Well there is a station at the very top of the Capitol South Metro on the House side of the Cap just inside that parking lot at the guardhouse.
The locations are pretty good for Hill workers and such, but my friends who work over there told me that it doesn't get used because it's the biggest pain in the world to do so. You have to go to some office and reserve one and fill out some paper, and jump through some other hoops to take a bike somewhere. It's the polar opposite of the convenience and ease of smartbike. But you are completely right that what they should have done is build a Smartbike station on the House and Senate side of the Capitol near the office buildings.
And re: Betamax? I'm going to go with Porn choosing VHS for the win.
Porn helped move forward successful Internet based commerce as well.
Porn = the great technological innovator of the ages.
R-
thnaks for posting this and bringing it to everyone's attention. I like your notion that this system is like the Betamax video system of the 70's- it was not very well thought out and is evidently too cumbersome for people to use easily. Of note- the commentor's description of users having to fill out paperwork eveytime they want to use a bike. I thought that the USA government had rules about paperwork reduction ? I also agree with your earlier ideas of integrating this bike share system into the city-wide Smart-bike program. It is perhaps the best way to make it happen and make it more efficient. The neglect of these bikes and badly designed system needs to be brought to the attention of the media- it will embarrass the Congress into reacting- hopefully. As long as they don't ditch it altogether- which is always a possibility with those idiots.
The House had NO IDEA what they wanted from this program. They started out wanting to buy bikes for something like 10 stations, then realized belatedly that maintaining bicycles is kinda hard.
The rationale behind the fleet v. Smartbike i think had to do with rules barring the concession arrangement. At the time, I think clearchannel wasn't ready to take money for ad-free stations till the system proved itself. We all know how that is playing out now.
They also wanted their own unique bikes, so all the staffers and Members could always hop on and go. They also wanted something splashy to announce at the Bike Summit, and a whole program ("WHEELS4WELLNESS!!") sounds a whole lot more ambitious than 'we're cutting a check to clearchannel.'
Good intentions, but they ended up doing more harm than good.
Sounds like we need porn on Smartbikes.
great idea HM
Commenting by HaloScan
