A new model of e-bike is coming to a Capital Bikeshare dock near you.
More than 700 of the new grey electric bikes will be available in the District and 150 in Fairfax and Arlington counties by May. They’re the second generation of e-bike from Motivate, the company owned by Lyft that operates D.C.’s bike share system.
The black e-bikes were launched in 2020 and provided a new alternative to get around with the benefit of not extending as much effort or getting incredibly sweaty biking through D.C.’s long hot summer.
Mayor Muriel Bowser and representatives from Lyft unveiled the new model outside a bikeshare station at 9th and G streets Monday morning.
The new grey bikes are slightly heavier but include a larger battery with a 60-mile range, which means fewer battery swaps are needed. They’re also more visible at night with reflective paint, a headlight pointed at the road, and an oval ambient colored beacon that also makes riders more visible to others.
And if you’re really tall, these new bike seats literally go to 11… 11 inches tall. The seats also have an easier clamp to adjust than older models which can be tight and hurt your thumbs when trying to open.
New sensors can report problems with the brakes, batteries, and lock back to maintenance workers wirelessly. An LED screen and speaker will help give riders instructions for unlocking, parking, and more. The e-bikes can be parked in CaBi docks or locked to racks or light poles, just like the old black e-bike models.
They top out at 20 mph, which is a speed-cap law in D.C. The bikes are pedal assist, meaning the motor will kick in as you pedal. Some other e-bikes use throttles or shifters to kick in that extra juice.
On our test ride, we felt a seamless transition into electric-assist mode. And while the bike is slightly heavy to get out of the dock, you don’t notice any extra weight as you’re pedaling. It was nearly effortless to get up the small hills and it was easy to keep up with downtown traffic when riding in the streets. On our particular bike, braking seemed a bit soft and the handles need to be squeezed hard to slow down.
The models were tested in San Francisco in 2021 and have launched in Chicago and New York’s bikeshare system as well.
E-bikes have grown in popularity both as privately-owned bikes and publicly shared options.
Capital Bikeshare reports that 31,000 of its 200,000 bike trips in February were on the fleet’s 300 e-bikes. DDOT plans to get to 2,500 e-bikes over the next several years. Capital Bikeshare will add 200 additional e-bikes to neighboring jurisdictions like Fairfax and Arlington counties. Fairfax County said they’re placing the new bikes at Tysons Metro North, Dunn Loring Metro, W&OD Trail/Sunset Hills Road & Isaac Newton Square, Wiehle-Reston Metro South, and Reston Town Center Metro North.
CaBi is offering $2 off one e-bike ride through the end of the month with code ‘TRYCABIEBIKE’
9th Street Bikeway Complete
Mayor Bowser’s press conference also commemorated the opening of the 1.5-mile 9th Street bikeway from Florida Avenue in Shaw to Pennsylvania Avenue downtown.
“With our 9th Street bike lane and the addition of 700 e-bikes, we are accomplishing two goals: making our streets safer and better connected and making it easier for people to come downtown,” Bowser said in a press release. “We’re grateful for the community members who stuck with us on this project and got us to where we are today – a more connected DC and a DC that is better positioned for the future of transportation.”
Churches and businesses fretted during its development about car parking, as well as pick up and drop off for services.
Robert Micheli of Unconventional Diner opened the press conference by talking about the benefits of the streetery on 9th Street. The Diner came out against the bike lanes in 2021, saying the idea needed more study, but now Micheli says the city is showing cyclists that they care about their safety.
DDOT Director Everett Lott said many aren’t supportive of bike lanes initially.
“But then what we find is that after it’s done and is implemented, they’re proponents of it and they’re advocating for it. And so that’s what we kind of see here with this particular installation. But we’ve seen that all over the city as well.
“We’re still having ongoing conversations with the community and we want to make sure we get this right,” Lott said. “So we’re going to continue to meet and engage with the neighbors, with the stakeholders, some residents, with the council members and agencies.
DDOT has built 30 miles of protected bike lanes and has 108 miles of bike lanes overall.
