New Bikeshare Station Opens in Chevy Chase Lake

Bethesda Magazine January 18, 2016

Capital Bikeshare Station Coming to Medical Center Metro in Bethesda
Station will be the second installed in the area this month

By Aaron Kraut

Capital Bikeshare and the Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) are set to start installing a Bikeshare station this week at the Medical Center Metro station in Bethesda.

The station will be on the pedestrian island between the Metro station and the Kiss and Ride parking lot near the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Gateway Center, according to NIH Chief Engineer F. Anthony Clifford.

The concrete pour for the new station is set to happen this week and workers will install the station with a crane by the end of January.

Clifford said it’s expected to open in February.

The expansion of a network of stations housing red bicycles found in Montgomery County, Washington, D.C., Arlington and Alexandria hit a road block in 2014 when the manufacturer of the bicycles went bankrupt. With a new company taking over the operation last year, the jurisdictions are again ordering equipment for new stations.

Last week, a new Capital Bikeshare station opened on Connecticut Avenue near its intersection with the Capital Crescent Trail and Chevy Chase Lake Drive.

The $55,000 station was paid for by the Chevy Chase Land Co., the development company with its headquarters at the intersection and that is planning a mixed-use project on an adjacent shopping center site.

In September, the county won a $300,350 grant from the Maryland Department of Transportation to buy and install Capital Bikeshare stations in the area around the Wheaton Metro station.

There are 52 stations in clusters around the county, including in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Silver Spring and Rockville. Users rent bicycles for short trips and can return the bicycles to any station in the county, Washington, D.C., Arlington or Alexandria.

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