25 Million Rides, 550 Stations: Nine Years In, Capital Bikeshare by the Numbers

• September 24th 2019

by Nena Perry-Brown

In 2008, DC became the first city in the country to establish a bikeshare system, laying the groundwork for what would become Capital Bikeshare. The shared transit landscape has changed considerably since then, with the system expanding into a total of seven local jurisdictions and the addition of several other bikeshare providers in DC proper, as well as the addition of on demand scooters and mopeds.

Yesterday, statistics blogger Mike Azar shared some data on Capital Bikeshare as the company celebrates over nine years in operation. Below are some of the more interesting statistics from Azar's research:

• 25 million -- The total number of Capital Bikeshare rides since its inception.
• 310,000 -- The number of rides taken per month in 2017, at peak Capital Bikeshare usage.
• 280,000 -- The number of rides taken per month in 2019; Capital Bikeshare usage has consistently dropped since its 2017 peak, perhaps coinciding with the introduction of new dockless bikeshare providers and subsequent regulation of that industry, along with the introduction of non-bicycle shared ride operators. 
• 40,000 -- The number of rides taken per month in 2019 by casual users with short term passes, comparable to this kind of ridership in 2013. This is down from nearly 85,000 casual rides taken per month in 2017. Overall, casual riders now account for less than 15 percent of total Capital Bikeshare ridership, down from a peak of 26 percent.
• 9-10 minutes -- The average duration of a ride for registered users. For casual riders, the average duration is 23-25 minutes.
• 550 -- The number of Bikeshare stations. There were fewer than 100 in 2010.
• 5,000 -- The number of Bikeshare bicycles, with about 40 added per month. In 2010, there were fewer than 500 bicycles.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/nine-years-in-capital-bikeshare-by-the-numbers/15928.