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Bicycling

Streetfilms: DC Bike-Share Hits the Ground Rolling

2:36 PM EDT on August 22, 2008

With the first US bike-share system starting up just a short Amtrak ride away in Washington, DC, you know it wouldn't take long for the Streetfilms crew to make the scene. This week, Elizabeth Press, Clarence Eckerson and Robin Urban Smith took the already-popular SmartBike DC for a spin, and talked to local citizens, advocates and Alice Kelly of the District Department of Transportation, who hints at a possible expansion of the 120 bike fleet:

"Knowing what we know now, of course, we would have launched it bigger. But when we were initially thinking about this we really weren't sure how popular it would be. The rising cost of gas and the ever-increasing green attitude of everybody is now showing us that yes, the city will support a broader program."

Brad Aaron
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York'’s dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.

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