Monday, June 11, 2012

using d.c. bikeshare

when i was in DC a couple of weeks ago it was humid and hot. oh and with that humidity came some drizzles. i didn't let frizzy hair stop me. i was on a mission.

i had a couple of hours to spare before i needed to be en route to catch my flight, so i, of course, thought of only one thing to do: DC CAPITAL BIKESHARE. luckily the hotel i was staying in was merely 1/2 a block away from the nearest station.

empty means successful.

as you can see, most of the bikes were already checked out. there was someone behind me in the process of checking out a bike, leaving two bikes remaining.

i went up to the sign to see what i needed to do. thankfully, it was very informative.

ready?


i needed to put down a $100 deposit to use a bike for 30 minutes which costs $7 total. it did take awhile for that $100 to be returned to me, but such is life i suppose. that was their day pass rate.

set....


while i was reading these signs to make sure i got everything down correctly, some frequent user hopped on one of the remaining two bikes. i figured i needed to hurry up before there were no bikes left to choose.

i put the seat down to a comfortable height for this shortie, put my bag on the front and i was ready to go.

lessgo!


i had no idea where i wanted to go, so i just decided to follow some bike lanes around. i figured they would take me somewhere i would have wanted to see.

i noticed some things never change. empty bike lane. full car lane. full curbside parking. typical.

traffic. but not in bike lane.


i also noticed that DC (in this neighborhood at least) appears to have done what JFK drive wants to do in golden gate park. DC's is possibly more effective due to their "soft hit posts" which separate the parked cars from the curbside bike lane.

two way bike lane


then i just rode around and noticed signs and the riders.

bike lane divided.


stopping way back from the intersection on a busy street.


driveway signage


i also saw a vandalized bay area original.

gary fisher's missing a back wheel


and when i was done wandering around, i parked at a station in front of a grocery store and got me a sammich for the plane ride back to SF.

it was a pleasant and easy experience to use the bikeshare. i can only hope that SF has been taking notes on their WAY long and overdue bike share system. time to get with the program already. stop the politickin, and get people on those bikes already!

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