Bike to Work Day | ARLnow.com

Arlington and the District are partnering to launch the largest bike sharing program in the United States, county board chairman Jay Fisette announced this morning.

At a Bike to Work Day event at Gateway Park in Rosslyn, Fisette called the program “a great system to help us promote cycling and promote health in Arlington.”

Initially launching in Crystal City this fall, the Arlington-DC bike share system will feature 1,100 bikes that will be available for rent at docking stations located primarily around transit centers. Bike usage will cost $5 per day or $80 for a year. Fisette said the county hopes to eventually expand the system to the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.

County officials say the program will be similar to successful bike sharing systems in Montreal and Paris. Like Montreal, the Arlington and DC will use bikes with enclosed chains and brake cables, built by Quebec-based BIXI.

The program will be funded by the county and by state and federal grants. Some of the operational funding will be provided by the program’s own revenue.

Local bicyclists are gearing up for two of the biggest bike-related events of the year. Friday is Bike to Work Day and Sunday is the annual Bike DC community ride.

Arlington will host three gathering points, or “pit stops,” for Bike to Work Day, which is an opportunity for regular bike commuters and curious car devotees to get together and ride into D.C. en masse. The pit stops include Rosslyn Gateway Park (1300 Lee Highway), the Crystal City Water Park (1750 Crystal Drive) and Conte’s Bike Shop in Ballston (3924 Wilson Boulevard).

Participants are asked to register here.

There will be raffles, prizes, food and drink at each pit stop, from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. And just in case getting free stuff and riding into downtown in a ridiculously large two-wheeled convoy doesn’t sound fun on its own merits, County Board Chairman Jay Fisette has recorded a YouTube public service announcement to promote the event.

Also be sure to look for newly-minted Arlington bike celebrities Ross and Todd, who will be among the Bike to Work Day crowd in Rosslyn.

On Sunday, riders will have another opportunity to get together and pedal around town. The Bike DC community ride will take cyclists on a 19-mile route through Northwest Washington, across the Key Bridge, up and down the George Washington Parkway, and past various landmarks in Arlington.

The ride will end in Crystal City, where a number of restaurants and at least one delicious taco stand will have some enticing Bike DC specials.

The ride begins at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW in the District between 7:30 and 8:30 a.m.

The finish line will be located at Crystal Drive and 22nd Street. Finish line festivities will take go on through 12:30 p.m.

For those who want a longer ride, Old Town Alexandria will also be sponsoring giveaways for Bike DC riders at the Snack Shak in the Torpedo Factory (5 Cameron Street) — 4.5 miles past Crystal City on the Mt. Vernon Trail — until 1:00 p.m.

Flickr photo by M.V. Jantzen.