transportation | ARLnow.com

County Officials Wrestle With Legal Strategies to Keep Young Riders Off Dockless Scooters

Published November 29, 2018 at 9:45AM

Arlington will soon see even more dockless electric scooters cropping up on its streets, but officials remain a bit vexed about the best way to keep underage riders off the vehicles.

While county transportation officials say they haven’t seen any major safety issues with the scooters beyond a handful of accidents, they also told the County Board Tuesday that the community response to the pilot program expanding the number of dockless vehicles in Arlington has been far from unanimously positive. In all, county commuter services bureau chief Jim Larsen told the Board that his department has received 550 scooter-related complaints from Oct. 1 through Nov. 19.

News

New Commuter Bus Route Set to Provide First Direct Link Between Haymarket, R-B Corridor

By Alex Koma

Published November 21, 2018 at 11:00AM | Updated November 21, 2018 at 11:37AM

A Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission commuter bus (via PRTC)

Commuters to, and through, Arlington from Northern Virginia’s western suburbs will soon have a new bus option.

The Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission, commonly known as PRTC, is starting up a new bus route to connect Haymarket to stops along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. Starting Dec. 17, buses will stop at four locations in Haymarket, including a soon-to-be-completed commuter parking lot, and five stops in Arlington.

News

As Pentagon City Transitway Expansion Gains Steam, County Convenes Open House Tonight

By Alex Koma

Published November 8, 2018 at 9:45AM

Metroway buses for the Crystal City-Potomac Yard Transitway (Photo via Arlington County)

Arlington is gearing up to extend its bus rapid transit system to better connect Crystal City to Pentagon City, and county officials are inviting people to learn more about the project at a meeting tonight (Thursday).

The county is holding an open house to show off details of the planned Crystal City-Potomac Yard Transitway extension, running from 6:30-8 p.m. in the Crystal City Shops (2100 Crystal Drive).

News

More Scooter Companies Coming to Arlington As Safety Concerns Linger

By Alex Koma

Published November 6, 2018 at 3:45PM

A scooter safety sign from Arlington Police in Clarendon.

Arlington officials say the first month of the county’s dockless vehicle pilot program has largely gone smoothly, though enforcing rules about where to ride the pervasive electric scooters remains a challenge.

Two companies — Lime and Bird — have been offering their dockless scooters around Arlington ever since the County Board signed off on a “demonstration project” for the vehicles in late September. Though Bird previously operated in the county without any explicit government involvement, the Board’s pilot program was designed to set some standards for dockless vehicles and allow companies to operate hundreds in the county at a time.

News

Ridesharing Service Via Expands into Arlington, Offering ‘Virtual Bus Stops’ for Riders

By Alex Koma

Published October 30, 2018 at 10:45AM

A Via driver in front of the Court House Metro station (courtesy of Via)

Arlington is getting a new ridesharing service that will offer “virtual bus stops” to encourage more efficient trips.

Via announced yesterday (Monday) that it plans to expand from D.C. into Arlington. The company says that for now it will not offer service to Reagan National Airport as part of its Arlington expansion, but it plans to do so “in the coming months.”

News

Lime Becomes Second Company to Bring Dockless Scooters to Arlington

By Alex Koma

Published October 18, 2018 at 10:45AM

Lime dockless scooters in Ballston

Lime has become the second company to start offering dockless electric scooters in Arlington, expanding into the county soon after officials signed off on a pilot program to allow more of the vehicles around the area.

The company successfully applied for that program and is so far only offering scooters, not bikes, in Arlington, according to county transportation spokesman Eric Balliet. Bird was the first company to drop its dockless scooters in the county this summer, though Lime has been courting support from the county’s business community for months now.

News

Metro Needs Better Reliability, Not Service Increases, to Attract Riders, NoVa Officials Say

By Alex Koma

Published October 4, 2018 at 4:45PM

As Metro’s leaders wrestle anew with the question of how to bring riders back to the troubled transit service, Northern Virginia officials are offering their own suggestions: focus on reliability, and create new fare card plans to entice riders.

In a new report to Gov. Ralph Northam and the General Assembly set to be considered tonight (Thursday), the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission plans to urge Metro to use those strategies to boost ridership, and put WMATA on sounder financial footing in the process.

News

County Signs Off on Program to Draw In Hundreds More Dockless Bikes, Scooters

By Alex Koma

Published September 27, 2018 at 1:45PM

Bird scooters near Ballston

Arlington officials will soon allow dockless vehicle companies to operate up to 750 electric scooters and bikes in the county over the next nine months, reversing earlier plans to set a much lower cap on the vehicles as part of a new pilot project.

Starting next week, companies will be able to participate in the “demonstration project” the County Board unanimously approved Tuesday. While an earlier version of the program called for a cap of 350 vehicles per company, the Board ultimately opted for a much larger limit over concerns that a smaller cap would stymie the success of the dockless vehicle firms.

News

County Unveils Dockless Vehicle Pilot Program, Plans to Cap Number of Scooters and Bikes in Arlington

By Alex Koma

Published September 20, 2018 at 10:45AM | Updated September 20, 2018 at 12:27PM

(Updated at 12:25 p.m.) Arlington is rolling out its promised pilot program to guide the use of dockless vehicles, clearing the way for more companies to offer electric scooters and bikes in the county.

County officials have been mulling how best to regulate dockless vehicles since Bird started offering its scooters in Arlington this June without any warning to the local government. Now, the County Board is set to approve a program requiring companies to register with the county to avoid similar surprises, while also capping the number of vehicles they can deploy in Arlington.

Opinion

Letter to the Editor: Don’t Overlook the Dangers of Electric Scooters

By ARLnow.com

Published September 10, 2018 at 4:45PM | Updated September 20, 2018 at 11:21AM

The following Letter to the Editor was submitted by Daniel Berkland, an Ashton Heights resident who was recently involved in an accident on a Bird electric scooter.

The dockless vehicles first arrived in Arlington in June, and county officials are planning to unveil a new policy governing their use later this month, as scooter-related injuries appear to be on the rise as the vehicles gain popularity nationwide.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published August 30, 2018 at 9:00AM

GMA Broadcasts Segment from Arlington — ABC’s Good Morning America broadcast a live segment from Arlington’s fire training academy near Shirlington yesterday. [Twitter]

Buyers’ Market in 2020? — “Home sellers likely will continue to hold more negotiating power than buyers for the next year and a half, according to the 2018 Q3 Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey. But it won’t last forever, experts say.” [InsideNova]

Events

PARK(ing) Day 2018 Applications Now Available

By Vernon Miles

Published August 21, 2018 at 1:55PM

PARK(ing) Day 2017 participants (photo via Department of Environmental Services)

On Sept. 15, stretches of Arlington’s on-street parking will be transformed into pop-up parks for the annual PARK(ing) Day event, and applications are now available to turn your bare asphalt into a roadside oasis.

There are many restrictions on which spots are eligible and what kinds of decorations can be included on-site. The parking spaces must be legal parking spots that aren’t reserved for other uses, like rush hour, handicap, or loading zone spots. Parking spaces also can’t be located at the end of the street block.