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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · 2d

One of my hotter takes is that BRT is far more of a scam than light rail is. I can’t wait to compare the effects of the Purple Line to Marc Elrich’s glorious BRT system he keeps championing once both are running

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · 2d

Not to mention the city is committing billions to building a stadium and residential district adjacent to the streetcar line. You know what one of the big benefits of a streetcar is compared to a bus? Handling large volumes of passengers!

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · 2d

I also have no doubt Bowser’s “next gen streetcar” will end up:

A: not happening

Or

B: costing way more on the capital and planning side than expected,

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · 2d

I don’t care how poorly planned or executed it was, this makes me so sad. Everything symbolic aside, even with the streetcar averaging 6-7k riders per day, the D20/D2X are overcrowded (13k daily riders) - that’s why they built a streetcar! Crowding will only get worse even with extra buses

Budget cut means D.C. Streetcar will shut down in March

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) stripped funding for the doomed service from future budgets.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · 11d

(anecdotally I’ve been seeing more broken fare boxes lately @wmata.com)

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · 11d

fare evasion this, fare evasion that, meanwhile I’m upset when a broken fare box means my trip won’t get counted for Metro Rewind

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · 12d

Release the Illustrator files

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · 24d

WMATA moved fast on the bus decals!

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · 29d

As is typical, the movement is being led by a registered democrat who has no qualms about working with county republicans to oppose upzoning

PERSAUD PERSUASIVE AT BREAKFAST CLUB

www.mcgop.com

Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · 29d

Also you can’t just pair a date with “hope of homeownership” …that makes no sense

God bless NIMBYs with their nonsensical arguments and shitty graphic design

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · 29d

“We’re saying goodbye to the single-family home,” Persaud said. “We had a funeral service to say our goodbyes and to look around, because a lot of these people here won’t be here when all this development starts.”

bethesdamagazine.com/2025/09/11/c...

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Reposted by Spencer Ainsworth

Greater Greater Washington @ggwash.org · Sep 9

We can take many paths to improve Transit to Trails access from DC. Here are a few, from most to least feasible:

How to improve trail access, with transit

View this post on ggwash.org

ggwash.org

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

Absolutely, that’s probably part of the reason for the decline across downtown stations

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

I've said this a million times but CaBi needs to invest in more stations in these outlying communities demand exists but the lack of stations force riders to leave bikes undocked, raising operating costs for the system and usage costs for the individual

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

What does this all mean?

The pros: in theory better bike availability at stations with more people choosing to dock and reduced operating costs for CaBi

The cons: fewer people choosing to ride CaBi, especially in disadvantaged areas!

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

This map shows the change in undocked ridership from July to August where blue is an increase and bright yellow is a >50% decline. Undocked ebike ridership increased in much of Ward 3 and plummeted in Wards 4, 7, and 8!

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

This change is especially important for equity concerns in areas like Capitol Heights or Hyattsville where few stations exist but high ridership demand leads to lots of undocked ridership

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

For CaBi for All members, the newly introduced $2 fee is likely covered by the $40 in monthly credit for most users, but still likely reduced usage due to the creation of a scarcity mindset compared to before when there was no fee

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

For non-members, this increase makes CaBi less competitive compared to other providers like Lime. At $0.49/minute for Lime, the break-even point for an undocked CaBi ride is now around 20 min compared to 6 min before the change (the new member pricing is the same as the old non-member pricing)

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

What prompted this? Two changes in CaBi pricing: the fee for non-members to leave a bike undocked rose from $2 to $3 and the fee for CaBi for All membership (reduced fare program) went from $0 to $2 but with a $40 credit that users can put toward ebike rides or undocking fees

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

...declined overall by 9% from July to August. That's because station activity (ride starts + ride ends) actually INCREASED 9% compared to July.

The largest change is in undocked rides: in July, 30% of rides were undocked whereas only 15% were in August.

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

Any trends across different stations? Here's where things get a bit interesting. On the face of it, there aren't clear trends - a decline around foggy bottom (more layoffs? end of intern season?), but nothing else that stands out. What's interesting is all the green you see even though ridership....

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

The member vs casual split did change but modestly: 69% of rides in July were by members whereas that pct dropped to 65% in August. The $25 price increase likely led to some people not renewing their membership

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

First, let's talk about what didn't change that much. In July, 62% of rides were on ebikes vs 61% in August so the price increase didn't lead to people switching back to classics more

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Spencer Ainsworth @sp-ainsworth.bsky.social · Sep 8

By the width of a spoke, Capital Bikeshare's 44 month YoY streak of ridership gains continues! 639k rides in August vs 614k last year, an increase of just 4% (in spite of the very dry weather!). The price increase is likely to blame - below I discuss how ridership patterns are changing 1/

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