2019 Top 10 – #5: “HAWK” Signals Installed at Five N. Roosevelt Crosswalks
Posted on December 13, 2020 Leave a Comment
Before we bring you the Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories of 2020 we are counting down last year’s 2019 Top 10 to refresh our memories of where we’ve been. Especially as many of the 2019 stories carry over into 2020. Each day we’ll share another story until we get to 2019’s #1 on December 18. THEN we’ll build on that and begin counting down 2020’s Top 10 till the end of the year. We hope you enjoy our 2019 Recap and our new 2020 stories throughout December. Thank you.
By Chris Hamilton; Friday, December 27, 2019
Two years after they were installed and with City officials demanding safety action for seemingly every day during those same two years, the five mid-block crosswalks along N. Roosevelt Boulevard were finally signalized, making it safer for both drivers and pedestrians. When the crosswalk initially went in, flashing yellow lights were installed to alert drivers of the crosswalk’s whereabouts. But it was confusing for both pedestrians’ and drivers. Often a car would stop in one lane, while the other lane kept going, creating havoc for someone trying to cross. Drivers who stopped risked getting rear-ended by unsuspecting cars behind them. Everyone agreed red lights were needed, but since this wasn’t standard protocol – yet – for FDOT, City officials had to scream and protest.
It worked. FDOT relented and completed the six-month, $1.6 million project in October. “HAWK” or High-intensity Activate Crosswalks are always green for vehicles, until a pedestrian pushes the button and activates the crosswalk. Drivers get a flashing yellow and then red so a pedestrian can cross. As the pedestrian finishes, the solid red flashes red to let drivers know they can go once the intersection is clear and then it returns to green. People in vehicles seem to have adapted quickly. Pedestrians have been a bit slower to realize they need to push the button to activate the system, however, everyone agrees this is better and safer for all.
As a side note, the crosswalks themselves created a lot of controversy that needs to be pushed back on. It was often heard that pedestrians should just go to the next signalized intersection and cross there, so as not to inconvenience drivers with another potential stopping point. Even some city officials took this position, expecting people on two feet to walk another two, three or four blocks just to cross the street. In building a more walk, bike, transit friendly city we need to reverse that kind of thinking. We applaud FDOT for looking out for people on two feet by building the crosswalks, despite some opposition, and finally getting it right on the signals too.
#6 City Implements Progressive Parking Strategies (Dec. 26)
#7 Starting the Crosstown Greenway Project (Dec. 23)
#8 Duval Street Revitalization Sought Via RFQ (Dec. 22)
#9 City Rebuilds Atlantic Boulevard Bike Path (Dec. 21)
#10 City Addresses Closing the Gap at Admiral’s Cut (Dec. 20)
2019 Top 10 – #6: City Implements Progressive Parking Strategies
Posted on December 12, 2020 Leave a Comment
Before we bring you the Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories of 2020 we are counting down last year’s 2019 Top 10 to refresh our memories of where we’ve been. Especially as many of the 2019 stories carry over into 2020. Each day we’ll share another story until we get to 2019’s #1 on December 18. THEN we’ll build on that and begin counting down 2020’s Top 10 till the end of the year. We hope you enjoy our 2019 Recap and our new 2020 stories throughout December. Thank you.
By Chris Hamilton; Thursday, December 26, 2019
Transportation researchers know that if you want to encourage more walking, biking and transit and to make a dent in traffic and parking congestion, cities must apply the right parking strategies. That means manage the parking you have to its maximum. Don’t give it away or subsidize it (underprice it), as this just encourages people to drive and park. This year, the city showed it understands by:
• Increasing the Resident Parking Permit from $10 to $20 annually
• Increasing the Workforce Downtown On Street Parking Permit from $120 to $175 per month
• Re-metering Smathers Beach, where everything is currently free, creating about 80 paid parking spaces on the beachside of S. Roosevelt Boulevard between Bertha Street and the end of the seawall
• Turning about 49 spaces near the Casa Marina (14 spaces in the 1500 block of Reynolds Street and 35 spaces in the 700 and 800 blocks of Seminole Street) from free parking into metered parking
• Turning approximately 135 formerly free spaces in the after-hours and weekends parking lot in Jackson Square and the 500 block of Thomas Street to metered parking (various permit parking holders get 4-hours free)
That’s more than 260 formerly wasteful, free parking spaces that people, mostly tourists, will now rightly have to pay for. It brings in some money for too. The City’s Parking Director should be applauded for recommending these progressive actions and the Manager and Commission for supporting them to help make our historic downtown more people friendly.
