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We finally have an exact date for the official opening of the $4 million Union Station Bike Transit Center: October 2 will mark the grand opening for the long-awaited (and somewhat delayed) facility, a spokesperson for Mobis/Bikestation confirmed today. The Bike Transit Center, paid for by the U.S. Department of Transportation and DDOT, will offer secure bike parking, a changing room, lockers, bike rentals, repairs and a small retail shop selling bike accessories, for about $1 a day. The facility will be the first of its kind on the East Coast, and cyclists all over the metro area have been anticipating the opening of the station for some time. See this story from the Washington Post last month for more background on the BTC.
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it looks great, doesn't it?
thanks for taking the time to look up and share the extra background with us.
$4 million in tax dollars for a fancy bike-rack...
ok then.
Yeah man, totally agree. That $4 million would be better spent on about 8 inches of highway.....
tlb: did you not read the part about a store inside, the fact that it's manned, and they are changing rooms.
it's more than a bike rack. is it worth the money? i don't know—it's a legitimate question—but the way you've couched it is bunk.
It is a fancy bike rack - the "fancy parts" are what you've mentioned. Even with those bells and whistles, I don't see why it cost $4 million.
From the article, it sounds like bike theft and lack of adequate storage were legitimate problems, but this seems like an excessively expensive solution. It's $4 million to protect 150 bikes at any given time.
Who knows, maybe the arrangement with the operating company will bring some return on that investment.
of course, we're not discussing a key point here. this is blocks from the capitol building, and the group building this station sure would like some federal money to help build similar stations around the country in the future.
Shedd, who is from New Mexico, where he said bike vandalism is rare, has resorted to the D.C. way of owning a bike: His Bianchi is equipped with antitheft gear that includes a seat and tire lock as well as a large bike body lock. The cost: $200 to protect a $350 bike.
There's your justification for the pricetag: DC criminals are so trifling that you can either invest in a cheap bike that you don't mind getting stolen OR blow 3/4 the cost of the bike on defensive measures OR get the gummint to blow millions on a bike rack that people can't use as a homeless shelter/al fresco hobo brothel/public urinal. Although, instead of re-inventing the wheel, they could have consulted Japanese vending machine manufacturers, who could have easily built a multi-story bike storage/hot meal/porn dispensing device. Think of the tourist trade. Although, given the inability of many to comprehend let alone obey traffic laws, I'm sure you'd end up with customers who ended up having to ride a pocket pu$$y home because they pressed the wrong button.
Man, does Union Station ever need the secure bike parking too. Those awful bike racks are like a candy store for bike thieves - tons of bikes parked there all day with no one paying attention. Mine was stolen in May and I haven't parked there since. I can't wait for this to open...
Wait though, $1/day? I thought Bikestation membership was only $20/year and that got you into the secure parking area...
I think the extra $345 is for the super cool architecture, plus the staffing, etc. This was/is actually a DDOT project. Bikestation was brought in to consult/manage. I'm a big fan of the concept, but not too thrilled with the execution. Without showers, it's basically what TLB called it, a $4 million secure bike rack, and doesn't' hold a candle to similar (but showered) facilities in Chicago and Tempe, AZ
It will be $1 a day if you pay by the day but probably $100 a year if you buy a membership.
I hate to be that guy, but all this time bitching about the cost of this thing could better spent on making me a sandwich.
I think it's bloody hilarious that this $4 million dollar project doesn't include a SmartBike station-- especially because it was constructed by the same DDOT that commissioned a survey of SmartBike users showing that a kiosk at Union Station is the #1 most requested improvement.
Indeed. Why the hell isn't there a SmartBike station at Union Station?! That is ridiculous...it would link the system to Capitol Hill (essentially) and a major transportation hub. Add another to Nationals Park and you'd have three of the four quadrants available.
While we're talking about SmartBike - why aren't there built in lights on the bikes and why aren't there baskets on them?
there are baskets on them. not huge, but there's room to carry something in the front.
there's no smartbike station because ddot is in the middle of trying to negotiate their way out of the deal with clear channel. turns out they weren't really interested in helping to further the city's bike infrastructure...they just wanted to get more eyeballs looking at ads (shocking, i know).
I still think that the money spent to install one more Smartbike station would've been ridiculously well spent relative to this inefficient monstrosity, even if it the Smartbike system is nixed next year.