Tag Archive for 'bike sharing'

Nice Ride – Minneapolis Bike Share Program

jaell published on July 24, 2010 in transportation. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

About a year ago, I posted about the Minneapolis bike share program that Bike Walk Twin Cities was encouraging with its $1.75 million grant.

Since that post, Minneapolis/Saint Paul has gone from simply boasting a high percentage of bicyclists to being declared this year’s most bike-friendly city by Bicycling Magazine.  I’d say that is pretty incredible considering how the weather can go from 90 degrees with 70% humidity to 30 below with snow mountains and glistening ice sheets.

The fact of the matter is that the city itself is promoting bikes as a mode of transportation fast and hard.  You can see by Google Maps (now featuring bike lanes/pathways) just how easy it is to get from A to B in the entire metro area.

Furthermore, the bike share program I posted about last year, lovingly dubbed “Nice Ride Minnesota,” has been launched.  These attractive bikes are equipped with a basket, a fender, and adjustable seats.  Don’t forget your helmet, though, because these don’t come with it.  You must to protect your head!

Check out all the locations you can pick them up and drop them off as well:

Currently the bike share program is only in Minneapolis but the plan is to expand it further and further into Saint Paul and surrounding cities.  I’m pretty stoked, even though chances are I won’t use it.  I have my own bike and its a Panasonic.  No joke.

Still, for everyone that just wants a ride once in awhile, doesn’t want to store a bike, can’t afford a bike (even though you can get used ones for cheap from Craigslist and many used bike shops), or needs transportation from bus-stop to bus-stop, Nice Ride Minnesota is for you!

Get goin’!

Best,

Jaell

Minneapolis Cyclists Get A Boost!!

jaell published on March 13, 2009 in transportation. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , .

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It seems strange that Minneapolis, one of the coldest darn cities in the US boasts one of the highest percentages of bike commuters in the country. According to census data, 2.5 percent of commuters in Minneapolis get to work by bicycle. (The national average is 0.4 percent).

This is only second to Portland, Oregon. Its crazy awesome!

But Minneapolis isn’t sitting still about this. They’re trying to take it to the next level and encourage even more commuters to use their whole legs to pedal instead of just rotating their ankle a smidgen.

On Tuesday, the Minneapolis Bike Share Program received $1.75 Million in grant money from Bike Walk Twin Cities to increase biking and walking in the “mini-apple”. The goal is to create the nation’s largest bike share system.

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For those of you who don’t know, a Bicycle Sharing System is “an increasingly popular system whereby bicycles are made available on a large scale in a city allowing people to have ready access to these public bikes rather than rely on their own bikes. Municipal governments and community groups have promoted bicycle sharing systems as part of intermodal transportation by allowing people to shift easily from transit to bicycle and back again.”

The Minneapolis program will operate by using kiosks strategically placed around the city. To use one of the bikes, a person will have to pay either a flat seasonal fee of about $50, or a one time use fee of about $5. A commuter can then use the bicycle to move between forms of public transportation to another without having to walk as far or worry about storing/transporting their own bike on the bus/train.

The Minneapolis biking community has its downfalls as well. They are not completely accepted by commuters. The city boasts a lot of bike paths, lanes, and the wonderful Greenway, but I still overhear huffing and puffing from drivers that get frustrated with slow moving cyclists, or just plain irresponsible ones.

If you go out and start biking around be mindful of traffic laws, use bike lights and protective gear, and gosh-darnit, don’t become one of those hipper-than-thou bike snobs. No one likes an elitist.

Kudos, Minneapolis. I hope it works out well. Bundle up!
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Love!
jaell

P.S. Wondering about helmet use along with this system? Check out the comments. Bill Dossett gave us the scoop!