Candidates for local office should not overlook bikesharing’s many benefits when considering investments in transportation options and bicycle infrastructure.
While many in the transportation world already understand the implications of urban bikeshare systems, candidates for local elected office, especially in jurisdictions outside the urban core, who don’t bike on a daily basis might have some questions on how it all fits together.
Where is everyone on those sturdy red bikes going? Why is it such a big deal when a new station is added? Why should we be supporting them?
Over the last five years, Capital Bikeshare has become an integral piece of the Washington, D.C., region’s transportation infrastructure, providing travel flexibility for people to bike and first- and last-mile options for people taking other forms of transportation.
The system is poised for a major period of growth and is globally known as a leading example of bikeshare done right. In addition to better investments in safe bicycling infrastructure, candidates (and voters) should consider the importance of bikeshare stations as part of giving their constituents better transportation options.
Bikeshare is more than a bike rental.
While the mechanics of both bikeshare and bike rentals are similar for some use cases, Capital Bikeshare is a regional transportation system that offers largely point-to-point trips, rather than recreational sightseeing rides.
By offering differing levels of membership, Capital Bikeshare can serve different needs effectively. Regular commuters on an annual membership have that extra commute option in their pocket (literally, with red membership key fobs), while visitors can join for the day or 30-day period, for both recreation and travel. In a 2014 survey of Capital Bikeshare members, 84 percent said that they joined because they wanted a flexible point-to-point transportation option, rather than just for recreation.
Bikeshare is a key transportation connector.
Given the complex nature of cities, a good transportation system involves having multiple options available. Given the density of stations in the region, Capital Bikeshare is well positioned to provide that flexible option to riders.
While someone may commute to work on Metro’s blue line, bikeshare can provide the link to and from the station to that person’s house, greatly expanding the accessibility of public transit. In 2014, two-thirds of bikeshare members surveyed said they used bikeshare to go to or from a Metro station within the previous month.
Riders are not just limited to single jurisdictions, as past bikeshare data suggests that many people rely on it to cross the Potomac (shown in the video below) and fill in public transit gaps.
When compared to shopping for a bicycle and all the components that go with it, bikeshare systems offer a two-wheeled option with very low barriers to entry. The cost of the annual pass aside, the option is a feasible alternative for anyone curious about urban bicycling but unwilling to make a commitment with a purchase. Arlington County even offers users the option to pay for an annual membership in cash, opening up the service to people who do not have a bank account.
Bikeshare cuts down on traffic.
By making biking in the city easier, bikeshare helps reduce traffic, converting some car trips into biking ones. More than half of Capital Bikeshare users surveyed last year say they have reduced car travel. Similarly, a 2015 study found that traffic in streets adjacent to Capital Bikeshare docks experience a slight drop in congestion.
More bikeshare makes bicycling safer for everyone.
One of the biggest overall safety and transportation benefits of Capital Bikeshare is it helps get more bikes on the road – which, in turn, makes both bikeshare riders and other bicyclists safer. Last year, more than 210,000 bikeshare trips originated in Arlington alone, a number that has steadily increased in the past five years.
Not only does adding more stations increase access for more neighborhoods, but a higher density of stations helps induce trips: riders will often make trips that they would not have typically made if there had not been a station near their destination.
Bikeshare helps nearby businesses.
In addition to just moving people around, it’s well-documented that higher bicycle ridership along business corridors often creates slight boosts in revenues. Preliminary research of several D.C.-based Capital Bikeshare stations found similar results: a majority of bikeshare riders were likely to spend money at businesses located near a given bikeshare station, and that business owners saw the location of a nearby station as a net positive.
Riders become healthier.
Expanding Capital Bikeshare isn’t just a public transportation issue – it can be a matter of improving public health as well. In general, when cities spend money on better bicycling infrastructure, they save many times more in terms of health benefits. For example, a dollar invested in protected bike lanes means $24 in costs saved through less pollution and more exercise. In 2014, about a third of Capital Bikeshare users reported they lost weight and felt reduced levels of stress since joining.
Bikeshare systems have a high cost recovery rate.
Most bikeshare systems have different structures of ownership and operation. In the D.C. area, local jurisdictions (the District, Arlington County, Montgomery County, and Alexandria) own Capital Bikeshare and plan its stations, while paying a flat fee to the system’s operator, Motivate.
Additionally, by our calculations, for the cost of building a mile of urban road, a city could instead install more than 80 large bikeshare stations, including the bikes to fill them up. Often, investments in non-automotive transportation systems are dwarfed by the massive costs of highway construction and other car-centered expenditures.
Big picture: bikeshare systems are booming nationally.
With Capital Bikeshare’s launch in 2010, the District, Arlington, Alexandria and Montgomery County have been ahead of a national trend of new system rollouts and expansions. In 2013, a boom year for rollouts, the number of stations nationwide more than doubled with the addition of major new systems like New York City’s CitiBikes. Last year, Washington, D.C., led the nation’s bikeshare fleets in the total number of stations, with many more on the way in the next three years.
As more cities add systems it is increasingly evident that bikeshare is an essential part of the modern urban transportation landscape. Since 2009 when there were virtually no bikeshare systems in North America, more than 50 cities and towns have added them to their transportation networks, most recently Birmingham, Ala. Even smaller jurisdictions are finding flexible bikeshare options that best work for their size and resources.
Cities and communities everywhere are seeing the importance of this key piece of their transportation networks and are making the investments necessary to implement and expand it.
Photo: Elvert Barnes Photography, Flickr