(Washington, DC) In anticipation of the hundreds of thousands of visitors expected at this year’s National Cherry Blossom Festival, and with tourist season right around the corner, Capital Bikeshare has introduced a new 5-day membership option. The new 5-day membership, priced at $15, is geared specifically towards visitors to the nation’s capital and offers significant savings over the purchase of five individual day memberships priced at $5 a day. The membership is available for purchase at all Capital Bikeshare stations. Even before the festival kicks off, Capital Bikeshare has reached an exciting milestone: Tuesday night a member logged the 250,000th Bikeshare trip, just six months after the program’s launch in September 2010.

Capital Bikeshare will work with the National Cherry Blossom Festival to promote the use of bicycles during the festival through a joint campaign, “Bike to the Blossoms”. In addition to all Capital Bikeshare stations being operational as usual, the Capital Bikeshare station at Independence Avenue and 12th Street, SW will be staffed all three weekends of the festival from 11 am – 5 pm to assist with bike rentals and docking. Also, 16 additional docks have been added to that station to accommodate the anticipated demand.

goDCgo, the District Department of Transportation’s transportation demand management program, is sponsoring valet bike parking which will be available to individuals with their own bikes at the Jefferson Memorial on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am – 6 pm throughout the festival. The National Park Service will also place extra bike racks at Independence Avenue & 15th Street, SW, near the Tidal Basin, which bikers with their own locks can utilize free of charge.

Capital Bikeshare, goDCgo and the National Cherry Blossom Festival teamed up to produce a joint transportation map outlining the transportation options surrounding the festival’s events. The map can be found on goDCgo’s website at www.goDCgo.com.

Capital Bikeshare is a bikesharing program developed through a partnership between the District Department of Transportation and Arlington County and operated by Alta Bicycle Share, Inc. Capital Bikeshare offers four different membership options, Annual ($75), Monthly ($25),) 5-Day ($15) and 24-hour($5) for access to a fleet of 1,100 bicycles located at over 110 stations across Washington, D.C. and Arlington, VA.. Additional information about Capital Bikeshare is available at www.CapitalBikeshare.com.