Union Station Bikestation media highlights

                                                                                                          (Credit: Bikestation)

With the official opening of the Bikestation at Union Station approaching fast and DDOT's recent announcement that membership registration has officially opened, media interest in the station continues to ramp up. Many of the stories have been boilerplate and unremarkable, but here and there reporters have turned up new bits of information or presented it in a particularly memorable (sometimes loopy, sometimes thoughtful, and sometimes pinheaded manner). A few of the highlights so far:

*The Washington Post's Dr. Gridlock compares the Bike Station to a space ship that "took a wrong turn at the Mall and parked next to the train station."  

*The Cato Institute frets about the fact that $4 million federal tax dollars have gone to the "opulent" station. Apparently, Cato's folks haven't heard about the $67 million dollar bike parking facility in Japan. Or the that highways have also received massive amounts of--gasp--federal money in subsidies over the years. 

*The Washington Business Journal points out that the DC Bikestation is part of a nationwide network that includes 12 other stations and 200 expected within the next five years. That, perhaps more than this particular bike station, is a significant story that reporters ought to be following. 

*AIA Architect takes the green angle noting that the "organic massing, lack of strictly defined 'walls', and total transparency allows lines of sight to flow over the building and broadcast its purpose as a unique carbon-neutral transit hub."  

*WashCycle quotes DC Bike Ambassador Ben West singing the station's praises. "It is an object designed to attract attention, to impress, to be functional and hint at things to come and in those ways it is fundamentally Washingtonian. It says that DC is committed to a smart, sustainable future and it is saying that clearly and elegantly," West notes.  

*NPR quotes a project manager who offers the best description of what the Bikestation looks like.  "Some people say it's a half-football or a shell...It has a four sided [with] scalloped shells that overlap." 

*DCist spoke with Andrea White-Kjoss, the CEO of Mobis/Bikestation who says the station "represents D.C's big statement about what they want to do for bicyclists in the city." White-Kjoss, it turns out, with her fashion sense and girl-next-door good looks, may be just the sort of spokesperson cyclists need to attract new riders, particularly much-needed women, into the fold.

*The Reuters business wire has more from White-Kjoss who makes some notable points.  Among them: that she hopes "legislators passing by and using Bikestation D.C. will have the opportunity to see a new transportation paradigm working right before their eyes, and they'll understand better how alternative transportation centers might work in their states."  Did you hear that Eric Cantor, John Boehner, and Jim DeMint?

*The Post offers more basic details: it's 1,700 square feet, costs $100 per year for membership, and will contain changing rooms, personal lockers, and a bike repair shop.  All good things, though it's a shame they couldn't find a way to include some showers.

*Tom Vanderbilt opines about the importance of bicycle parking in Slate, calling Bikestation D.C. "a swooping shell of glass and tubes" and linking to my interview with architect.