#7 Starting the Crosstown Greenway Project (Dec. 23)
#8 Duval Street Revitalization Sought Via RFQ (Dec. 22)
#9 City Rebuilds Atlantic Boulevard Bike Path (Dec. 21)
#10 City Addresses Closing the Gap at Admiral’s Cut (Dec. 20)
2019 Top 10 – #7: Starting the Crosstown Greenway Project
Posted on December 11, 2020 Leave a Comment
Before we bring you the Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories of 2020 we are counting down last year’s 2019 Top 10 to refresh our memories of where we’ve been. Especially as many of the 2019 stories carry over into 2020. Each day we’ll share another story until we get to 2019’s #1 on December 18. THEN we’ll build on that and begin counting down 2020’s Top 10 till the end of the year. We hope you enjoy our 2019 Recap and our new 2020 stories throughout December. Thank you.
By Chris Hamilton; Monday, December 23, 2019
In November the City, with the help of the urban planning firm Street Plans from Miami, who brought along a $30,000 grant, introduced the first major project from the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan adopted by City Commission in March. The “Crosstown Greenway” Pilot Project will create a neighborhood greenway along Staples Avenue/Von Phister Street between 12th and Reynolds. This is just part of the larger Crosstown Bicycle Route that stretches from S. Roosevelt through the heart of the city, including the bike bridge, to downtown. The pilot project will be designed to slow cars, reduce cut-through traffic and make it easier and safer while providing priority for bikes and pedestrians along the route. It will test temporary, short-term, low cost, scalable interventions such as painting new crosswalks, bulbouts and bikeways, traffic circles, pavement art, planters and wayfinding.
Things that work can be scaled for use along the entire route and things that don’t can be discarded. This is the beauty of testing via tactical urbanism. Public meetings were held November 5 to gather input with follow-up workshops on December 11 and 12 to share proposals, based upon the earlier input. The public will be invited to help implement the project later this winter. We applaud the City Engineering Department, in particular the Transportation and Sustainability Coordinators, for getting started on the Bike/Ped Plan using this method of involving the public to test ways to make it safer to bike and walk. Nicely done. We’d love to see these kinds of safety improvements more often please.
#8 Duval Street Revitalization Sought Via RFQ
#9 City Rebuilds Atlantic Boulevard Bike Path
#10 City Addresses Closing the Gap at Admiral’s Cut
2019 Top 10 – #8: Duval Street Revitalization Help Sought Via RFQ
Posted on December 10, 2020 Leave a Comment
Before we bring you the Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories of 2020 we are counting down last year’s 2019 Top 10 to refresh our memories of where we’ve been. Especially as many of the 2019 stories carry over into 2020. Each day we’ll share another story until we get to 2019’s #1 on December 18. THEN we’ll build on that and begin counting down 2020’s Top 10 till the end of the year. We hope you enjoy our 2019 Recap and our new 2020 stories throughout December. Thank you.
By Chris Hamilton; Sunday, December 22, 2019
On November 21, 2019 the City of Key West released a Request for Qualifications for firms to develop and implement a plan for the revitalization of Duval Street to the benefit of the community and visitors alike. The City is looking for a firm with broad-based experience creating entertaining, lively and commercially successful public streetscapes in a historic setting. The goal of the project is to “renovate and revitalize Duval Street to increase opportunities for public use as an iconic civic space for leisure, commerce and tourism; address the infrastructure which will allow for reasonable maintenance frequency and reduce costs to businesses and taxpayers; improve safety for pedestrians and vehicles; and maintain mobility for desired transit operations for all users.” Proposals are due February 21, 2020.
We all love our main street and want to see it prosper and bring our community together. Says Mayor Johnston about the RFQ, “Mall on Duval brought locals downtown who haven’t been there in years, prompting a conversation about what improvements need to be made, including widening sidewalks — they range from 8 to 18 feet — and adding planters and benches. There are street designs that have the sidewalk on the same level, and you divide it off by concrete planters. The street can be cobblestone and the sidewalks can be different materials. … We also need shade, benches and water fountains.”
With the plan likely to include more room for pedestrians, benches, planters, space for tables and chairs and trees. So, yes, we think this is a big deal. The hard work will come in agreeing to a plan and implementing it. We hope adopting a Plan and even starting to implement it, tops our list in 2020. Thanks to the Mayor, Commissioners and City Manager for addressing this and taking such positive action.
