September 10, 2010
A major milestone for bicycling in the Washington, DC., area took place when Capital Bikeshare (abbreviated as CaBi) made its formal debut. At the time, this system had a grand total of 400 bicycles at 49 stations.
Ashley Halsey III vividly described the launch of CaBi in the next day’s edition of the Washington Post. He reported, “Like bees tumbling from the nest, scores of riders on identical ruby-red bicycles swarmed from a lot near Nationals Park on Monday, fanning out across the District and Arlington to establish a new bike-sharing network that will grow to a fleet of 1,100.”
Halsey further stated, “The dramatic deployment, with D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) on hand, was engineered to draw attention to the new program, which couples modern electronic gadgetry with a 19th-century invention to create a system that encourages casual cyclists to pedal around town.”
CaBi held the record as the largest network of its kind in the United States until Citi Bike in New York City first went into service in May 2013. Notwithstanding this downgrade in nationwide status, CaBi has continued to expand its reach, radius, and potential ridership in the years since that Monday in 2010.
This system now serves not only the nation’s capital and Arlington County but also Alexandria, Fairfax City, Fairfax County, and Falls Church in Virginia; and Montgomery County and Prince George’s County in Maryland. At this time, CaBi has about 800 stations and more than 8,000 bicycles.
Photo Credit: Public Domain
For more information on Capital Bikeshare (CaBi), please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Bikeshare
Transportation History 
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