The concept of car-sharing is no newcomer to the DC region — Massachusetts-based Zipcar opened its DC office in 2001, and Seattle-based Flexcar was also in the area (before its merger with Zipcar). However, bicycle-sharing for commuters (as opposed to tourists) hasn’t been as quick to catch on. SmartBike DC is a self-service public bike rental program operated by Clear Channel Outdoor and the DC’s Department of Transportation. It consists of 100 bikes and 10 rental stations in downtown DC — Dupont Circle, Farragut Square, Foggy Bottom, Gallery Place, Logan Circle, Judiciary Square, McPherson Square, Metro Center, Reeves Center, and Shaw.

The announced expansion, according to the Washington Post, will create the largest regional network in the United States — Arlington will add 15 bike stations while DC will add 90, bringing the total number of available bikes to a whooping 1,100. James R. Sebastian, a city transportation planner in DC says that 1,500 current members take about 100 trips a day on the present system, and Chris Hamilton, Arlington’s commuter services chief, praised the expansion, saying: “We join the cities where people enjoy the urban core without a car… and that is the future. That is where we are going.”

The expanded network will be called “Public Bike System” (or Bixi) and will utilize solar power and wireless technology — the system has been running in Montreal since 2009 and will also be coming to Minneapolis, Boston and London. Unlike Zipcar, the pay scale will focus more on annual fees rather than fees for individual rides: Annual membership will be $80, monthly membership $30, or daily $5. All of these memberships allow for an unlimited number of rentals — After the first 30 minutes of free use, members will be charged a usage fee for each additional increment of 30 minutes.

But although it looks like DC will be getting more bikes this Fall, the reality still remains that the city lacks a good network of bike lanes (compared to some other urban centers), and in the Central Business District, it’s illegal to cycle on DC sidewalks.

• Click here for a PDF map of DC bike routes.
• Click here for more resources on where to bike in the DC area
• Click here for some common commuter routes

See also:

• Borderstan: DC, Arlington Launch Regional Bike Sharing Program

(1) Some Republicans in the House have claimed that programs such as Pell grants shouldn’t be part of the stimulus package because it’s unclear how such spending would immediately help our economy. My response to this argument is that as families fall on hard times, it’ll become more and more difficult for students to pay for tuition (or even get side jobs while they study). Without federal support, there’s a good chance that some of these students will end up dropping out of school and joining the ranks of the unemployed (7.2% in Dec 2008).

• Young people receiving unemployment compensation instead of attending college would further strain state governments in a time when some state, such as California, are in deep financial trouble.
• Regardless of whether continuing/increasing federal scholarships for higher education will have an immediate, direct effect on the US economy, it’s in the best interest of our nation for students to continue their schooling instead of being forced into the lousy job market.

(2) Another sore spot for some legislators in the House package is money to re-seed the National Mall. Perhaps I’m biased (being a former DC resident), but I’ve seen the Mall post-inauguration, and it’s essentially a frozen dust bowl — bereft of grass and looking pretty bad.

• On the one hand I’ll make the argument that redoing the lawn will be done with US labor using US supplies and that it’s essentially shovel-ready once the ground thaws in the spring.
• On the other hand I’ll also argue that regardless of whether re-doing grass or building a new road is more useful in the long run (no, that’s not a trick question; in most cases the answer here’s the road), the National Mall is part of our public face to the rest of the world.

In the same vein as how the NYCPD’s crack down on petty crime such as window-breaking and graffiti arguably helped decrease violent crime too, if our National Mall looks like a dump when visitors from overseas come to DC, isn’t it the same as just putting up a huge screen and broadcasting our economic weakness to the world? Of course, we shouldn’t seek to disguise the problems in our credit markets or mis-portray the value of of currency — global markets are build on trust, and deliberate lying won’t get us anywhere. But just as a taxi driver with peeling paint and no hubcaps might find it more difficult to pick up passengers, it’s my personal opinion that the US would find it harder to maintain its image as a global superpower if it can’t even keep up its national lawn.

To Do:

• Pick apples at a local farm and make an apple pie completely from scratch
• Take photos of the Air Force Memorial at sunrise
• Eat a burger at Ray’s Hell Burger
• Eat Japanese noodles at Wagamama (if they open a DC location, as is the rumor)
• Fly a kite in the Smithsonian Kite Festival
• Attend at least one event at this year’s Duke Ellington Jazz Festival

Have Done:

• Visit the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens in Anacostia
• Take pictures of the National WWII Memorial at night
• Wander around Adams Morgan Day Festival (I think the last time I went was in 2006)
• Watch free international films at the National Gallery of Art and the Freer/Sackler
• Eat Greek food at St. Sophia Cathedral’s annual summer festival (again, it’s been years since I attended)
• Taken pictures of the sakura over the Tidal Basin at sunrise