Budget

On the calendar: Bike to Work, Bike DC, Bikeshare expansion

by David Alpert   •   May 13, 2011 2:04 pm

It's National Bike Month, and there are a lot of great bicycling-related events coming up as well as a few non-bicycling related ones. Bike To Work Day is next Friday, and the Bike DC ride is the following Sunday. WMATA's budget hearings are also happening next week.

Photo by Washington Area Bicyclist Association on Flickr.

Tomorrow is a conference on bicycling in Montgomery County, sponsored by the Montgomery County Civic Federation, MCDOT, and Park and Planning. It will discuss how to make bicycling safer and more comfortable in the county.

A number of officials, activists and planners will speak on several panels from 9 to 1. Then at 2, they will lead a BYOB (bring your own bike) bike tour of Rockville.

On Monday, Redesign_DC hosts "lightning talks" by designers, cartographers, and entrepreneurs about design challenges and solutions for DC. The event is at Cobalt, at 17th and R NW, and costs $8 in advance, $10 at the door starting at 7 pm. Matt Johnson will be talking about the map contest, whose entries we will be posting Monday for all of you to see and vote upon.

All next week, WMATA is holding their public hearings on proposed service cuts. They're Monday in New Carrollton, Tuesday in Alexandria (Braddock Road) and upper Northwest DC (Friendship Heights/Tenleytown), Wednesday in Arlington and Wheaton, and Thursday in Barry Farm near Anacostia.

To participate, see the instructions for signing up to speak or submitting written testimony, and detailed directions by bus or rail. There is also an online survey you can take to register your opinions, but written or oral testimony will have more effect.

Friday is Bike To Work Day. All you have to do to participate is bike to work! There are also many commuter convoys starting in places from Springfield to Poolesville to Glenn Dale, as well as many closer-in spots, to downtown DC and other locations.

49 pit stops all around the region will provide food, drink and entertainment. At the central site at Freedom Plaza, local and federal officials will also speak. You can get a free t-shirt and enter in a drawing for other prizes by registering to stop by a pit stop.

Building on the bike energy are two bike rides that weekend, Kidical Mass and BikeDC. The kid-friendly Kidical Mass is Saturday, with people gathering from 10-11 near Eastern Market Metro and then taking a leisurely ride through Capitol Hill followed by brunch. Register here.

The next day, Sunday, is Bike DC, the also family-friendly and non-competitive (but somewhat longer) bike ride on streets and parkways in DC and Arlington.

The ride starts at 7:30 am near the Capitol and proceeds along Pennsylvania Avenue, to the E Street freeway, over the TR bridge, around roads near Arlington Cemetery, and up the GW Parkway to beautiful views across the Potomac before returning to DC. All of the roads are entirely closed to motor vehicles during the ride, and this is a rare opportunity to ride a bicycle on E Street, the TR Bridge, and the GW Parkway.

Advance registration is $35 for adults, $20 for teens, 12 for kids 12 and under.

Finally, bring your suggestions for future Capital Bikeshare station locations to DDOT's public meeting on expansion on Wednesday, May 25th, 6 pm at 441 4th Street (One Judiciary Square), room 1107 (south elevators).

DDOT plans 25 more stations, and if Tommy Wells' committee's recommendation to add $2 million in capital funding gets accepted, they'll have to start planning for 40 more on top of that. They've suggested 55 potential locations, meaning they'll have to come up with even more places should that funding come through.

These and many other events are on the Greater Greater Washington calendar. If you know of an event we should include or see any errors, please let us know at events@ggwash.org.

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington. He has had a lifelong interest in great cities and great communities. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.