#9 City Rebuilds Atlantic Boulevard Bike/Pedestrian Path
#10 City Addresses Closing the Gap at Admiral’s Cut
2019 Top 10 – #9: City Rebuilds Atlantic Boulevard Bike Path
Posted on December 9, 2020 Leave a Comment
Before we bring you the Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories of 2020 we are counting down last year’s 2019 Top 10 to refresh our memories of where we’ve been. Especially as many of the 2019 stories carry over into 2020. Each day we’ll share another story until we get to 2019’s #1 on December 18. THEN we’ll build on that and begin counting down 2020’s Top 10 till the end of the year. We hope you enjoy our 2019 Recap and our new 2020 stories throughout December. Thank you.
By Chris Hamilton; Saturday, December 21, 2019
For those of us who use this pathway between downtown and points north regularly, the City’s recent rebuilding, not just repaving, of the Atlantic Boulevard Bike/Pedestrian Path is a big deal. Over the years, root growth and potholes have made riding the path a bone jarring experience. To avoid the roots and potholes, many people on bikes had risked their safety and taken to the street. Water always seemed to collect in the path too.
The rebuild was quick and now the path is beautiful, slightly elevated above its surroundings so it should help with standing water, and its oh so smooth and pleasant to ride on. When Bertha street is rebuilt in 2020 things will be even better. This was a nicely and quickly executed project. Thank you City of Key West. We’d like to see more like this please.
2019 #10 City Addresses Closing the Gap at Admiral’s Cut
2019 Top 10 – #10: City Addresses Closing the Gap at Admiral’s Cut
Posted on December 8, 2020 Leave a Comment
Before we bring you the Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories of 2020 we are counting down last year’s 2019 Top 10 to refresh our memories of where we’ve been. Especially as many of the 2019 stories carry over into 2020. Each day we’ll share another story until we get to 2019’s #1 on December 18. THEN we’ll build on that and begin counting down 2020’s Top 10 till the end of the year. We hope you enjoy our 2019 Recap and our new 2020 stories throughout December. Thank you.
By Chris Hamilton; Friday, December 20, 2019; Photo Credit Rob O’Neil, The Citizen Newspaper
We don’t buy the selfishness of “keep the tourists out of our of ‘our’ park.” Nor do we buy that a private person’s right’s override the right of the public to our shared waterfront and beaches. It is ridiculous that a person must walk an additional 30 minutes (45 at night because the gates are closed) to get to a park 50 feet away and or to get from the park to Mallory Square in the opposite direction. If we want a more walkable and friendly town, the gap must be closed. We applaud the City for seriously addressing the issue this time.
On December 5, the Key West Citizen reported that ”City Manager Greg Veliz said a recent meeting among the city staff, Joe Walsh and representatives of Margaritaville, which own Admiral’s Cut, was “overall good news.” Veliz said the Margaritaville representatives did not oppose opening the cut, though they asked for additional time to put together their considerations for city review.” Thanks to the Mayor, Commissioners and City Manager for addressing this.
Admiral’s Cut, Photo Credit Rob O’Neal, The Citizen
Recapping 2019’s Top 10 Stories Before We Count Down 2020’s Top 10
Posted on December 7, 2020 Leave a Comment
2020’s Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories
By Chris Hamilton; December 8, 2020
In February 2019, Friends of Car-Free Key West was born with a mission to advocate for making our island easier and safer to get around by bicycling, walking and transit. We started the page knowing traffic and parking congestion are a drag on the quality of life and impede more people taking up biking. We know that when more people bike, walk and take the bus it makes our streets more efficient and opens them up to other uses for people. Research shows this is better for our environment, builds resilience, sustainability and combats climate change. It is better for local business. It makes us healthier, is more equitable, and makes us happier too.
While Key is unique, we try to show we can learn from others by sharing best practices from around the world. We’ve shone a light on local positive efforts and called out areas where we need to improve. With this in mind, at this time last year we started a series where we counted down the Top 10 Friends of Car-Free Key West Stories of 2019 on our Facebook page. We will be bringing you the Top 10 Key West Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Stories of 2020 again at the end of this year. But before we get started we’re going to count down last year’s 2019 Top 10 to refresh our memories of where we’ve been. Especially as many of the 2019 stories carry over into 2020.
Starting tomorrow we’ll begin with 2019’s #10 and and then each day share another story until we get to #1 on December 18. THEN we’ll build on that and begin counting down 2020’s Top 10 till the end of the year.
We hope you enjoy this series and thank you for reading along.
