CaBi Member

Well, I did it! I finally became a member of Capital Bikeshare! I first wrote about CaBi last September and I finally joined last week when they put a station right outside of my apartment building!I got a spify key fob in the mail and took my initial ride the next day. Boy, let me tell you how out of practice I am riding a bike! Its pitiful!

What is Capital Bikshare (CaBi)? Well, according to their website:

Capital Bikeshare puts over 1525+ bicycles at your fingertips. You can choose any of the 160+ stations across Washington, D.C. and Arlington, VA and return it to any station near your destination. Check out a bike for your trip to work, Metro, run errands, go shopping, or visit friends and family. Join Capital Bikeshare for 24 hours, 3 days, 30 days, or a year, and have access to our fleet of bikes 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The first 30 minutes of each trip are free. Each additional 30 minutes incurs an additional fee.

For a mere $75.00 a year I have access to bike stations all over DC and Arlington and for the first 30 minutes my ride is free! There is even an app for my iPhone to tell me where stations are, how many bikes are there, and how many open slots there are for me to return the bike. Pretty cool, huh? Its very easy to use, however, I did have to look up how to get the bike out of the station...I felt pretty stupid...ha! But once I figured that I had to pull up on the seat, not pull back the handlebars, I was ready to go! There is even a basket with an elastic band to hold my purse in place.

CaBi just announced they had their 2 millionth ride! They reached 1 million rides back in September and in a short 8 month times pan they had another 1 million rides. Awesome!

Bicycling magazine recently announced that both DC & Arlington were on their 2012 list of "America's Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities". D.C. was ranked 4th, while Arlington was ranked 23rd.