Washington DC’s Capital Bikeshare program has been a resounding success since its launch in the fall of last year. There are now 1100 bikes spread out at over 110 stations throughout DC and Arlington, VA. Capital Bikeshare recently announced the addition of 32 new bikeshare stations within the District, and Arlington County is currently reviewing where to put in several new stations along the Rosslyn-Ballston Metro corridor. There are so many ways in which DC’s Bikeshare system has been done right, from the design of the bikes to ease of use for customers that it makes a great example for other US cities to follow. My only wish is that they expand with stations in Shirlington (south Arlington), which will likely be Arlington’s next step after stations are complete in the Arlington Metro corridor. Here’s a video from Streetfilms documenting some of the Bikeshare’s success:
The Blog of Phillip Sauvé
Reflections on Japan, the environment, urban planning, travel, and life (amongst other things)
Chicago just started a bikeshare program as well (http://chicago.bcycle.com/home.aspx). After trying this out in DC though, they have a lot more work to do in Chicago. All of the stations are along the lake front and it is mostly designed for tourists to make there stops to and from museums, Navy Pier, Millennium Park, Lincoln Park Zoo, etc. They are not really targeted towards the locals. There are only a couple of inland stations, with the rest located along the lakeshore path. I am glad to see that the program has started and I will probably utilize this when we have visitors, to cruise along the lake. I just hope we start getting stations in more useful areas around the city, like in D.C.