County Awaits Word On Bikeshare Funds

The Montgomery County Department of Transportation last week submitted an application for $1 million to help fund a bikeshare program in southern Montgomery County, according to a county press release.

Community groups and leaders are for a bikeshare program, which they say could take cars off congested streets, build off a network of trails, and connect busy commercial, retail and residential hubs.

In Arlington and Washington, D.C., the successful Capital Bikeshare program allows riders to rent bikes for a yearly fee of $75, and pick up and drop off the bikes at any bikeshare station. Monthly, daily and five-day memberships are also available, though riders are charged extra to rent bikes for more than 30 minutes at a time.

The program isn’t aimed at long-term riders but rather commuters who make quick trips around town or who are looking for alternate ways to get to and from a Metro station.

The application, submitted to the Maryland State Department of Transportation, would fund 29 docking stations and 204 bikes inside the Beltway and along both legs of the Red Line, in centers including Friendship Heights, downtown Bethesda and the Medical Center Metro station, Takoma Park and Silver Spring. It would fund 80 percent of the capital costs for installing the facilities, and Montgomery County would be responsible for the remaining 20 percent, which would be sourced from the private sector, according to the release.

Operating and maintenance of the program would also fall to the county, and some of that cost is expected to come from membership fees.

This is not Montgomery County’s first attempt to seek funding for a bikshare program, but it is the first attempt to secure dollars through a

According to Montgomery County, the downcounty stations would be the first phase of a county-wide bikesharing program. The county also hopes to eventually connect bikeshare stations with an

Grant awards will be announced in early 2012.

Do you think a bikeshare program is needed in Montgomery County? Tell us in the comments.