Key West Releases 17-Point Covid Recovery Plan
Posted on October 21, 2020 Leave a Comment
Business Recovery Includes Free Duval Loop, Promoting Outdoor Business, Making it Easy for Businesses to Get Help and Marketing Coordination
By Chris Hamilton, October 21, 2020
At Tuesday’s City Commission Meeting the public got its first look at the “Key West Recovers! A 17-Point Business and Humanitarian Covid Recovery Plan for 2020-2021.” It is worth everyone’s time to review the easy-to-read and succinct 8-page plan and the accompanying Key West Recovers PowerPoint presentation that the Mayor and Commissioner’s received from the consultant, Elisa Levi. If you have 30 minutes, it is well worth it to watch Elisa’s passionate presentation in this video (click on item 4).
Ms. Levi had recently been hired to do a long-term strategic plan for the City going out 3-5 years. But the Mayor thought we needed something more immediate to deal with the current crisis. Elia described it as the strategic plan is building the house, and the Covid Recovery Plan is like the house is on fire. We don’t have the luxury of time and we need to move the needle forward now to help the community cope. She painted a bleak picture saying unemployment quadrupled since March, that the Chamber estimates 3,000 workers may leave Key West, the need for food has doubled and Covid cases are up. This plan covers the most important items as ascertained by a broad group of the community.
The report states that “Key West Recovers has been built from the ground up in a matter of six weeks. It comes from community members, and is an excellent example of government/civil society participation. In total, the process involved more than 300 people, who volunteers approximately more than 200 hours of time.” The process took place in four major steps: 20 Zoom roundtables with 250 people from various community groups; 2. Surveys; 3. an 11-member blue ribbon task force; 4. back to the community for feedback.
The Plan has 17 specific points, 10 aimed at business and 7 at humanitarian. Many of the points are already being addressed, including the Commission last night making the Duval Loop free for visitors. All 17 of the action items are important, but for us here at Friends of Car-Free Key West and Duval Street/Historic Downtown we’ll highlight some things we’ve talked about over the last six months in the many stories we’ve published here from the Duval Loop, parklets, moving business outdoors, and creating help for local businesses and marketing:
Item 3 – Operation Storefront – An initiative supported by the Florida Keys Council of the Arts to fill empty storefronts on Duval St. The Arts Council will move their annual membership show into shops to entice locals to visit Old Town, and to make the street look beautiful.
4. Safe Events, Fairs and Festivals – Promote outdoor events, fairs and festivals by making it easy for businesses to submit applications. The City will assist as much as possible, and help with planning.
5. Promoting Outdoor Business – Assist restaurants and cafes with efforts to move outside by creating a Safety Protocol and application and by assisting them upon request.
7. Duval Loop – Cut the fees to encourage visitors to get around town to our businesses for free.
9. Free Business Assistance – one-on-one consulting to business owners in KW.
10. Communications Coordinator – This is the lynchpin of the Plan. There are currently many resources available for Covid, but no mechanism for sharing them with the community. The City will hire a Communications Coordinator to share resources, services and tools with the Community.
We are lucky to have so many people who love our island, put their heads together and come up with a plan to help us move forward, together, as One Human Family. Everyone who participated, deserves a lot of thanks and credit. Especially the Mayor and the consultant, who didn’t charge for this phase of her time. I was lucky enough to interact with Elisa on one of the Zoom Round Tables and some private follow-up and she was incredible. If her and the community’s work on this is an example of what we’ll get with the upcoming Strategic Plan, then our little island is in very good hands.
Everyone should get behind this plan and help the City move it forward.
Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People Need New Talent on City Commission – That’s Why We’re Voting for Dr. Ryan Barnett in District 6
Posted on September 29, 2020 Leave a Comment
By Chris Hamilton, September 29, 2020
There are those of us, especially at Friends of Car-Free Key West/Duval Street & Historic Downtown who are impatient for needed change. We want pedestrian only blocks along Duval and perhaps adjacent streets, parklets to replace some on-street parking spaces and wider, people-oriented sidewalks downtown with more shade trees, street furniture and opportunities for art and retail. We envision a network of protected bike lanes crisscrossing our island and more bike parking at destinations. We want improved public transit that includes simplified routes, increased frequency and a fare-free service. We expect better managed parking that allows downtown residents to park near their own homes.
Doing these things will improve sustainability and our environment, increase health, boost local business prosperity, promote equity and bring about happiness too. It will be difficult to expect any of this wonderful change to occur if we have the exact same City Commission we had when the election process started.
That’s why we need a new, fresh voice on the City Commission, otherwise we’ll just get more of the same. And that’s exactly where we’re headed if the 15-year incumbent in the District 6 race for Commissioner is elected again. We’ll have the same exact Commissioners and perhaps many close 4-3 losses on creating a positive future on our issues. That’s why we support Dr. Ryan Barnett for District 6 City Commissioner. We need to turn those losses into wins.
