Bixi: Coming soon to DC and Arlington

Ready for a revolution in urban transportation? It’s coming, in the form of a massive new regional bike-sharing system announced today by DC Mayor Fenty and Arlington Board Chairman Jay Fisette. The new system will dwarf SmartBike, DC’s small existing program, which will be phased out.

Here are the details:

• The new system will have approximately 1,100 bikes located at 114 stations.
• Stations will be located in all 8 wards of DC, and in the Crystal City area of Arlington.
• Clear Channel, the company that operates SmartBike, will not be involved. Instead, the new system will be operated by Bixi, the same group that runs Montreal’s system.
• The new system will be in place this autumn.
• Annual memberships will be $80, but shorter term memberships will also be available, $30 monthly and $5 daily.
• The new system hasn’t yet been named. DDOT will shortly host a public survey, to be found at goDCgo.

This isn’t the 3,250-bike system the region would have gotten had we been awarded TIGER money for bike-sharing, but it will still be a big-time network, and there are still plenty of opportunities for further expansion.

This is a great day for the DC region.