The District’s long-planned expansion of Capital Bikeshare this fall has hit a snag because the city has been unable to get all of the needed equipment from its supplier, officials said Monday.
For much of the year, D.C. Department of Transportation officials have pledged that the city would be adding an additional 54 bike share stations throughout the city this fall. But with fall almost over, officials are recalibrating their timeline for the expansion.
John Lisle, a DDOT spokesman, said that although some new stations could be installed by the end of the month, many would not be.
“We are still waiting on equipment for the new stations,” Lisle said. “We are hopeful we will be able to get some down by the end of the year, but we will not get all 54 stations installed this year as planned.”
D.C. Council member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3), the chairwoman of Committee on the Environment, Public Works and Transportation, said she is “very disappointed” by the delay. Cheh said she plans to consult with other officials to try to make sure Capital Bikeshare's expansion is not slowed by demand from other cities.
“I think they should owe a high degree of loyalty to us because we were, in a way, sort of launching their operations,” Cheh said. “I think we deserve at least some deference to make sure they are supplying us according to what they promised.”
