How much would it cost to bring Capital Bikeshare to Hyattsville?

The answer depends on a couple things. First, how many docking stations the city chose to install, and second, how good of a deal it negotiated.

Each municipality has to negotiate its own agreement with Alta Bicycle Share, the company that operates the Bikeshare stations.

But the Hyattsville Wire was able to get a hold of some figures used by neighboring Montgomery County that give a good baseline.

A few things to know: Every day the Bikeshare operator has to move bikes around to “re-balance” the docking stations. For that reason, they prefer to have mostly 19-dock stations or, for the most part, at least 15-dock stations.

There are also costs associated with setting up the docking stations, preparing the land they’ll sit on, getting the appropriate permits, etc.

That said, a 15-dock, 8-bike station in Montgomery County cost $50,900 to install and $22,000 in annual operating expenses. A 19-dock, 10-bike station cost $59,700 to install and $27,850 in annual expenses. And a 23-dock, 12-bike station cost $68,500 to install and $30,800 in annual expenses.

At a minimum, you can figure you’d want a larger station at each of the two Metro stops and mid-sized stations in the Arts District, near the Post Park apartments on East-West Highway and somewhere in the Historic District. (Feel free to suggest other locations in the comments below.)

So the cost for a minimum viable system would be $316,000 to install and $145,150 to maintain each year. Or, if the city aimed for a more comprehensive 10-station setup, $632,200 to install and $290,300 to maintain.

Again, these are just hypotheticals, but it’s sometimes helpful to be able to put a number on an idea.