In Capital Bikeshare’s 2013
customer survey, the local government regional partnership that created the
service asked who made trips to and from Metro. It turns out that 54 percent of
our customers do.
So how far do Capital Bikeshare customers ride to get to and from Metro
and their home? Well, we had some interesting findings which include a “hot zone”
of bikeshare activity surrounding Metro stations.
Using Capital Bikeshare trip duration data for all
stations during a week in July 2013, we determined the trip distances to and
from Capital Bikeshare stations adjacent to Metrorail stations. Shown in the two
similar charts below, Capital Bikeshare trips starting and ending at Metro
stations have the most common trip distance of 0.5-0.75 miles. Not surprising
as this distance makes for a good 10- to 15-minute walk.
Trips between 0.75-1.0 miles and 0.25-0.5 miles are not far behind as
being the most common to and from Metro stations. Trips in the 0.25-1.0 mile
range account for about 40 percent of the distances of the first-mile/last-mile
trips and turn a 5- to 20-minute walking trip into an even quicker bike trip.
Longer distance trips become less common the further away the
destination or origin become. Short trips of less than 0.25 miles are less
frequent as they don’t save the customer time from walking. You’ll see that
more trips in this range were made going to Metro, than from Metro, which leads
me to believe that bikeshare is good for making up lost time in the morning
when one leaves home late for work.
Some stations’ main purpose is to service a Metro station. The data visualization below
created by Mobility Lab’s Michael Schade shows the residential bikeshare
station at Lee Highway and North Adams Street sends a majority of its trips to
the Courthouse Metro – as shown by a thick red arrow – whereas other stations
are serviced by the origin station although far less frequently – as shown by
the thin arrows. The two stations are about 0.6 miles apart. The second data
visualization shows the Courthouse Metro sending a majority of its customers to
both Lee and Adams and a nearby station at North Veitch and 20th Streets. Similar
results will be found to and from other Metro stations.
Capital Bikeshare is a useful transit service for first-mile/last-mile
trips to and from Metro, and this analysis shows that about 40 percent of
bikeshare trips involving Metro are within that first and last mile.
Due to this important linkage, Arlington County will continue to place
stations within this 0.25-1.0 mile hot zone around Metro stations, where land
use contributes to a high residential and commercial population density. This
is a no-brainer for bikeshare customers who are making these trips, but good to
have some data to confirm it.
Here is a link to the
presentation I gave on these findings at the recent Transportation Research
Board conference in Washington D.C.
This article is cross-posted at Mobility Lab.
