Some of the District’s most popular Capital Bikeshare stations might be in your backyard.
The bike rental program shared its top 10 list of busiest stations yesterday. According to Bikeshare, more than 3.2 million people cycled through its service in 2015, its busiest year to date.
Where did riders frequently hop on? The two most popular stations last year were Columbus Circle/Union Station and the Lincoln Memorial, Bikeshare said. The stations at Massachusetts Avenue NW and Dupont Circle, Jefferson Drive and 14th Street NW and 15th and P streets NW followed close behind.
Bikeshare also noted that the station at Thomas Circle was its “most used station for transferring bikes being rebalanced back to empty stations,” and coined a clever nickname for the station at New Hampshire Avenue and T Street NW: the “monster.”
Capital Bikeshare bikes may become even more common as the District Department of Transportation plans to add 99 new bike stations and make some existing stations bigger over the next three years.
A plan released by DDOT on Tuesday aims to expand Bikeshare to underserved locations and increase service in areas where the service is already popular. Most of the Borderstan coverage area is within Bikeshare’s “core” area, where the service is already very popular. In the next year, the agency plans to expand some stations in the core area while also adding stations east of the river and in other places with few Bikeshare options.
The plan calls for several additional stations to be built in the next year around Columbia Heights and Logan Circle, two areas that already have high rates of Bikeshare use.
DDOT has already identified locations for some of the stations to be added in the next year, as well as 21 stations to be expanded. Ten of the expanded stations are within the Borderstan area:
- Convention Center at 7th Street NW will add 4 additional bikes
- 11th and M streets NW will add 8 additional bikes
- 15th and P streets NW will add 8 additional bikes
- 14th Street NW and Rhode Island Avenue NW will add 8 additional bikes
- 20th Street NW and Florida Avenue NW will add 8 additional bikes
- 7th and T streets NW will add 8 additional bikes
- 14th and Belmont streets NW will add 8 additional bikes
- New Hampshire Avenue NW and T Street NW will add 8 additional bikes
- 18th and M streets NW will add 4 additional bikes
- U and 10th streets NW will add 4 additional bikes
Of the new stations that the agency plans to build in the Borderstan area in 2016, only one location has been announced, at 14th and Irving streets NW in Columbia Heights.
DDOT is seeking public input before finalizing the plan, and comments can be submitted online until Nov. 15.
The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and Bikeshare today put 30 safety-themed Bikeshare bikes into circulation near Dupont Circle.
The new bikes can be rented from the Bikeshare docks at Massachusetts Avenue and Dupont Circle NW.
The bikes bear custom-made wheels to promote D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Vision Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate bike fatalities and serious injuries by 2024.
As part of the new initiative, DDOT is asking Capital Bikeshare riders to “Bikeshare their safety stories” by tweeting at the @DCVisionZero Twitter account. Additionally, riders are being asked to report unsafe intersections and roads on DDOT’s Vision Zero Safety Map.
Image via DDOT
