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Bin Laden White House Rally A Boon For Capital Bikeshare

By: David Schultz // May 3, 2011
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Hundreds of people hopped on Capital Bikeshare bikes to head to the White House to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden Sunday night.
D.C. Department of Transportation
Hundreds of people hopped on Capital Bikeshare bikes to head to the White House to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden Sunday night.

When news broke that U.S. forces had killed the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, hundreds of people flocked to the gates of the White House for a spontaneous celebration.

Apparently, many of them used the Capital Bikeshare bike rental service to get there.

John Lisle, a spokesman with the District's Department of Transportation, says between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. on Sunday night, Capital Bikeshare recorded more than 550 trips.

(It may not be surprising, given that the President's speech occurred right around the time Metro would have been closing up shop for the night.)

That number was more than five times the Bikeshare usage during the same time period last Sunday, when there was no bin Laden-related breaking news.

A website that maps Bikeshare usage showed that at around 11:00, right after news broke of bin Laden's death, all the Capital Bikeshare stations around the White House rapidly filled up.

Membership in this publicly funded bike service has exploded since it started last fall. There are more than 100 Bikeshare rental stations already in D.C. and Arlington, and at least two dozen more are planned.

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