In November 2022, DC Capital Bikeshare provided bikes for over a quarter million rides. 168,331 were by annual members who took rides that averaged 13:52 mins. Non-members took 91,386 rides that averaged 35:02 mins.
Members are commuters, who take short planned trips to work, and casual riders take longer rides along attractions. Members’ top bike stations are by offices in downtown and the capital and the residential area, Adams Morgan. Casual users, however, ride around the National Mall by monuments. Higher weekday and morning activity confirms this contrast. However, the biggest difference isn’t between weekends and weekdays. The most popular days for bike rides are midweek on Tuesday and Wednesday and early weekend on Saturday. People bike to loosen up after a long week and in the middle of the week to feel like it’s the weekend already. That’s true for all riders, but especially for members who commute. This two-peak trend means people bike for a day or two and then drop it for a few days. The sharp decline shows most people don’t rely on their bikes for their commute or regular schedule.
A possible cause to user’s sparse commute via bike is the fact that the main commuter route, Massachusetts Avenue, does not have a bike lane. Massachusetts Avenue is home to Capital Bikeshare’s most popular stations, but they are currently only connected through side streets. Other major routes include: 14th St, Connecticut Ave, Wisconsin Ave, Wilson Blvd, and Crystal Dr. Of those only 14th St has a near full bike lane, Wilson Blvd and Crystal Dr have bike lanes until they approach the bridge, and Connecticut and Wisconsin Ave don’t have lanes at all. Safe bike routes along these streets would make consistent bike commuting a reality and incentivize casual users who want to commute by bike to purchase an annual membership. To gain more non-member users, it may be worth offering promotions on Sunday to maintain the strong performance of Saturday throughout the weekend.
Sources:
“System Data | Capital Bikeshare.” Capital Bikeshare, 2016, ride.capitalbikeshare.com/system-data.
“Bicycle Maps | Ddot.” Dc.gov, 2022, ddot.dc.gov/page/bicycle-maps.
Visualizations available on Tableau