A Mayor's Goal

Washington D.C. is paving the way to becoming one of the most cycle-friendly cities in the country. Several initiatives have been put in place to support biking in the Capital. Washington Mayor Adrien Fenty wants to transform the city into an accessible and "green" bike commuter city.

"We're keeping our promise to make the District more bicycle-friendly," said Fenty in an October Press Release.  "And to really move people out of their cars, we have to make sure the infrastructure is in place for them to pedal safely on our streets and trails."

The Plan

Washington is on course to meet the DC Bicycle Master Plan's goal of installing 60 miles of bike lanes in the next 10 years. The District Department of Transportation has begun construction on the Union Station Bicycle Transit Center. Also known as the "Bike Station," the facility will host more than 100 bicycles and will also offer rentals, repairs and a changing room with small lockers. At $1 per day or $100 per year, bikers will be able to safely store their bicycles at one of the city's busiest transit spots.

Additionally, the DDOT and Clear Channel Outdoor launched SmartBikeDC, a city-wide bike-sharing program, in August 2008. The $40 annual SmartBike subscription gives riders access to the 10 stations located in the D.C. area, each of which holds 10 bicycles. Because of its early success, SmartBike plans to open at least 90 more locations in the next two years in neighborhoods such as Anacostia, Adams Morgan and Georgetown.

Other Initiatives

The federal government is also getting involved and riding through the Wheels4Wellness program. Wheels4Wellness allows employees of the House of Representatives to borrow bicycles from racks on Capitol Hill. The program was started by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and organized by House Chief Administrative Officer Dan Beard. Blumenauer, who bikes to work every day, also founded the Congressional Bike Caucus, a bicycling advocacy group with almost 200 members.

Like the government, many companies are also encouraging employees to ditch their cars. Honest Tea, a beverage company in Bethesda, Md., gave each of their 50 employees a Jamis bicycle last year to promote health and wellness and reduce traffic congestion and pollution in the D.C. area.

"There's many reasons why bicycling is a good thing and why the bike plan is important," said Jim Sebastian, Supervisory Transportation Planner for Fenty. "Part of it is health benefits of bicycling and walking, part of it is environmental benefits: reducing congestion and pollution on our streets. Also, for the mayor and for all of us, it really increases the quality of life in the city and makes our world capital a world class city."

A Work in Progress

However the city's bike efforts are not a total success just yet. On average, 265 bicycle and 600 pedestrian crashes are reported to the Metropolitan Police Department each year.

"We work really hard in the D.C. region to try and just teach adults how to ride their bikes because a lot of people know how to ride their bike," said Henry Mesias, Washington Area Bicyclist Association Program Manager, "but they don't know how to ride their bike legally and that's a big problem in the D.C. area."