This is great! I am really surprised that something like this is going to happen. I thought it would be at least another 10 years before DC's gov't would approve expenditure on such a marvelous idea.

Thought: Make your Metro SmarTrip card the "key" that releases your rental from the bike kiosk. Most folks who use the metrorail/buses in the city already own one, and you won't be clogging wallets up (or keychains) with another RFID card or key fob.

I think it sucks that the renter would be responsible if the bike was stolen, as I don't think the kiosks will be centrally located enough so that patrons can easily lock a bike of at a kiosk and still perform their errand/task without hoofing it. Perhaps for a few bucks more per month in the rental plan renters could purchase theft insurance?

The locations I always seem to wish I had a bike are places that have a metrorail stop (like Farragut Square and Adams Morgan-Zoo)), but no vehicular way to get to nearby neighborhoods (Georgetown and 18th & Columbia respectively) without taking unreliable/packed/slow buses. This is double true on the weekends!

It would be great to have a kiosk in GTown as well as Adams Morgan (18th & Columbia, specifically) since both of these areas fit the high auto traffic with no metrorail station bill. Plus, they both have residential neighborhoods spilling off of them that aren't connected by metrorail. I'd love to be able to take the metrorail to the adams morgan metro station and then hop on a rental bike to get to several of my favorite restaurants near 18 and Florida. Also, it would be great to take the metro to Farragut West and hop on a bike to ride down M street and then hook a right into the Burleith neighborhood/glover park to visit friends and run errands.

I bike twice as many miles as I drive. Nice idea, but . . .

1. How do you expect 10 locations to work? What if there were only 10 locations to park your car? Do you think that would encourage people to drive?

2. The police must recognize the right of bicycles to use the roads, and that means that drivers need to go to jail, pay heavy fines, etc. when the hit, injure, or kill a cyclist--rather than getting an "OK" when they say "I didn't see it." (This is not just a DC problem.) Every accident involving a cyclist should be investigated by a bicycle policeman.