Thousands of residents and visitors chose to make their way to the historic inauguration of our 44th president, Barack Obama, by bicycle.  In what was a landmark day for America, and a record for transportation demand for our nation’s capital, bike valet proved remarkably successful. The inaugural bike valet, the first of its kind for a US president, was the largest bike valet in a single day ever in the US- over 2,000 bicyclists took advantage of the free service organized and run by WABA. In fact, over 50 bikes where parked at the north station on 16th & K streets before opening at 7am. The north station also had to close temporarily around 10:30am before expanding to an additional coral.

It was a smart choice to arrive by bike as traffic was greatly hampered by security and bridge closings. Metro is usually a great way to get around the city, but those who did noted the massive throngs onboard.  Bike Valet staff & volunteers from WABA, Dero, and DDOT worked hard to ensure a high level of service throughout the day at both locations.  We also asked a few participants why they chose to ride and what they thought of the service. See video below. Note, the bicycles took up an entire two lanes of a city block- a rare site in a US city. Updates and photos will be added soon.

Update: 1/26/09: Photo Albums available Dero: http://picasaweb.google.com/DeroBikeRacks/BikeValetForInauguration WABA: http://flickr.com/photos/waba/sets/72157612778271825/