Twitter user Gregory Matlesky noticed the Bikeshare station at the White House had been removed and shared this picture, asking if the bikes had been removed:
Benjamin Freed of the Washingtonian did some digging and yes—Donald Freaking Trump’s administration ordered it to be removed:
Turns out Matlesky’s intuition was correct. The station was removed earlier this week at the Trump Administration’s request, District Department of Transportation spokesperson Terry Owens tells Washingtonian.
Owens adds that the station was installed in 2010 at the request of the Obama Administration, which had a favorable record with the cycling community. The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery—or TIGER—grant program in the 2009 stimulus act funded bike-infrastructure programs throughout the United States, including the installation of several bike lanes and cycling paths around Washington. Before former President Barack Obama left office in January, his Transportation Department signed off on new regulations redefining traffic as people who move on roads, rather than strictly vehicles—a change considered a coup for cyclists and pedestrians.
Who would want such a thing removed? You know who.