Part 3 of a study of Capital Bikeshare GPS data
This series of posts discusses a study undertaken in the spring of 2015 where several Capital Bikeshare bikes were outfitted with GPS devices and tracked for several weeks. Read part two, which examines infrastructure usage, and part one, which looks at trip distances and times.
Walking around the Mall I often see Capital Bikeshare bikes laying on the ground or leaning against a tree while a tourist takes in the sights. To determine the most common places to do so, I created a density map created of GPS pings from casual trips registering speeds of zero and classified them by place of interest. These may be prime locations for new or expanded stations.
| Place of Interest | Percentage of Casual Trip Stops |
| World War II Memorial | 14.79% |
| Lincoln Memorial | 13.73% |
| White House | 8.52% |
| Jefferson Memorial | 7.81% |
| Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial | 7.34% |
| FDR Memorial | 7.10% |
| Washington Monument | 5.33% |
| Capitol Building | 5.09% |
| Smithsonian Castle | 4.14% |
| Vietnam Veterans Memorial | 3.67% |
| Korean War Veterans Memorial | 3.08% |
| Arlington National Cemetery | 2.60% |
| Gravelly Point | 2.01% |
| Dupont Circle | 1.89% |
| Iwo Jima Memorial | 0.36% |
Not surprisingly, the majority of (in)activity is located on the National Mall. Most popular areas to stop include the World War II Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the White House, and areas around the Tidal Basin such as the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and FDR Memorial. Locations outside of the National Mall include Georgetown and Dupont Circle. Popular points in Virginia are Gravelly Point, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Iwo Jima Memorial. It is notable that many of these locations do not have a Capital Bikeshare station nearby. The ones that do – Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial – are some of the most popular stations in the entire system.
Density map of non-docking stopping points. Click to enlarge.
For all trips in the time period last spring, the top seven most popular trips start and end on the National Mall. Most notably, until last week, there was no station near the World War II Memorial, where nearly 15 percent of all casual trips stop. Though popular, the Mall stations do seem to be re-balanced well, as they are rarely left with no available bikes or docks.
DDOT addresses many of these popular stopping locations in its D.C. Capital Bikeshare Development Plan , which outlines expansion plans for the next three years. In addition to the new World War II Memorial station, others were added recently to the north side of the Lincoln Memorial and the National Gallery of Art . Other popular areas slated to receive a station in 2016 include the White House and Washington Monument.
New option for @NationalMallNPS – A 19 dock station @ 17th St & Independence Ave next to Survey Lodge, WWII Memorial pic.twitter.com/Fts1xdUAyP
— Capital Bikeshare (@bikeshare) June 14, 2016
Bikeshare programs like Capital Bikeshare will continue to offer attractive methods of transportation to locals and visitors alike. Improving systems and facilities to allow bikes to be more easily rented and ridden will only attract more users and help cities achieve their sustainable transportation goals. One of the ways to do this is by using GPS data to study rider behavior to inform system and infrastructure improvements, as this study has. A GPS-enabled mobile app could provide the system more data while helping users find available stations and infrastructure more easily. Spotcycle currently shows bike/dock availability, but the aforementioned Virginia Tech study reported that only 40 percent of casual users were aware of it.
More broadly, as bikeshare systems grow and evolve, greater availability of anonymous GPS data will be an essential part of ensuring their usefulness and accessibility.
Photo: Two Capital Bikeshare bikes stopped in front of the Capitol (M.V. Jantzen, Flickr).