The nation's newest bike-sharing system rolled out Monday morning in Washington DC and Arlington, VA, by putting 400 bicycles on the road for members.
Named Capital BikeShare, it will become the largest bicycle rental system in the U.S. by the end of October when 100 bike-parking stations are online and 1,100 bikes are available. The system launched with 49 stations opened.
Annual memberships are available at an introductory price of $50 (normally $75), enabling users free use of a rental bike for 30-minute trips. Fees are added the longer the bicycle is in use.
Members
Memberships also are available for a week — $25 — for a day — $5.
The kiosks sport maps that show locations of other Capital BikeShare stations and how many bikes and parking space are available. That information also is available online or by mobile phone. Directions and on how use and the fee structures are available at Capital BikeShare website. There also is a Facebook page, and a Twitter account.
Not only will it be the largest, but it will be the first metro-wide system as there are bike kiosks all over downtown DC, as well as in Arlington, VA. The bike docking stations are solar powered and are connected to headquarters by wireless communication. As the fee structure infers, the system is designed for folks making a quick trip from one place to another.
First in US
Two years ago, Washington DC became the first city in the US with a Paris Velib-style system when it rolled out SmartBike, a small operation with just 100 bikes at 10 stations. That system, suppored by ClearChannel advertising, will be phased out.
Capital BikeShare is operated by Alta Bicycle Share, a division of Alta Planning + Design, a bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure consulting company. The 3-speed aluminum bicycles were built by Montreal-based Bixi, which also will handle technical and customer service for the system.
Other bikeshare systems are operating in Denver (Denver B-Cycle), and Minneapolis (Nice Ride Minnesota), as well as test systems in Chicago (Chicago B-Cycle) and Des Moines (Des Moines B-Cycle).
Elsewhere in North America, there's the Montreal Bixi program and the Mexico City Ecobici.
More in pipeline
In addition to DC, Nice Ride Minnesota uses the Montreal-based Bixi system. Denver, Chicago and Des Moines use the B-Cycle system, developed by Humana, Trek Bicycle and Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
Other bike-share systems are in the pipeline. Miami Beach is launching the DecoBike program next month, with an eventual build-out of 100 stations and some 1,000 bikes. As you can see from the scene from the promotional video at left, it's cool to ride a DecoBike in bikinis or muscle shirts.
Also, the prototypes tested in Des Moines and Chicago are expected to lead to bigger systems, and Hawaii announced it awarded B-Cycle a pilot system in Kailua town.
Other cities considering bike-sharing systems include Philadelphia, Boston and Boulder.
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