On The Docket: Bike Early Bird Pricing and No Silver Line Side Street Parking

Karen Goff October 29, 2013 at 9:30am

Reston Parking — both of bikes and cars near Metro’s Silver Line station — will be topics for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

The board will be discussing reduced introductory rates for the Bike & Ride room at the Silver Line’s Wiehle-Reston East Metrorail Station

The County Executive has recommended the board approve an introductory, reduced rate for the first bicycle riders applying for membership to use the new bike storage room Wiehle-Reston East.

Wiehle-Reston East will be the end of the Silver Line Phase I. It is scheduled to open early next year, though an exact date has not been set. The parking garage, a public-private partnership between Comstock and Fairfax County, will have space for about 3,000 cars.

The garage will also feature Fairfax County’s first enclosed, secure bicycle parking facility with a capacity for over 200 bicycles. There will also be unsecured (free) parking as well as a space reserved for a future bikesharing station.

In July, the Board of Supervisors approved various rates for garage, inclduing a $75 annual bike room membership. This includes a one-time fee of $15.00 (non-refundable) for the access key fob.

But the Fairfax County Department of Transportation wants to encourage bike users to sign up early and use the facility often, so it hopes to offer an early registration discount of $45 (or $75 for two years) for those who sign up before March 1.

Also, the proposal says users of the bike lockers at the Sunset Hills Park-and-Ride Lot will be offered the early registration fee and their current annual locker rental fee will be applied to the new bike room fee. The lot will close when the Metro station opens.

In other parking news, the board is also seeking to have a public hearing in November on establishing the Great Meadow Residential Permit Parking District.

Under county by-laws, the board can impose parking restrictions in an area within 2,000 feet of a rail station. The county would prohibit parking on Great Meadow Drive and Weybridge Lane, residential streets close to the station.