In the run up to the August 18 City of Key West primaries we conducted research on the voting records of the Mayor and Commissioners and we asked those running for office and their challengers thirteen questions on bike, walk, transit and streets for people issues. With this data we gave out grades (see chart below) and made recommendations in all the races (Mayor’s race; District 6; District 3; Other Commissioners). There’s only one race left to be decided. Six of the seven slots on the Commission are set for the next two years, with the seventh, District 6, in a runoff between 15-year incumbent Commissioner Clayton Lopez (D+) and challenger Dr. Ryan Barnett (B). Here’s how we made the case for Dr. Ryan Barnett in July: Grading the Candidates on Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People: District 6.
We need at least 4 reliable votes on Commission to move our agenda forward. Dr. Ryan Barnett will be one of those votes.
Politics and thus change is a numbers game. Four votes are needed to move forward legislation. Three of the seven who currently sit on the dais (Johnston, Weekley, Kaufman) are stalwart supporters on bike, walk, transit, and streets for people issues, having all received grades of B+. We need a reliable 4th vote because the others’ grades, especially Commissioner Lopez, have been less supportive. To be clear we have high hopes for Commissioner Davila and perhaps Commissioner Hoover to also emerge as more reliable votes on our issues. But based on the data, Dr. Ryan Barnett can be that 4th vote. If others emerge too, great! Here’s why.
Mayor Johnston (B+) has an ambitious agenda for revitalizing Duval Street, making more room for bicyclists and pedestrians on our streets, getting parking policy right and enhancing Key West Transit. In the face of Covid era realities and climate change Key West is going to need brave new approaches to these issues. We owe it to the Mayor to give her the votes for positive change. Based on our analysis, we believe Dr. Barnett shares the Mayor’s agenda and can be that reliable vote for needed action and change.
Dr. Ryan Barnett will bring needed understanding and change on bike, walk, transit and streets for people.
While we like and respect the service of the gregarious long-time Commissioner Lopez and his vociferous voice on national politics, that’s not enough reason to vote to extend his tenure to 19 years when little progress has been made on our issues. Commissioner Lopez’ votes and answers to our questions demonstrate a tendency to favor 20th century car-centric solutions. Especially troubling as District 6 is the heart of a tightly woven historic downtown that needs more room for people not cars. Dr. Ryan Barnett has demonstrated in his answers to ours and others’ questions, that he has a better understanding of these issues, they’re interconnectedness, and that he isn’t afraid of changing some things to make them better.
If you were trying to line up at least 4 votes for progressive change on bike, walk, transit and streets for people issues, it is obvious from the data that we’ll have a much better chance getting things done putting Dr. Ryan Barnett and his Grade of B on the dais and not Mr. Lopez’ Grade of D+.
That is why we are endorsing Dr. Ryan Barnett for City Commission in District 6. It is time for a fresh start and new talent.
Friends of Car-Free Key West & Duval Street/Historic Downtown City Commission Scorecard on Our Issues
| Who | District | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Commissioner Jimmy Weekley | District 1 | B+ |
| Commissioner Sam Kaufman | District 2 | B+ |
| Mayor Terri Johnston | Mayor | B+ |
| Commissioner Gregory Davila | District 4 | C+ |
| Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover | District 5 | C |
| Commissioner Billy Wardlow | District 3 | D- |
| Who do we want being the potential swing vote? | ||
| Challenger Dr. Ryan Barnett | District 6 | B |
| Commissioner Clayton Lopez | District 6 | D+ |
Dr. Ryan Barnett’s response to 13 questions from Friends of Car-Free Key West
Commissioner Lopez’ response to 13 questions from Friends of Car-Free Key West
Grading the Candidates on Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People: District 6; July 21, 2020 This is the full article we published in July. We encourage you to read this as its full of data, analysis and other sources of material that back up our endorsement.
Grading the Candidates on Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People; July 20, 2020
Grading the Candidates on Bike, Walk, Transit and Streets for People, Mayor’s Race; July 24, 2020
Capital Bikeshare is 10 Years Old. Its Success Hinged on Pioneers Working Together.
Posted on September 13, 2020 1 Comment
By Chris Hamilton, September 13, 2020
In just 10 short years bikeshare has changed the way we move about our cities. Here’s a little more back story on the pioneers who worked together to transform transportation in North America.
