Polar Biking: Capital Bikeshare Ridership Surges Despite Frigid Temps

[marmar]

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) - This past week was so cold that polar bears weren’t even allowed to sleep outdoors in Chicago.

Sure, it wasn’t as bad as Chiberia here, but Tuesday was the coldest day in years. And yet, it wasn’t cold enough to keep a bunch of you from using Capital Bikeshare.

“I pulled some data from last year to try and compare this week from last year and of course we’ve had some very extreme weather, but ridership is up,” said Kim Lucas who manages the Capital Bikeshare program for DDot. “Part of that is there were more bikes on the road so there are more opportunities for people to ride.”

And Lucas says those increased opportunities translated into more than 2,300 trips on a day that started with single digit temperatures. By comparison, on the same day in 2013, the system saw just 1,986 trips. The high temperature at Reagan National this past Tuesday was 20 degrees, last year it was 52. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/01/11/polar-biking-capital-bikeshare-ridership-surges-despite-frigid-temps/