January 3, 2023

Are you heading to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in early January for the Transportation Research Board’s Annual Meeting? While Metro’s Yellow Line is open again this year, we have another option that is fun, easy, and lets you see the sites of Washington, D.C.: bikeshare!

Principal Planner Conor Semler does this often when he travels from Boston to Washington, D.C. (“I prefer not to be in a car,” he says.) Once you’re on a bike, it’s only about five miles, and gives you a taste of some of D.C.’s new biking infrastructure!

The Capital Bikeshare station at DCA can be a little tricky to find, so this is Conor’s route for finding the station.

  • Go to the “Parking 2” garage using the pedestrian bridge from Terminal 2 or using the walkway past Abingdon Plantation from the “Parking 1” garage (the garage with the rental cars).
  • Take the elevator or stairs down to Level 1.
  • Walk to the back of the garage and find the stairs to the Capital Bikeshare station (located near Zone B1-10 of the parking garage).
  • The bikeshare station is behind the concrete wall near the roadway.
  • After grabbing a bike, you can follow the path towards to Crystal City and the Mt. Vernon Trail!
  • If the bikeshare station is out of bikes, you may be able to get a bike from the nearby station in Crystal City/National Landing (check the Capital Bikeshare map in advance!). Walk on the same path towards Crystal City/National Landing you would have biked, and pick up a bike at either the Crystal City Metro/18th St & S Bell St station or the Crystal Dr & 20th St S station, both near the Crystal City Water Park where the trail leads you into Crystal City.
  • Once you’re on the bike, it’s about five miles along the Potomac River, over the 14th Street Bridge, and along the (new!) extension of the 15th Street Cycle Track across the National Mall. (View the full route here.)
  • Return your bike to one of the many bikeshare stations in downtown Washington, D.C.

Here is a map of the route:

 

A “classic” (non-e-bike) bike costs $1.00 to unlock and $0.05 per minute. On a classic bike. depending on how many pictures you take on the way, the ride could be about 30 minutes, so a total cost of about $3.00. An e-bike costs $0.15 per minute, which will probably save you ten minutes, and cost a little under $5.00. Booking a bike is easy using the Lyft app you likely already have on your phone.

You can also pick up a 24-hour pass for $8.00, which reduces the cost of a classic bike to $0.05 per minute or $0.10 per minute for an e-bike.

Taking Metro

Unlike last year at TRB, Metro’s Yellow Line is fully operational and very easy. You can take the Yellow Line from DCA directly to the Convention Center by taking any Yellow Line train heading in the direction of Mt. Vernon and riding to the end of the line at the Mt. Vernon Sq 7th St-Convention Center stop, which puts you right outside the Convention Center.

Other Options

If you’re looking to get to the Convention Center as quickly as possible, it is easy to take a taxi from the airport. All taxis to the District take credit cards, and the lines at the DCA Taxi Stands are generally very short. Taxis (before tip) typically cost about $20.00 and take about 15 minutes (depending on traffic) from DCA to the Convention Center.

About Capital Bikeshare

In September 2010, Washington D.C. and Arlington County launched Capital Bikeshare as one of the first large-scale bikeshare systems in North America. Within 10 years of its launch, the system grew into one of the largest and most popular bikeshare programs in the nation. Recently, we at Kittelson have had the opportunity to be a part of the Capital Bikeshare story, working with Foursquare ITP to lead an update to the Capital Bikeshare Development Plan in the District. Read more about the plan here.

We’re excited to use these modes of transportation during TRB weekend and hope they can save you some time and expense, too!