September 20, 2020 marks the 10th Anniversary of Capital Bikeshare, the first successful, large-scale bikeshare program in the U.S.A. After a decade of growth, a system that began with 400 bicycles at 49 stations now has nearly 5,000 bikes at almost 600 stations in 3 states. More impressive is that the massive success of CaBi, as it is affectionately known, sparked a movement that now sees similar bikeshare operations in 120+ cities across North America. 10 years later Capital Bikeshare is still one of the top systems having been named North America’s best just a few months ago (Six Best Bikeshare Systems in the U.S. and Canada, Money Crashers, June 20, 2020).
Bikeshare, along with the micro-mobility devices that followed it, have in a very short time, revolutionized the way we get around our cities. If not for the daring and teamwork of some pioneers in the D.C. region, who knows how long it may have taken to prove the feasibility of this idea and catch on the way it did. The best systems have become such a staple of everyday living that one can’t even imagine the Washington, D.C. region or the cities of New York or Chicago today without their respective bikeshare.
Two innovative DOTs took a leap of faith on the concept.
What’s remarkable is that a couple of local government entities, the District of Columbia and Arlington County, Virginia Departments of Transportation, jointly took a leap of faith, launched and then quickly expanded a unified system without the usual and laborious bureaucracy and proof of concept planning that precedes most government projects. As a result, the agencies hit the ground running, met immediate acclaim, and that success fueled further growth. It was only once Capital Bikeshare was firmly established as an ongoing concern, a couple years into the project, that the DOTs took a breath and generated “transit development plans” or TDPs that covered long-term planning, expansion and financing that cements the system as a permanent part of the region’s transportation infrastructure.
DDOT mirrored its chief, acted like a start-up and pushed the project over the finish line.
It was a perfect storm of people and opportunities that made it all come together. The District had tried a small 10-station bikeshare project called SmartBikeDC that generated early adopter fans. D.C.’s progressive mayor, Adrian Fenty, hired for his District Department of Transportation (DDOT) Chief an unconventional, entrepreneurial, start-up guy in Zipcar executive Gabe Klein who knew how to get stuff done quickly. Mr. Klein assembled an amazing team of like-minded people who ensured the eventual Capital Bikeshare project felt more like a private start-up than a government run project. Once Gabe decided to abandon SmartBikeDC’s operator Clear Channel Outdoor and join with Arlington’s bikeshare procurement, he and his people made the CaBi project blossom and pushed it over the finish line.
Gabe’s team included true believers like Jim Sebastian and Chris Holben, who did all the planning under the direction of their their boss Karina Ricks. Alice Kelley, Scott Kubly, John Lisle, Karen Le Blanc, and others were part of Gabe’s brain trust. Gabe and a host of others at DDOT ensured success. This story is well chronicled in Gabe’s awesome book, Start-Up City (our review of the book), on Wikipedia and in a number of articles that appeared in the news within a few years of the launch (Many Unsung Heros Made Capital Bikeshare a Reality, by Dave Alpert, Greater Greater Washington, 1/9/13; The Best Bikesharing Program in the United States – How D.C. of all places, made it happen. by Tom Vanderbilt, Slate.com, 1/7/13.)
But a lesser known subplot of the story had developed concurrent with the District’s efforts on the other side of the Potomac. For Capital Bikeshare’s launch to actually happen on September 20, 2010, this story had to advance over the course of a few years on both sides of the Potomac before coming together. Without this set of circumstances serendipitously happening, just this way, bikeshare as we have come to know it, may not exist.
Arlington Commuter Services entrepreneurial spirit gave life to an idea and wouldn’t give up in the face of bureaucracy.
Across the river in Arlington County, the Arlington DOT had a successful entrepreneurial Bureau (Commuter Services) that for more than a decade had been using top of the industry private contractors to pioneer groundbreaking retail (The Commuter Store), business to business (Arlington Transportation Partners), community outreach (BikeArlington and WalkArlington), internet (CommuterPage.com, CommuterDirect.com and more), marketing (Arlington’s Car-Free Diet) and research services (Mobility Lab) that relied on an intricate maze of outside grants and self-generated funding. It’s accolades and success (A Dozen Easy Principals for Organizational Success), allowed it to act autonomously enough to bypass some of the usual bureaucracy to bring new projects to market. That included Capital Bikeshare. The management part of that team included: Lois DeMeester, Bobbi Greenberg, Jay Freschi, Chris Eatough, John Durham and Howard Jennings.
