The East Falls Church Metro station is getting 20 new bike racks following security concerns along N. Sycamore Street.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) plans to install 10 U-racks and 10 “smart racks” at East Falls Church in February, according to a project page.
It’s part of a new initiative to improve bike parking facilities at Metro stations, which will also bring new storage facilities to Pentagon City in February. But the announcement also comes shortly after WMATA announced that it was removing bike racks along N. Sycamore Street outside the East Falls Church station’s camera-monitored perimeter.
“This action is being taken to enhance customer safety by aligning bicycle parking infrastructure with areas monitored by Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) surveillance systems,” the advisory said.
The bike racks were scheduled to be removed on Dec. 3.
WMATA has not announced where the 20 new racks in East Falls Church will be installed, or whether the racks along N. Sycamore Street are the only ones getting replaced.
The main bike facility at the Metro station earned infamy after delivering five years late and $1.1 million over budget in August 2020. The delay and budget overruns prompted an investigation that found miscommunication and a lack of oversight, among other problems, plagued the project.
Installation of the newest bike facilities “should only take a week” once work begins, a WMATA spokesperson told ARLnow — adding that the number of people biking to Metro has rebounded since the pandemic, when the East Falls Church bicycle racks sat largely empty.
“Bike parking at the East Falls Church Bike and Ride facility has grown as rail ridership has increased in recent years,” the spokesperson said.
On the other side of Arlington, the Pentagon City Metro station will be getting two double-sided bike lockers, one oversized locker and eight new U-racks as part of a push to encourage more people to bike to Metro stops.
The transit system is also rolling out a new app to let bicyclists rent spaces on demand by the hour, shifting away from an annual rental system with physical keys. In total, WMATA plans to install 450 new standard bike lockers, 50 new oversized lockers, 100 new self-locking racks, 75 new repair stations and 600 new U-racks.
The Virginia Square and Clarendon Metro stations are among those expected to get new bike lockers, at a date yet to be announced.
Bike lockers cost five cents per hour, up to $1 per day, and smart racks are free to reserve through the BikeLink app. Bicyclists can park for a maximum of five days at a time.
