If you have been driving around Minneapolis over the last week or so you should have noticed some new bike racks with yellow bikes in them — These are the first pieces of NiceRideMN.
June 10th was the official launch date of the new Nice Ride MN bike initiative across Minneapolis. It has been neat to see these stations showing up all around town and it will be even more exciting to see how well it is adopted.
Nice Ride MN is the largest bike sharing program in the United States. The first phase will include 1,000 bikes distributed across 75 locations (700 bikes and 65 locations are already up and running). These locations include some of the most popular spots in Minneapolis including Downtown, Uptown, University of Minnesota, Dinkytown, Lyn-Lake, Seward, and the warehouse district to name a few. The program will run seasonally from April to November and then the kiosks and racks will be removed for the winter months.
The program is a combination of a base subscription price and a usage fee. The subscription prices come in three different sizes — Single Day ($5), 30 days ($30) or a full year ($60, unless you are a student then it is $50). Once you have a subscription you can use the bikes for free as long as it is returned within 30 minutes to any station. If you keep the bike over 30 minutes you start incurring a usage fee that adds up very quickly. For 31 – 60 minutes it costs $1.50, 61 – 90 minutes adds another $3.00 and anything over 90 minutes you start paying $6 for each additional half hour. This pricing structure strongly encourages users to take the bike from point A to B and then check it back in so it is available for the next user.
With the first week and a half behind it, the biggest complaint so far appears to be the hold that is placed on a credit card for single day subscribers. When a person arrives at the kiosk (attached to each bike rack) they put their credit card into the machine and get a single day subscription and an unlock code to check out their bike. At the same time a credit card hold is put on their account in the amount of $250 just in case they run off with the bike. This hold is released within a week but is giving some debit card users trouble since it holds $250 from their account until it is released. This is not an issue for 30 day or year subscribers since their credit card information is collected online when they register and then an electronic Nice Ride key is sent to them via mail. This electronic key allows a user to walk up to any station and unlock a bike directly without having to go to the kiosk.
Overall this looks like a great program that will get us more active and give us the opportunity to see Minneapolis from a little bit different vantage point then we are used to driving in a car. I have seen a similar program in Lyon, France and it was widely used and enjoyed throughout the city. I encourage everyone to try it at some point this summer and get a new perspective on Minneapolis.
I subscribed the day a kiosk went up in my neighborhood a couple weeks ago and have been a frequent rider ever since. I think the program is great for commuters looking for another option to get around town, though it is not necessarily the best for longer trips since you have to “check-in” the bike at stations as you go or face extra charges. But for $60 per year it’s cheaper than having your bike stolen, great exercise and really convenient if you’re like me and trying to avoid driving your car.
Hi Tim, I was also excited to see this bike program start up, and used it for the first time yesterday. The bikes are fun to ride, and they certainly make your trip go by quickly. My only suggestion to users would be to check the online station map carefully before heading out. The maps on the kiosks near the bikes are VERY general; they do not give specific street names or intersections, and they don’t appear to be as up-to-date as the online map. Let’s just say I did a lot of circling and searching before finding a drop-off station, and ended up pretty far from my destination (and really late for my meeting).