Photo by Glyn Lowe Photos
Happy birthday, Capital Bikeshare! You’re four years old now. No longer an infant, but a full-fledged toddler. That means you get more responsibilities, like having 200 Bikeshare stations in D.C. alone.
Indeed, Capital Bikeshare celebrated its fourth birthday today with a ribbon cutting of its 200th station in the District—at McKinley Street and Connecticut Avenue NW—this morning with a ribbon cutting by Mayor Vince Gray. In addition to the 200 stations in the District, Bikeshare has 140 stations throughout Maryland and Virginia, with plans for a lot more on the way.
Since 2011, the District Department of 2011 says it’s doubled the number of Bikeshare stations citywide as demand has increased. Since the system launched in 2010, members have taken more than 8.4 million rides, with this past year proving to be a record-setting one with over a million rides taken since June 1 (this was in September). And the impressive stats don’t stop there. In the 2014 fiscal year alone, according to an Arlington County Bikeshare report, members rode 4,332,724 miles, saved 2,930,600 pounds of CO2, and burned 186,306,987 calories. Meanwhile, there’s only been 16 crashes involving a Bikeshare bike throughout the region this year.
In fact, so many people are using Bikeshare, they’re having trouble keeping up with demand.
Of course it helps that, since Bikeshare launched, DDOT has installed “nearly 19 miles of bike lanes and 3 miles of protected bike lanes” throughout the city, a release states. Anyway, has anyone heard from Courtland Milloy today?