It started with this team, whose mission was to “make it easy” to use transit, bike, walk and share the ride, believing in the idea and dream of one of its younger team members, Paul DeMaio. Paul traveled to Europe and brought back stories of nascent bikeshare projects in Germany (Call-a-Bike comes to mind). He painted such a vivid picture of solving first and last mile transportation issues at one of the team’s annual strategic planning meetings, that everyone encouraged Paul to write a proposal for the unit to submit a grant for State “experimental” transportation funding. When it wasn’t funded the first year, it was resubmitted again and got funded a year later. Paul was then tasked to lead the Arlington effort and the entire bureau committed to making the project happen. Something this different would take a multi-disciplinary and entrepreneurial team to bring it to life. Luckily, in Commuter Services, bikeshare found life.
Once seed funding was found via the State grant, the Crystal City Business Improvement District’s insightful leaders (Angie Fox and Rob Mandle) volunteered to match the State money if the County would agree to start the project in Crystal City. In fact, concentrating on one specific neighborhood helped the project. Then DOT Director, avid bicyclist and annual European bike trip traveler Dennis Leach, who protected and nurtured Commuter Services’ vision from the rest of the bureaucracy, came up with half of the initial funding by matching the state grant and BID monies.
With money in hand and the realization that the project couldn’t be done with County staff (too many hoops to ramp up), the team turned to look for a contractor to operate the system. The idea was modeled after the County’s ART bus system, where Arlington owned the buses but hired a private company to manage and operate the system. The County was also responsible for all marketing and public relations for ART. Commuter Services just happened to already be the unit that did the ART bus marketing, so this model was envisioned to work similarly for bikeshare. The County would own the equipment, hire an operator and keep the marketing and public/community relations in-house.
The Commuter Services team didn’t think of bikeshare as just biking or a novelty but rather as an extension of the transit system and as a serious addition to the transportation service mix offered by the County. This philosophy undergirded everything and was a large part in how needed people, throughout the government hierarchy who were pre-disposed to not spend money or take on new projects, were brought into the fold. Arlington already had a reputation for “smart growth” and getting people to use transit. If bikeshare was seen as part of that, then it didn’t seem so foreign. This strategy was crucial in gaining acceptance. (Read: Cities Must Understand Bikeshare Is Transit)
Using the ART bus operation as a framework, County Attorney Bruce Kimble and Purchasing Agent Maryam Zahory likely spent 100 hours (volunteering nights with Commuter Services) to draw up a never-before-been-done Request for Proposals (RFP) and then a contract for the unproven concept. Thousands of municipalities had contracts for bus systems. But THIS kind of bike transit system had never been tried before. Their painstakingly meticulous and pioneering work eventually paved the way for other cities across the U.S.A. (the RFP and contract was widely shared) to put out similar contracts for service, spurring bikeshare across the continent.
Regional cooperation wins out.
By now our story has taken a couple years just to get to this point. Having heard that the District was having problems with Clear Channel and thus might need a Plan B, the team ensured the RFP and contract allowed for other local jurisdictions in the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to “ride” or piggyback Arlington’s contract without having to go through their own entire procurement process to purchase their own set of bikes and stations and thus create a regional system. District of Columbia, City of Alexandria, VA and Montgomery County, MD staff were asked to sit on the RFP selection panel as a result. After months of work, the group selected Alta Bicycle Share, a company that was set up specifically for this project by Alta Planning & Design from Portland, OR. This spin off company was later acquired by Motivate.
Even as a vendor was being selected, the District was still holding out hope with their talks to use SmartBikeDC vendor Clear Channel Outdoor. A couple forward thinking, smart-growth champions, County Board Members Chris Zimmerman and Jay Fisette, insisted on a regional approach and didn’t want Commuter Services staff to move forward differently from D.C. They initiated a meeting with DDOT’s Gabe Klein and Arlington staff.
It helped that a number of influential local bloggers at Greater Greater Washington, TheWashCycle and Beyond D.C., among others, cheered for bikeshare in the region and also insisted that different systems on either side of the Potomac made no sense. It aided the cause that the Alta Bicycle Share vendor proposed using the amazing Montreal Bixi system bikes. The solar-powered system didn’t need to be hard-wired like SmartBikeDC and the bikes were much more sturdy. After the meeting, the Clear Channel route was abandoned by the District and Arlington and D.C. staff moved forward together on a unified project.
Two DOT’s working together with a shared belief in an idea and in each other.
Although both agencies were using the same contract to work with Alta Bicycle Share to create a brand new bikeshare system, there was no formal compact, memorandum of understanding, or agreement between the DOTs on who did what and how they’d manage that system. The District and Arlington owned their own respective equipment (the stations and bikes – although the bikes could cross jurisdictional lines), shared managing the vendor and were responsible for all marketing and PR. The people involved, on both sides of the Potomac had a shared belief in the project.
