It’s about to get harder to find a Capital Bikeshare bike for your commute home. Starting today, all D.C. residents are eligible for a free one-month membership to the region’s shared bike program.

It’s an effort to make it easier to get around for people who normally rely on Metro, which will continue to run limited service through at least Oct. 31, following a derailment earlier this month that prompted an investigation.

“It’s not a solution,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser admitted, speaking during a press conference. “There can be no solution to have your rail cars being out of service.”

“Even if there are small things we can do to mitigate frustration, we’re going to try to do that,” Bowser said. Officials said more than 950 people had signed up for the free membership in the first few hours, since the program launched at 6 a.m.

Residents can claim their free memberships online, on through the Capital Bikeshare or Lyft apps (Lyft operates the Bikeshare system, which is funded by a partnership of local jurisdictions). Typically a 30-day membership costs $20. Annual memberships are available for just under $8 a month.

With the free membership, the classic red bikes can be ridden for 45 minutes per ride at no charge. The black e-bikes are not free, but will be charged at a discounted rate of 10 cents a minute.

While the free memberships are only for District residents, the bikes can be ridden anywhere within the regional Bikeshare system, which includes some 5,000 bikes across 650 stations.

Metro announced early last week that it would pull all 7000-series railcars from service to inspect them for wheel assembly problems that caused the Oct. 12 Blue Line derailment. With the 7000-series cars out of service, the remaining six-car trains have been limited to running every 15-20 minutes on the Red Line and every 30-40 minutes on the other lines.

After a crowded and slow Monday commute, many workers chose to skip Metro: ridership averaged 157,000 passengers, down about 20% compared to before the trains were pulled.

During the press conference, some reporters questioned whether transit riders would want to try getting on a bike. Bowser pushed back, after asking for the latest numbers from her staff:

“My friends in the press, please be careful. Don’t say nobody wants to do something and 900 people did it since 6 a.m.,” Bowser said.

“Instead let’s talk about people trying the alternative.”

Jordan Pascale contributed to this story. This story was updated to add quotes from Mayor Bowser.