DCA CaBi Station

Not yet, but I sure will in the future. I have biked to DCA a couple of times prior to the station opening. Having the CaBi e-bikes as an option will keep the sweat down prior to flying and eliminate worries about parking a bike overnight at the airport.

It’s about time!

Am glad to see the airport station finally up. A much more important station, in principle, than many of the other new ones.

Bikeshare is a great resource. I sing its praises to all who will listen. But sometimes it has been discouragingly sluggish in expanding, in putting in needed stations in certain key places. In other words, the airport station should have been in place years ago. I think I recall it was talked about in the mid-2010s as to be up in the late 2010s. Finally it was up and running by January 2021. If the idea was good and the need was there, why did it take so many years? We can/should do better. (Define ‘we’ as you like, for everyone involved can pass the buck.)

(The Gravelly Point Station is another obvious one. It only finally went in, I think, in late 2019. There is still no Arlington Cemetery station, which is baffling and shows the inherent problems of multiple bureaucracies all doing jealous-fiefdom-guarding, or so I assume is the problem. Dockless go to Arl Cem frequently. The demand is obvious. The space is plentiful. I recall conversations in 2017 with someone who loved CaBi but had one big criticism which restricted use: Too few stations along the bike trails, pre-Gravelly Point, pre-Roosevelt Island stations, and of c ourse the conspicuous absence of a station at Arlington Cemetery.)

As for the DCA “Reagan National Airport” station:

It would also be nice if, somehow, the station could have gotten even closer to the terminal while maintaining reasonable safety — not having users have to walk through the parking garage. (That is, of course, a logistics question and many will say too much to ask. I know Bikeshare can’t just bulldoze its way through places, of course, but just saying.) The same problem applies to some of the other Metro stations. Virginia Square is great because it’s next to the elevator, but many others are quite far off. In other words, if people are to use this service as hoped, to connect with other forms of transportation (in this case, airplane), it’s best to get as close as possible.

Zack, are you working with the MWAA to put signage in at the airport directing people how to get to the bikeshare station?

We should make a slick bike propaganda video to publicize the station.

I had to travel for family reasons a few weeks back. It took me 25 minutes on an e-CaBi to reach the airport from Mt. Pleasant early in the morning (return trip was longer since no e-bikes were available and there was quite a bit of traffic, but let’s not talk about that). I wasn’t even traveling that light; strapped a duffel to the front and wore a backpack. Really a great option, both time-wise and to get in a little exercise in before a long day of travel.

The station was easy to find from the trail but a little tricker to find when exiting the airport.

@Zack 210528 wrote:

Regarding Arlington National Cemetery, we have identified a station location and hope to have more news on that site soon.

That is great news.

@Zack 210528 wrote:

Over the years, we try to move stations closer to the Metro entrances like we have done at East Falls Church Metro. We have two more on the calendar for installation in the next few weeks, one at Clarendon Metro and one at Rossyln Metro.[/quote]

The East Falls Church station move (in 2019?) was a good one. The old location across the street next to the highway entrance was not particularly useful to anyone for inter-modal purposes. The new location by the Metro entrance I remember thinking showed signs people did indeed see the same problems I was seeing. Whoever pushed that, I salute you.

If the proposed direct pedestrian bridge from Crystal City to the airport ever comes, the airport bikeshare station would presumably get more interest, traffic, and opportunity for an even better location.

@Yule 210547 wrote:

Now that you raised the issue, I realize only very rarely seen a “This way to Capital Bikeshare” sign anywhere (I can only remember a handful in Alexandria). The airport would seem to be the place for them if anywhere. And though the airport is clearly a special case maybe there is more place for such signs elsewhere. I am thinking the stations on/around the Mall which get high tourist traffic. If they allow stations themselves, surely they’d allow a few signs.

DC has some signage around the city for nearby bikeshare stations, usually when they’re near but not obvious/on more frequently used bike routes. For example, there’s a sign near 1st and G Place NE to direct people to the CaBi station one block west on N. Capitol.

@Yule 210549 wrote:

In the case of national parks grounds I think they’re much more hesitant to put up any such signs. In the case of the airport, there’s going to be some other layer of bureaucracy.

Putting up signs on NPS property typically requires going through a compliance process to assess the impact on the things that NPS is charged with preserving including viewsheds. There’s understandably a reluctance to do a ton of work to install a single sign.

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