via DDOT

“Dear PoPville,

Are there different rules for where (in terms of geographic zones, not sidewalk vs traffic lane) one can ride regular versus electric capital bikeshare bikes in the district?

I used to commute daily as a capital bikeshare member, but now that I live in Van Ness, I only use the system on the rare occasion that I feel like chancing my safety on the bike-lane-less CT Ave corridor. This evening I juuuust missed an L2 home after dinner in Adams Morgan, and so I went to the nearest bikeshare station and picked up the only thing available – an e-bike (my first ever ride on one). I then proceeded to stow my phone away safely (notifications silenced) and ride straight up to the docking station across from Bread Furst. I docked the bike with a happy little green light, walked the rest of the way home, and pulled out my phone – which displayed a several-minute-old push notification from the Lyft app that I was “outside the allowed area” (or some such) and needed to return immediately. Read More

Thanks to Jackie for sharing:

“Pro tip: You can request a bike rack via @311DCgov and they are very responsive! @DDOTDC requested some follow up information about the location, confirmed the spot it would be placed, and voila a brand new bike rack about 1.5 months later! A great free service to use!”

“Dear PoPville,

The degradation of the Bikeshare system has been building for a couple years now, but the last few months have seen a massive acceleration to that trend to the point this system is becoming completely unusable. There is zero maintenance done by Lyft at this point. Over the last few weeks the majority of the bikes I get are malfunctioning, either with no e-assist from the e-bikes or chain problems on the normal bikes.

And this is when I am lucky to actually find an available bike because there are so many out of commission (not just bikes, but there have been obvious problems with the docks everywhere), Read More

ANC Commissioner Chris Hart writes: “Womp womp. Looks like the Zoo Loop is closing at 5pm again starting tomorrow. Anyone know if this is supposed to be seasonal? If so, why change it when sunset is still at 7:20?”

EHN’s communications director, Sharon Eliza Nichols, replies: Read More

“Dear PoPville,

Come to DC Family Bike Fest! Calling all kid bikers, family bikers, and bike-curious. Connect and build community, meet local shops and orgs, enjoy demo bikes, test rides, raffle prizes, Glide to Ride workshop, Kids Bike Parade and more. Read More

“Dear PoPville,

Sharing a scary interaction with a driver that apparently has a lot of anger towards cyclists. Curious if anyone else has had this experience. I was on my bike around 545am when the driver became very hostile toward me. Without any interaction or prompting, he starts screaming at the top of his lungs from inside the car “F*** YOU” repeatedly. This is my second encounter with the same driver. Read More

photo by Jeanette.Cook

Shannon writes: “Bit of a long shot, but one of the folks who stopped to help me was a dark-haired woman wearing a blazer who I think said she was a nurse. She was so kind, and I’d love to find her and thank her. This was 11th & K NW, around 8:30 AM on a Tuesday.” (August 15th) Read More

From DC Bike Party:

“Soak up the sun & catch a way at DCBikeParty’s beach themed Aug. ride! Have a Baja blast @ this rolling party as we make waves thru the city. So get out your beach cruisers & see u in @dupontcircle on Wed 8/16 at 7:30 p.m. Roll at 8″

Thanks to DJ for sending: “the 8th St. NE extension of the MBT from Dew Drop to Brookland Pint is almost done. Cars only northbound now and they are starting to paint the bike lanes and parking spots.”

“Dear PoPville,

I saw you post a while back about the status of bike lanes around Hanes Point, so I wanted to share that the project has been completed. As advertised, it’s dedicated one lane of space to pedestrian/cycle lanes going both directions and a buffer (without barriers) to the remaining vehicular lane.

On the whole I’d say it’s a step up from before, though certainly not perfect. Read More