There are now 50 Capital Bikeshare stations up and running, with more to come soon. (Photo: TBD Staff)

The D.C. area's cycling and transit innovation fans are gathering in Tingey Plaza this morning for the big Capital Bikeshare launch. With over 100 bike stations planned across D.C. and parts of Arlington, it's an undeniably ambitious expansion of the old SmartBike system, with its paltry 10 stations.

Capital Bikeshare definitely looks like a better deal for tourists over SmartBike, in that they can actually take advantage of the system to begin with, thanks to the option of single-day passes. But for residents, the most intriguing part is how many more neighborhoods will now have access to shared bicycles. It never made much sense that densely populated neighborhoods like Columbia Heights, Cleveland Park and Capitol Hill were left out of the SmartBike system, just for example.

As of this morning, DDOT says 50 Capital Bikeshare stations are online, and they're adding more every day. You can keep track of when new stations become operational via this map, and compare it to the map of all planned stations, which we've posted below.

View Capital Bikeshare in a larger map