. I have to get the pictures downloaded and culled out, before I can post about what I saw. Below is some details from DC's Bikesharing grand opening that occurred this morning.

I can’t think of a much better way to spend a gorgeous Monday morning than showing up to an event where several hundred spiffy new red bikes are lined up outside the US Department of Transportation headquarters ready to be ridden. Today was the launch of the Capital Bikeshare program – DC’s long-awaited expanded bike sharing program that will have 1,100 bikes in 100 stations around DC and Arlington. On hand for the launch was outgoing DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, DC delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, Arlington County board member Jay Fissette, and the USDOT Assistant Secretary for Transportation Polly Trottenberg – and of course they all had glowing things to say about the project. Which was a good thing because the BIXI public bike folks from Montreal were also there in force. Roger Plamondon, chairman of the board for the Public Bike System Company spoke about the impact of such programs on people in cities around the world.

Then they got to ride! In a cunning plan, the organizers had convoys of riders deliver bikes to the stations around the city. The people from BIXI shared what they have learned about the impact of having 3 million trips on the Montreal system this year (incredible); the feedback they are getting from riders (fantastic); and the interest from cities around the world (phenomenal).