Along with 50 or so of my neighbors, I attended the public input meeting for placement of new Capital Bikeshare stations on Monday night.

After the presentation, I expected a discussion about why the stations are so closely spaced, questions about when Columbia Pike might see stations, or even some misdirected complaints over parking spots. Instead, it turned out that most participants had another big concern they wanted to discuss  -- that there would be enough CaBi bikes and rack spaces to go around.

As you may have noticed, CaBi's kind of a big deal around here.

Everyone wants in on the action, and this has created... well, some might say an opportunity, while others definitely call it a problem. Either way, the issue is that many people are finding that a CaBi bike or rack space isn't available when they want one.

While there are some short-term fixes -- more balancing capacity, incentives for users to move bikes, and so on -- the only real solution is simply increasing the number of CaBi stations. That can only be done, however, though additional funding from Arlington County and Washington, D.C. And making that happen is a comparatively long-term project.

So what can a CaBi user do to improve his or her experience right now? Here are a few suggestions:

Understand CaBi's Purpose. First and foremost, users should realize that Capital Bikeshare is simply not a viable option for most daily commuting. Don't sign up for the program expecting that there will be a CaBi bike available at your local station at 8 a.m. every day for you to pedal into work. That this is an unreasonable expectation seems to surprise many of the dissatisfied CaBi users I've met. They don't seem to understand that it only takes six to 10 other people in their neighborhood trying to use "their" CaBi station for regular commuting before it's unreliable for all of them. You want reliable daily transportation to work reserved exclusively for you? Buy a bike. You want access to an alternative transportation option for getting around town most of the time? Sign up for Capital Bikeshare.

Gather Strategic Information. Until the system greatly expands its capacity, some origin/destination combos will be chronically underserved. Capital Bikeshare provides a raw data stream related to its operations, and now there are lots of tools out there to help visualize that information. You can, for example, use them to find out whether the stations you're most likely to use have consistently low availability. Local cycling blog WashCycle used public CaBi data to assemble these demand intensity maps, which can give users a good idea of the most popular stations in the system.

Use Tactical Planning. Once you've signed up, the very best way to avoid availability-related frustration and disappointment with CaBi is using the SpotCycle app on your Android, Blackberry or iPhone. It will show you, in real time, which stations have available bikes and racks. It's free, and available here. Keep in mind, however, that you won't be the only person using this information. If you're looking for alternatives to dock your bike, consider heading to a station with multiple open racks, instead of likely competing with another user for the single open rack at another station.

Will using this approach guarantee you a CaBi bike every time you want one? No. But it will definitely help increase your chances.

~

Basic system-wide usage information can be found through the CaBiDashboard. Here's a video tutorial on using the CaBi Dashboard. 

This tool has some interesting animations illustrating station use over the last 24 hours.

Mark Blacknell is chairman of the Arlington Bicycle Advisory Committee.