Real live DC SmartBikes.

SmartBike DC, America’s first modern bike-sharing system, is officially up, running and available. 60 bikes at 10 stations around downtown Washington opened on Wednesday, with another 60 bikes imminent and more future expansion promised. Users pay a $40 annual fee, receive a SmarTrip-like card in the mail, and can then use any SmartBike in the system to their heart’s content. Unlike ZipCar and other car-sharing services, bikes do not have to be returned to their original parking station – any station in the system is fine.

Arlington hopes to follow the District with its own bike-sharing service to launch in Spring 2009. Arlington’s system, as yet unnamed, will function using the call-a-bike style, in which users use a cell phone to get the combination to unlock bikes, many of which will be secured to orange ZipCar poles.

BeyondDC visited the Foggy Bottom SmartBike station today to check it out. We saw one actual user and a whole lot of interested people poking around. We took a few pictures (see the thumbnail gallery), and have a couple of thoughts for the powers that be:

1. Good choice on the bikes. These are clearly commuter bikes, not racers. Fenders and chain guards will keep clothes dirt-free, the step-through frame will be good for riders of any size, and the basket in front will make hauling a package easy. Thumbs up.

2. You need maps, lots and lots of maps. At the very least they need to be at SmartBike stations themselves, but people ought be able to find them in every Metro station in the District. Users need to know where they can find/return bikes, and potential users need to know how easy the system is to use. Plenty of people are interested, but unless everyone in the city memorizes the SmartBike webpage the necessary information is too hard to come by.

Anyway, we’re big fans of bike-sharing and look forward to the day when Washington’s system is as wide-spread as the one in Paris. It can’t happen soon enough.