Attn. Bikers, Walkers: Metro Wants You -- and Your Ideas
Still can't bring bikes on during rush hour
By ASHA BEH
Updated 3:35 PM EST, Wed, Jul 22, 2009
Metro's looking for ways to help those who bike or walk to its rail stations.
As part of a bicycle and pedestrian study the transit agency is doing this year, it will hold a workshop from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22 in the Lobby Level meeting room at Metro headquarters at 600 5th Street, NW.
And with more and more people not driving to Metro stations, it's a good thing, according to Dr. Gridlock. "We can't keep building parking garages, to the point where the stations are surrounded by concrete fortresses," he writes in his Washington Post column.
Even though Metro's not opening up the discussion to include bringing bicycles on trains during rush hour (although you are allowed to bring folding bikes on board at those times), they are looking for other ways to accomodate bikers and walkers.
"We want the public’s help to identify opportunities for better accommodating cyclists at Metrorail stations, whether at the beginning or end of their trip," said Nat Bottigheimer, Metro’s Assistant General Manager of Planning and Joint Development.
Between 2002 and 2007, the number of cyclists biking to a rail station during the morning rush hours increased 60 percent to 1,550, according to Metro, which expects that number to rise significantly during the next 25 years.
Metro says it has identified $45 million in bicycle and pedestrian improvements between 2011 and 2020 as part of its capital needs inventory, with investments focused on maintaining existing bicycle facilities, increasing bicycle parking capacity and improving connections to stations from local communities.
Top 10 Metrorail stations accessed by bicyclists during weekday morning rush hours:
1. East Falls Church
2. Forest Glen
3. Medical Center
4. West Hyattsville
5. Dunn Loring
6. Braddock Road
7. Van Dorn Street
8. Rockville
9. Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan
10. Bethesda
Top 10 Metrorail stations accessed by pedestrians during weekday morning rush hours:
1. Mount Vernon Sq/7th St-Convention Center
2. Waterfront-SEU
3. Court House
4. U St/African-Amer Civil War Memorial/Cardozo
5. Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan
6. Capitol South
7. Eastern Market
8. Columbia Heights
9. Dupont Circle
10. Van Ness-UDC
First Published: Jul 19, 2009 1:08 PM EST
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