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Bicycling and walking make up 12 percent of all trips and 14 percent of all traffic fatalities and yet receive only 1.6 percent of federal transportation funding. What more do…
Read More →Advocacy Advance is now accepting applications for its 2012 Action 2020 Workshops. These workshops bring together advocates, agency staff, and elected officials and are designed to ensure that participants have…
Read More →Not long ago, a man in his sixties was visiting Washington, DC, for business. One afternoon with a little free time to kill, he came across a Capitol Bikeshare (CaBi) station. Minutes later, after his first exposure to CaBi, he was off exploring the city by bike. It had been 35 years since he had last ridden a bicycle.
Spontaneous rides like this one provide visitors and casual bicyclists a new way to see the nation’s capital, bring in revenue for the bikeshare system, and introduce new people to urban bicycling. To learn more about these users, whose data are not automatically captured in as much depth as the system’s annual users, CaBi and the transportation departments of Arlington, VA and Washington, DC asked a team of graduate students from Virginia Tech (VT) and Assistant Professor Ralph Buehler to conduct a survey and do research on the habits, characteristics, and opinions of casual bikeshare users.
A DC resident uses a 24-hour Capital Bikeshare pass rides the Pennsylvania Avenue bike lanes towards the U.S. Capitol Building. (Photo: Darren Flusche)
“Bikesharing is like a big advertisement for bicycling,” says Darren Buck, one of the VT students. “Folks walking by who don’t consider bikes in their daily routines are given an opportunity to ask, ‘Well, why not go for a bike ride?’” The survey found that the overwhelming number of people who decided without any pre-planning to go for a bike ride, a phenomena Buck calls “See-Rent-Ride.” Most respondents learned about CaBi by seeing the stations or bikes in use.
The final report, “Capital Bikeshare Study: A Closer Look at Casual Users and Operations,” included an analysis of other bikeshare systems in the country. “The comparison of CaBi with other systems showed that CaBi is at the cutting edge in many areas,” said Ralph Buehler, Assistant Professor in Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech, despite it being a relatively new system compared to some of the others examined.
Virginia Tech students survey CaBi users about the system. (Photo: Ralph Buehler)
The report also included several suggestions to improve the system, including improving technological approaches to redistributing bicycles, expanding repair facilities as the system grows, and providing maps and increasing the visibility of stations. The students recommended concentrating marketing around “under-served and counter peak” stations. They concluded that the system could grow ridership by concentrating and promoting in times and places where people are not riding now. Currently the heaviest use takes places during rush hour, attracting more weekend tourists gets more rides out of the system without taxing capacity.
The CaBi fleet on its first day. (Photo: Darren Flusche)
Thanks to StreetsBlog and Khal Spencer for drawing our attention to this Giant advertisement airing in Australia. A good reminder that there is room for everybody in cycling. Let’s celebrate and…
Read More →Everyone at the League would like to wish our members, bicycle advocates, Bike League Blog readers and all the cyclists out there a happy holiday and New Year! We have…
Read More →Today, we announced the winners of the League’s Peopleforbikes.org Pledge Contest. The goal of Peopleforbikes.org is to unite a million voices in support of a better future for bicycling in…
Read More →Busy day today in the world of bicycling advocacy. Complete Streets Last night, we told you about the Complete Streets-inspired amendment that the Senate Commerce Committee is considering tomorrow. You…
Read More →Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released traffic fatality and injury numbers for 2010. Overall, the trend in headed in the right direction. The number of motor…
Read More →The League of American Bicyclists is currently building a new local reviewer database for its Bicycle Friendly America (BFA) programs. The BFA program provides incentives, hands-on assistance, and award recognition…
Read More →Houston, TX, is not known for its bicycle-friendliness, at least not yet. A group of nearly 60 advocates, agency staff, and elected officials are aiming to change that. A full…
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