After years of planning, the Town of Vienna is finally kicking its Capital Bikeshare program into gear.
The Vienna Town Council voted unanimously on Monday (July 7) to award $231,000 in state grant funds toward the purchase and installation of four bicycle-sharing stations, with an option to add a fifth station in the future.
Constructed by Capital Bikeshare in collaboration with town staff, the first four stations are expected to be installed this fall and begin operating in early 2026, according to a press release.
“We’re excited to put Vienna on the bike sharing map,” Town of Vienna transportation engineer Andrew Jinks said in the release. “Adding these stations to an already expansive network … means that residents and community members will have a new sustainable and convenient way to get around town.”
Three of the four stations will be located in close proximity to the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail:
- Navy Federal Credit Union headquarters (801 Follin Lane SE)
- The Vienna Community Center (120 Cherry Street SE)
- The trail crossing at Ayr Hill Avenue
The fourth will be installed at the Maple Avenue and Nutley Street intersection, specifically near the site of the future Wolf Trap Hotel redevelopment at 444 Maple Avenue.
According to Vienna Public Works Director Brad Baer, the locations were chosen based in part on recommendations from a feasibility study that the town participated in with Fairfax City and George Mason University. Completed in July 2019, the study identified potential Capital Bikeshare locations in the area based on their proximity to public transit and local attractions, including the W&OD Trail, businesses and developments.
The Vienna Board of Architectural Review also approved a site plan for a station in the Town Hall parking lot last summer, but that apparently didn’t make it to the final list. The location of the possible fifth station remains to be determined.
Though she approved of having Capital Bikeshare near the W&OD Trail, Councilmember Sandra Allen expressed reservations about the planned station at Maple Avenue and Nutley, describing it as “a very tight, congested area.”
“I went bike riding around town recently, and it is difficult to bike on our sidewalks and our roads, because people are going fast, driving fast,” she said, questioning the safety of the location.
There were 10 vehicle crashes at that intersection last year, Vienna Police Chief Jim Morris told the council. That number of crashes is “not an oddity for Maple” Avenue, though, as other parts of the town’s main commercial corridor likely see similar rates.
Baer noted that space for a Capital Bikeshare station was a condition of the town’s approval of the planned 444 Maple development, which will bring a 151-unit, four-story apartment building with 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space. The project was approved in 2018, and the existing hotel and Tequila Grande restaurant were demolished in 2022, though it has yet to advance to construction.
The town hopes Capital Bikeshare will provide a “last-mile connection” between the housing and retail in the future development and the Vienna Metro station, Baer said.
Whether they’re on a traditional or electric bicycle, cyclists are required to follow state traffic laws when they’re on the road, including by yielding to and signaling for pedestrians. Vienna’s town code also allows bicycles on sidewalks.
“Those sidewalks [at Maple and Nutley] extend all the way to the Vienna Metro station,” Baer said. ” … It doesn’t help us now, but we have a shared-use path project in the [capital improvement plan] for that area, and I hope to be able to provide that infrastructure for the town as well in the future.”
With its first four stations, Vienna will add 21 standard bicycles and four electric bicycles to Capital Bikeshare’s network. The D.C. region has approximately 800 stations with 8,000 bicycles in total, including roughly 1,000 bikes in Fairfax County.
The cost of buying and installing the stations will be covered by a grant awarded by the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Transportation Alternatives program in 2021. Once they’re in place, Fairfax County will oversee the stations and cover operational and maintenance costs under an existing, multi-jurisdictional contract with Lyft, which manages Capital Bikeshare.
Councilmember Chuck Anderson called the arrangement “a great deal,” since the town isn’t “getting any revenue back, but it’s not costing us anything either.”
“I see this as potentially a big boon for our businesses along Maple in that people in Tysons will be able to basically jump on one of these Capital Bikeshare bikes and ride probably through the back streets to get to our businesses, park the bike there, spend some time in Vienna, and then pick it back up and go home,” he said. “So, there’s a business benefit too. I think it’s a great way to go.”
The fifth station would add another seven bicycles — five standard bikes and two electric ones. Though the town previously proposed placing the station near Town Hall, the location has now been left up in the air based on the town council’s feedback at a recent work session.
According to Councilmember Jessica Ramakis, some residents have suggested the Cedar Park Shopping Center as a possible location. Though it’s not right on the W&OD Trail, the retail center is only a couple of blocks away from a crossing. Thoreau Middle School and the Vienna Park apartments are also nearby.
The shopping center was also floated as a possibility by the town’s bicycle advisory committee, along with local parks, Baer said, noting that the availability of space and right-of-way is a consideration in addition to the proximity of amenities.
“[I’m] happy to look into any ideas,” he said.
Coming off of “unprecedented” ridership levels last year, Capital Bikeshare announced last month that it will increase prices starting Aug. 1 to support growing operational and management costs. The service said it recorded an all-time monthly record of 725,346 trips last October and a new single-day record of 35,569 trips during this year’s National Cherry Blossom Festival.
