There’s been a lot of talk about Capital Bikeshare recently, mostly due to the program’s massive network of proposed sharing stations. But one question that we hadn’t had answered yet was what kind of transition customers of the existing SmartBikeDC program could expect once the new system gets off the ground. That’s a little bit clearer now — an email sent to members of SmartBikeDC by DDOT indicated that existing customers will be offered a free membership to Capital Bikeshare through April 2011. Registration for the new program will begin sometime this month and get started in September — that means about six free months of bike-sharing for people who are currently SmartBikeDC members. DDOT and Clear Channel Outdoor will continue to operate SmartBikeDC, which opened in August 2008, until shortly after the launch of Capital Bikeshare.