Capital Bikeshare is a great way to get
around the city so there's an important
thing you need to know that I'm going to
tell you about in this video make sure
to stick around to the end for some the
bonus Capital Bikeshare pass hello
welcome to trip X you see my name is Rob
I'm a tour guide here in the nation's
capital if you're coming to Washington
DC and you're looking for the best tips
tricks and hacks for exploring the city
make sure to subscribe to this channel
so that you don't miss anything if
you're interested in having me show you
around head on over to my website
cryptex DC comm afterwards to see what I
offer if you use Capital Bikeshare or a
bike sharing system in another city and
have any tips or hacks you want to share
leave a comment on this video and let me
know otherwise before we talk about how
to ride Capital Bikeshare let's talk
about something equally important which
is when you shouldn't use the system the
reason I bring this up is because before
I made this video I looked on Yelp and
found a very large number of negative
reviews for Capital Bikeshare and it
seems like there are a lot of people who
are using it when they really should be
using a regular bike rental here are
three main reasons why you don't want to
use Capital Bikeshare first if you need
a bike for an extended period of time
don't use bike share these bike sharing
systems were designed for short hops in
one-way trips from one part of the city
to another we'll talk about the pricing
in a moment but basically what you need
to know is if you want to go on a long
bike ride bike share is not a good
option second if you have kids don't use
bike share you have to be at least 16
years old to ride these bikes and
honestly they're just way too big for
most kids and please don't put small
children in the basket on the front of
the Capital Bikeshare bikes
this might seem totally obvious most of
you but I see it way too often and it's
not just against the rule it's really
unsafe third if you need helmets locks
or other accessories
don't use bike share with Capital
Bikeshare you get a bike and that's it
if you need anything else you should try
a place like bike control or you can get
bikes of all sizes helmet lock trailers
for kids and other goodies I'll leave a
link to buy control in the description
now let's talk about how the pricing
works unfortunately the pricing is not
exactly straightforward if you've never
used a bike sharing system like this
for the cost arise is basically the
membership fee plus the usage fee let's
talk about the membership fee first as
you can think of as the fee you pay just
to get access to the bike there are a
few options here right now you can pay
two dollars for a single ride eight
dollars for twenty four-hour membership
seventeen dollars for a three-day
membership or eighty five dollars for a
one-year membership for a typical
visitor any of the first three will be
more than fine but you do need to do a
little bit of math to figure out which
option is going to be best for you and
I'll leave a little cheat sheet in the
description to help you figure that out
then there's the usage fee which is what
you pay based on how long you keep the
bike checked out and this is where it
starts to get confusing for a lot of
people you check out a bike ride it
around and return it to a dock within
thirty minutes they'll pay no additional
fee however if you're at it for longer
than 30 minutes you'll pay two dollars
for that first half hour then an
additional four dollars for the next
half hour then an additional eight
dollars for each half hour did you keep
the bikes checked out so if you take a
bike right around for say three hours
and ten minutes and then return it
you'll pay thirty eight dollars in usage
fee plus the membership fee that you
already paid when you started I can
totally understand how this is confusing
because someone who did limited or no
research shows up and sees a 24-hour
pass for $8.00 and thanks gracile
unlimited bike riding for a fox
hopefully now that you've seen this you
won't make a rookie mistake like that to
avoid getting up charge it is imperative
that you keep each of your eyes to 30
minutes or less use Capital Bikeshare to
get from point A to point B not for
joyriding around the city okay now that
we've covered that let's head outside
and I'm going to show you how to
actually use the system you can start at
any Capital Bikeshare station approach
the kiosk and press the rent-a-bike
button first thing it will ask you to do
is swipe your credit card after that
it's going to show you a warning about
the usage fees you can click yes to
accept since you're well versed now
about how that works then you pick what
kind of membership you want to buy for
this video I did a single trip you can
take either one or two bikes per credit
cards but if you select two you will pay
double if you have a gift certificate
you can enter it on this screen but most
visitors probably
it's going to give you a summary of the
transaction and the initial price press
ok when you're ready the next two
screens are where you enter the phone
number and billing zip code associated
with your credit card after that you'll
confirm that you're 18 years or older
and then finally you'll have to read the
Terms of Service click OK when you're
finished next you'll be given the choice
to either view the byte code on the
screen or print a receipt with the code
on it if you have a good memory you can
view it otherwise you can print it like
I did take your code to any vice enter
it on the keypad and once you get the
green light you're ready to go I find
the easiest to pull the bike out if you
lift up under the seat and then pull
back I brought my own helmet for this
ride you do not legally need one to ride
a bike in the District of Columbia if
you're an adult but remember that if you
want a helmet you do need to bring your
own when you're done with your bike
bring it back to the dock and push it
hard to return it if the return was
successful you'll get the green light
and a pleasant beat if you get a red
light and a loud buzz you need to try
again before we wrap up I want to give
you a few additional bonus bike share
hacks the first is to download stop
cycle on your phone this is an app that
will show you the location of every bike
share dock in the system and how many
bikes are there and how many open docks
are there so you know in advance whether
they'll be a bike there when you need to
check one out and an open dock when you
need to return it I strongly recommend
using this app and making sure that
there's an open dock available at your
destination there is nothing more
frustrating about Capital Bikeshare
to getting to where you're trying to go
and finding the docks completely full of
ice that said my next pass is that you
can avoid being penalized even in a
situation where this happened if you get
to a dock and it's completely full you
can go to the kiosk and press the time
credits button then swipe your credit
card and it'll give you an additional 15
minutes to find another dock without
charging you for the time my last phone
attack isn't really a half so much as it
is to just say use common sense when
using Capital Bikeshare treat the bikes
like you would treat your own bike don't
do anything that you wouldn't do back
home for example don't just ditch your
Capital Bikeshare bike when you're going
to run into a store or a Starbucks or to
go look at the Lincoln Memorial up close
you might not think that anyone would
want to steal one of these bikes but if
they do you're going to be on the hook
for $1,200
and that is just not worth the risk and
that's it thank you for watching this
video if you found it helpful you can
subscribe to the channel by clicking on
the trip tax ICI logo which is popping
up at the bottom of the screen and if
you're coming to DC and you're
interested in one of my tours you can
click on the picture of the Capitol dome
on the left side of my head that will
take you to my website trip tech cc.com
and you can see the tours that I offer
enjoy your trip