As 2020 comes to a close, there is little to be thankful for. But it is important to look at this last year and find some good in it. While looking back I realized how thankful I am for Capital Bikeshare. Before COVID hit, I mainly traveled around the city via metro, bus, or Uber. Suddenly all my options were inaccessible. Luckily, I am in a city that has made progress becoming bike friendly.
I suddenly found myself riding a bike daily. Living in a basement studio means it is important to get out of the house. As summer rolled on and initial restrictions subsided, its how I met up with friends, visited parts of the city, went to work (small office, so I was only person going in), etc. DC is very bike friendly, and small. Almost everywhere I wanted to go ended up being less than a 30-minute bike ride. But even further trips are achievable. Columbia Heights to Alexandria is only an hour on a bike, who would have thought!
I am critical of plenty DC government activities, but I think they are doing a fairly good job with this one. I see more and more bike lanes being added all over the city, many of them protected. Capital Bikes has 4,500 Bikes and 500+ Stations and they partnered with Lyft and introduced e-bikes that can dock at the station. Those are amazing! Not the best for exercise, but the red ones seem so heavy and slow after the e-bike experience. It is also by far the most cost-effective form of transportation I used. $85 for the year is amazing, and they offer affordable pricing for low-income individuals as well.
I could go on and on about how much I have enjoyed biking. It leads to a healthier population, a greener city, better road safety and management. It is refreshing to see bike lanes continuedly added to the city, and the stations almost always had plenty of working bikes available. I am sure that there are issues with the program, or more DC could be doing to accelerate a bike friendly city, but when looking at 2020, I am grateful to live in a city with such an accessible program.