FABB Blog

 

Keep Tysons Moving, by bike

Fionnuala and I attended the Keep Tysons Moving event early this morning. The purpose is to provide updates on construction of the HOT lanes and Dulles Rail projects, and to provide employers with information about the many transportation options serving Tysons. This is our third year at the event and each year there seems to be more interest in biking to Tysons.

As Fionnuala mentioned on the FABB Facebook page, we met Dr. Gridlock, Robert Thompson for the first time. We had communicated once about including bicycles in his comparison of travel times, either comparing different routes or travel modes. He was interested but it never developed. He's still interested to so we'll continue to pursue the idea.

The event is held at Capital One, just inside the Beltway and north of Rt 123. Employees can see the Tysons Mall but can't get there on foot and crossing under the Beltway on123 on a bike is intimidating to say the least. We rode from Reston and Vienna, taking the W&OD Trail to Virginia Lane to Hurst St to Idylwood to Idyl Lane to Pimmit Drive. Then we crossed Route 7 and took the service road north along Route 7 which turned out to be a decent route that lead to Lisle Ave with just a small detour where the service road was blocked and could easily be re-opened just for bike/ped traffic. We then took Lisle to Cherri, Magarity, Holly Ridge and Old Meadow Rd which lead to Capital One. It took me an hour from Reston and it was a pleasant start to the day.

We learned about a new program offered by Fairfax Co. Employer Services Program, the Bike Benefit Match Program. The program is for large employers (100 employees on-site) who agree to participate for a year. The county will reimburse the employer for 50% of the cost of implementing the Bicycle Commuter Tax Benefit. Employees receive the $20/month benefit and it only costs the employers $10/month for the first year, with Fairfax Co paying the rest.

We also learned about a new program offered by VDOT through NuRide: "Commuters can earn rewards for telecommuting, carpooling, vanpooling, taking public transportation, walking or biking. Commuters sign up for free at gotysons.org/nuride, and earn points for each car-free trip they record on the web site. Points are then redeemed for coupons, discounts and special offers from nearly 50 local restaurants and retailers. There will be weekly drawings to win $100 in free groceries from SHOPPERS."

We also promoted the Bike Commuting Seminar that we plan to teach on Friday, May 6 in Tysons. A light lunch will be provided. For more information and to RSVP, contact TYTRAN (703-799-5394, info@tytran.org) or Bruce Wright, chairman of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling (FABB) at chairman@fabb-bikes.org, 703-328-9619.

Labels: Tysons

posted by Bruce Wright at 7:59 PM permalink