Capital Bikeshare, a program sponsored by the District Department of Transportation and Arlington County that offers short-term bike rentals, is slated to begin construction on 100 new stations next week.
Three new stations will be located in the Georgetown area, including a location at Prospect and 36th Streets, in front of the Car Barn.
After the installation is completed, Capital Bikeshare will be the largest bike-sharing network in the country with 110 stations. It will require members to pay an annual membership fee in addition to usage fees based on the length of time for which they use the bikes. The stations, which are fully automated, will also allow non-members to check out a bike if they purchase a one-day membership.
Georgetown will have two other stations in addition to the Car Barn location, one will be situated a block south of M Street at the C&O Canal and another near the British School at Wisconsin and 34th Streets.
The lack of a station on or immediately next to campus has aroused residents’ fears of increased noise at the proposed stops. The Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission voted 6 to 1 against the location at the Car Barn in its monthly meeting last Monday, but its non-binding resolution will not stop construction of the station.
DDOT Spokesman Chris Holben said that Capital Bikeshare is still in the process of reaching an agreement with the University for an on-campus station.
Holbert and his colleagues thought that it would be difficult to place a station at the most obvious location, the front gates.
“We found that there wasn’t the space for [a station],” he said, noting that stations typically measure 6-by-40 feet.
Vice President of University Facilities and Student Housing Karen Frank said that Holben had been in contact with her as plans for new stations progressed and that the University has expressed interest in working with Capital Bikeshare.
“Capital Bikeshare determined the placement of the stations,” Frank wrote in an email. “Their initial round of installations are intended to be as accessible to the community as possible, with particular adjacency to the campus.”
Holben said that a future station on campus is still a possibility and that Capital Bikeshare is interested in forming a relationship with the University.
Frank also said that the University will be distributing information about the program in an attempt to promote use of the current system. Representatives from Capital Bikeshare were also on campus promoting the system during this week’s New Student Orientation.
Holben said that DDOT hopes this expansion—consisting of 100 stations and 1,100 bikes—will be only the first wave of installations of new bike-share stations.
“We just applied for a stimulus grant. If we win it we will be able to put in 100 more stations,” Holden said. “I know our director is very interested in expanding.”
