What’s Up With DC’s Bike Rental Expansion Plans?

Folks had seemed pretty happy with Smart Bike DC when I asked back in November. But there has been some chatter on the Columbia Heights Listserv questioning the expansion:

“Does anyone know the status of the SmartBike program’s expansion? Back in March, they were saying that the program would grow from 10 stations to 50 by this summer, including a station that would be placed in Columbia Heights: http://wtop.com/?nid=30&sid=1628439

However, it doesn’t look like any new stations at all have been installed: https://www.smartbikedc.com/smartbike_locations.asp

Did I miss something? Was there a change in plans? What’s going on?”

Council Member Jim Graham responds:

“Thanks for including me on this. I understand DDOT had hoped to simply expand the existing bike sharing program. Unfortunately, the existing provider has not been that cooperative, so DDOT has been exploring the possibility of using a different bike sharing company. This is causing delays.

I am asking Jim Sebastian of DDOT to provide us with the latest estimate.

We are all very eager to see this successful program expanded.”

Wow, I wonder how difficult it will be to find a new provider?