A free valet service parked about 2,000 bicycles for those who opted to pedal into the city rather than brave crowded buses and trains on Inauguration Day.
“It was an amazing success,” said Eric Gilliland, who heads the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, which coordinated the project. “We didn’t lose a single bike.”
The nonprofit has offered such valet programs at festivals and neighborhood events, but this was its first inauguration and its largest effort so far.
The bike valet program was meant to help get people around on a crowded day in which road and bridge closures prevented cars from entering much of the city. Pedestrians spilled into the streets, and Metro smashed its rail ridership records with more than 1 million entries.
But the program also was intended to raise the profile of biking. Many cyclists told the volunteers they hadn’t considered biking until they heard about the valet service, Gilliland said.
The group teamed up with sponsors, including a company that loaned bike racks, then set up two valet spots, on the south side of the Jefferson Memorial and on 16th Street NW between I and K streets NW.
Cyclists were already lined up by the time volunteers arrived to open the enclosures for the valet’s 7 a.m. start, Gilliland said.
There were so many bikes at the 16th Street stand by midday that a second enclosure was built out of extra security barricades.
Only one helmet was reported lost. But Gilliland said the association located it and was trying to return it to the owner Wednesday.
