It was very exciting news when Fairfax officials recently announced that Tysons would be getting new Bikeshare stations. It was only a few months ago that news was coming out about Reston getting stations, leading many to wonder why it would skip the burgeoning, and urban-aspiring, Tysons.
Well it turns out officials and the Tysons community at large were hard at work figuring out how to also incorporate bike sharing services here too. So, now that the budgetary and political work has been completed to get access to Bikeshare, the biggest hurdle that remains is properly locating the stations for maximum utility and usage.
Tysons will be getting 11 stations stocked with 80 bicycles; a pretty good start. One mistake we might make in locating the stations is to spread out the stations in a geographical pattern instead of focusing on a sociological and population pattern. In other words, let’s not just put a station every X feet or 1 per X acres. Instead, stations should be located where access to population zones, destination zones, and office zones create appropriate couples.
Obviously proximity to major transit hubs is appropriate, so let’s assume there will be one station per Silver Line station, leaving 7 more to be located.
The Park Crest and Avalon community of North Tysons should clearly get a station, perhaps one each based on their population. Provision of a station somewhere along Park Run Drive (for instance where the vacant lot for Park Crest 3 is located) would not only place Bikeshare at the cross roads of two separated bike lanes but also adjacent to thousands of residents and the Kaiser Permanente medical center, a big employment base. It would also be located next to the Harris Teeter which is a big destination both at lunch time and during typical grocery hours.
Due to the likely demand at this one location, a station further north, specifically addressing Avalon and Tysons Galleria, could also be appropriate. This would most logically be located along Tysons Boulevard which provides a straight shot along Tysons Boulevard to metro.
Where do you think they should go? Should another station be provided on the south entry to Spring Hill Station to connect into the future Vesper Trail? Should there be a station at the southern edge of Tysons where Vienna and Tysons residents could get between the W&OD and the mall? Should Rotonda get its own station or a shared dock with the growing Boro neighborhood?
Tell us your suggestions of where you think stations would be best situated.
