Today (March 28th) we celebrated the opening of the first Capital Bikeshare station in Central Arlington near Columbia Pike at the Walter Reed Community Center with a ribbon cutting ceremony! We opened the event with Arlington County Director of Transportation, Dennis Leach, endorsing the station location, and gave the honors of cutting the ribbon to Arlington County Board Chair, Walter Tejada, who also spoke about the importance of expanding Capital Bikeshare into the Columbia Pike and Shirlington areas.  Two other stations were put on the ground today as well – one at Columbia Pike and S. Courthouse Rd and another at 28th St S. and S. Meade St., jump starting Arlington’s efforts to add 30 more stations to the Columbia Pike and Shirlington neighborhoods in 2013!

Expanding into these neighborhoods is part of Arlington County’s 6-year Transit Development Plan, which received overwhelming support for stations in these areas by the public through our online crowdsourcing map and local outreach efforts. Not only will these new stations close the gap between North and South Arlington, but they offer an affordable option to some of the lower income areas of Arlington for getting around easily and efficiently. Through our partnership with Bank on DC, we hope to overcome the obstacle that some low income individuals face when trying to use the system.

Bonus fact: this was officially the 200th station in the Capital Bikeshare system. Proof that this system continues to grow in popularity and success…thanks to you!

Zanna was formerly the Events and Outreach Coordinator for BikeArlington. She loves Capital Bikeshare and frequently takes out those shiny red bikes on the weekend so she doesn’t have to worry about locking up her own bike.