Students seeking a new way to escape the Georgetown bubble are in luck. Capital Bikeshare, a program that offers daily, monthly, and yearly access to communal bikes across the District of Columbia and Arlington Va., plans to install a new station at 37 and O Streets by early next week.
The station is being installed as an alternative to the originally proposed site in front of the Car Barn at Prospect and 36 Streets. John Lisle, spokesman for the District Department of Transportation, which sponsors the program, said that the new location is the result of compromises between DDOT and the Georgetown Advisory Neighborhood Commission. At its September meeting, the ANC passed a non-binding resolution against the Car Barn location 6-1, prompting DDOT to reconsider the location.
Capital Bikeshare plans on opening a station at Georgetown's front gates.
“We’re trying to work with all the different communities to address concerns and find a spot that everyone finds acceptable,” Lisle said.
Although Georgetown’s station won’t be affected, future plans for expansion may face setbacks. Capital Bikeshare announced Wednesday that it failed to receive a federal stimulus grant to help fund an additional wave of installations. Capital Bikeshare had applied for TIGER II Discretionary Grant funds for the purchase of 1,000 new bikes.
Lisle said DDOT will now be forced to pursue other sources of funding for an additional expansion of the program.
Vice President of University Facilities and Student Housing Karen Frank said that Georgetown did not help select locations for any of the Bikeshare stations, or contribute any money to the project. Frank also stressed that the University was not involved in any discussions between DDOT and the ANC.
“That’s between DDOT and the ANC. We’re not a part of that,” Frank said, referring to any compromises made after the ANC’s negative vote.
ANC commissioner Tom Birch said that his colleagues wanted the station to be in a location convenient for both students and neighbors. He said that a Bikeshare station at the Car Barn would have crowded the narrow sidewalks on that block of Prospect Street.
Birch, who commutes to work on his bike several times a week, said that the ANC would not be opposed to additional stations in Georgetown.
“We’ve been in favor of [Capital Bikeshare] from the beginning,” he said. He added that the ANC’s opposition to Georgetown’s 2010 Campus Plan was “totally unrelated” to the Bikeshare vote.
Lisle said that DDOT expects that college students are projected to be among Capital Bikeshares’ most frequent riders. DDOT hopes to add more stations around the District in a second set of installations, including more stations on university campuses.
According to Frank, Georgetown will continue its discussions with DDOT about the program after the first round of installations are completed. It remains unclear whether a station will be installed directly within Georgetown’s gates.
“We would like more stations close to campus and covering more of the campus than just one location,” Frank said.