Everyone respected the respective strengths each brought to the table and trusted each other to have the best interests of the whole at heart. That faith in the idea and each other fueled the project. Another common bond between the District and Arlington teams was respect for the vendor Alta Bicycle Share, who brought an amazingly strong team of their own to the project (Alison Cohen and Charlie Denney among them). Too often government entities treat contractors at arms length or worse, like serfs. But Mr. Klein’s background in the private sector and Commuter Services experience using private contractors elevated the endeavor to a true partnership between all three entities. It clicked. And the results were fun and amazing.
This is how Alison Cohen put it in a 2013 interview:
“From the agency side, the team that I worked with from DDOT and Arlington was so professional and incredible, the real thought that I had was “don’t mess up”. During that first launch, there was a lot of learning between Alta, PBSC and the clients, and we ended up working all together to make sure that everything was covered. We at Alta ended up being in the middle to fill in all the gaps in this first-ever bike share contract. It was a very tiring and very exciting 4 months from when we completed our contract in May 2010 to system launch in September 2010. There was such a wave of dedication from all of the staff of the agencies, all the staff that we hired, and from PBSC to ensure a successful launch.” League of American Bicyclists, June 4, 2013, Women Bike Wednesday: Alison Cohen, Bike Share Pioneer
Yes, the system was almost named George.
The D.C., Arlington and Alta teams worked with Arlington’s marketing firm (Alberto Gonzalez‘ Pulsar Advertising which included Jim Wright and Katherine Carlson) to come up with a name and branding. Yes, we almost called the system George, after our first president. WeCycle was another popular choice. Capital Bikeshare and CaBi won out for a variety of reasons including trademark issues and testing with the public. Pulsar had also worked with the Downtown DC BID on the branding of the D.C. Circulator bus and this would become visually evident later as Gabe Klein insightfully insisted Capital Bikeshare branding be similar to the Circulator – thus the unified red, black and gold colors.
It further helped that the firm (Destination Sales and Marketing Group, (DS&MG) headed by the amazing entreprenaur Lois DeMeester, the District was using for its TDM marketing program, goDCgo, and would be responsible for much of the marketing and social media rollout, was the same contractor working for Arlington Commuter Services on various projects. In fact goDCgo staff (Katie Sihler headed the effort) sat next to the Bike Arlington (DS&MG) staff (Chris Eatough and Tim Kelley) responsible for Arlington’s portion of the rollout.
“Don’t underestimate how hard it is to work together to make something happen.”
With a contract vendor, branding and marketing teams in place, this is where Gabe’s management and communications’ team took the lead heading into the summer before the launch. It made sense as they were the most heavily invested in terms of stations and bikes after all, and so they pushed the ball over the goal line toward the September 20 launch. The rest is history.
At the grand opening ceremony at the U.S. Department of Transportation, Arlington County Board Chairman Jay Fisette welcomed everyone “to the most bike friendly region in America!” He added:
“This is regional success. Don’t underestimate how hard it is for one jurisdiction to reach out to another and for two of them to work together to make something happen. And it’s only the beginning because Alexandria, Falls Church and Montgomery and Prince Georges Counties are next.”
He was right, the story of Capital Bikeshare happening may have seemed easy to the public. But the confluence of good people and goodwill and the serendipitous circumstances that had to occur to make this happen is the real untold story of CaBi. Congratulations to everyone involved, on both sides of the Potomac, in changing the region’s transportation system and showing the way towards a better future for the rest of the country. Happy 10th Anniversary!
– By Chris Hamilton, September 13, 2020
Resources about the history of Capital Bikeshare:
Gabe Klein’s book, Start-Up City – Inspiring Public and Private Entrepreneurship, Getting Projects Done and Having Fun vividly brings to life the go-go atmosphere of the project and time. I highly recommend the book!
Many Unsung Heros Made Capital Bikeshare a Reality
By David Alpert (Executive Director) January 9, 2013; article in Greater Greater Washington
The Best Bikesharing Program in the United States – How D.C. of all places, made it happen.
By Tom Vanderbilt, January 7, 2013, Slate.com
Arlington TV Newsmakers video about the launch of Capital Bikeshare
Capital Bikeshare in Wikipedia
Cities Must Understand Bikeshare Is Transit, by Chris Hamilton, April 17, 2015
Women Bike Wednesday, Alison Cohen, Bike Share Pioneer; June 4, 2013; The League of American Bicyclists
Arlington County’s Capital Bikeshare page including reports, stats and more…
DDOT’s Capital Bikeshare page
Capital Bikeshare’s About and History page