Posts by Matt Caywood — Guest Contributor
-
Empty bikeshare stations don’t always mean long waits
When a bikeshare station is empty, or an app tells you it’s only got a bike or two left, should you just try another station? In both cases, waiting it out is often the best bet for getting a bike most quickly. Keep reading…
-
Create your own personal transit screen at Hack Day
Earlier this year, Eric Fidler created an open source transit information screen that shows real-time Metro and bus arrivals, and bike availability at Capital Bikeshare stations. Now, you can make your own. Recently, I designed my own screen using the code Eric created, and mounted a tablet computer on the wall of my apartment to be my personal transit screen, as seen here. With… Keep reading…
-
Citizens make big impact with low-cost bus stop seating
For weary bus riders, especially seniors and people with disabilities, comfortable seating at bus shelters is a necessity. Even while many governments expand bus service, they often regard seating as an unaffordable or unneeded luxury. In one corner of northern Virginia, a group of residents have crafted a grassroots solution, giving their neighbors a place to sit while they wait… Keep reading…
-
Are smarter bikes in the future for bike sharing?
Capital Bikeshare has been a huge success since its debut in 2010, but its system, which provides simple, sturdy bikes backed by sophisticated technology at stations, is no longer the only option. Might some cities, suburban jurisdictions, or even Capital Bikeshare in the future, consider a new technology: smarter bikes? Like many other cities with mature and successful bike… Keep reading…
-
Bicycling is the fastest way to travel in downtown DC
Bicycling is among the lowest-cost ways to travel through a city, and has health and fitness advantages, too. But the most direct practical benefit of bicycling comes when it’s also the quickest way to travel. In downtown DC, it usually is. Using the recently released Capital Bikeshare trip data and trip plans from Google Maps, I compared travel times for trips between… Keep reading…
-
Frequency and real-time info help transit riders most
How can transit agencies and app developers best help people use transit, at a lower cost than adding new transit service? Two new studies suggest that real-time information, for simple trips, and service frequencies, for complex trips, can best help riders. A study of Seattle’s OneBusAway mobile app, just released at the Transportation Research Board meeting, shows… Keep reading…