Now That's Data

Capital Bikeshare (Washington, DC & Arlington, VA - USA) launched its dashboard, or snapshot of key service performance measures, today. The dashboard is full of useful data from the service and I believe one of the best sites of its kind provided by any government offering a bike-sharing service. Data on a public service should be easily accessible and informative and this site certainly is.

For Immediate Release
Monday, May 16, 2011

Capital Bikeshare Launches New Performance Dashboard

(Washington, D.C.) Capital Bikeshare launched a new website today that provides a wealth of performance data about the bikesharing program, including monthly statistics for ridership, membership, customer service, fleet performance and safety.

The Capital Bikeshare dashboard is available at cabidashboard.ddot.dc.gov. It was developed by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) as part of the agency’s continuing effort to improve transparency and release performance data related to its transit services.

“This new dashboard unleashes the data that we have accumulated with each electronically-recorded Bikeshare trip,” said DDOT Interim Director Terry Bellamy. “We encourage our members, casual users and anyone interested in the system to review, analyze and download the information and provide us with your feedback.”

The dashboard features 18 individual performance metrics, which fall under four categories: Ridership, Fleet Performance and Safety, Customer Service and Membership. Performance metrics include: Trip Origin/Destination by Station; Trip Origin/Destination by Municipality; Fleet Maintenance (Number of bikes inspected/repaired) per month; Rebalancing (Number of times bicycles picked up and dropped off at stations); and total number of users. The data covers the entire Capital Bikeshare system, including the District and Arlington.

Through this portal, the public will be able to review system-wide information, compare performance metrics by different time intervals, and download data for individual custom analysis.

In order to guide users through the site, DDOT has prepared an online Dashboard Tutorial, which is available on DDOT’s YouTube Channel, providing a voice-narrated, step-by-step overview of how to use the Dashboard and maximize its features.

Preceded by the Circulator Dashboard, the first dashboard of its kind in the Washington Metropolitan region, the Capital Bikeshare dashboard’s creation is a reflection of DDOT’s continued commitment to transparency, government accountability and best practices. The information and data contained in the dashboard is scheduled to be updated on a monthly basis.

For any inquiries about the dashboard, users are asked to contact DDOT via email at cabidashboard@dc.gov.

Capital Bikeshare is the product of a unique public/private partnership between DDOT, Arlington County and Alta Bike Share. The two jurisdictions worked closely with Alta Bicycle Share to develop the program in the fall of 2010, offering regional service with 1,100 bikes and 114 stations. Based on the initial success of the program, both jurisdictions plan to add additional stations and bicycles to the system by the end of the year.