Bike Share
Bike Share
Nice Ride has expanded into downtown Saint Paul (and a little into the West Side), so now you can ride all the way from Lowry & Penn in Minneapolis to Cesar Chavez (Concord) and State Street in St. Paul without a bike of your own.
Mike Hicks
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
Cool, but I feel that the station density as opposed to spread are the key to really making this great addition to our transportation system successful. North of Lake St, in the densest neighborhoods in Minneapolis, nobody should have to walk more than 2-3 blocks for a station for this to work exceptionally IMO.
Also they need to stop pushing the damn helmets. Biking is safest when more people are riding. A lot of people already think the NiceRides look dorky, and helmet promotion only furthers that notion. Making biking a simple, attractive, and convenient way to get around, like in Europe, where helmet usage is almost nonexistent, is what really makes biking safe. I could really get into this topic but I'll save it for another day.
Also they need to stop pushing the damn helmets. Biking is safest when more people are riding. A lot of people already think the NiceRides look dorky, and helmet promotion only furthers that notion. Making biking a simple, attractive, and convenient way to get around, like in Europe, where helmet usage is almost nonexistent, is what really makes biking safe. I could really get into this topic but I'll save it for another day.
Last edited by PhilmerPhil on June 5th, 2012, 12:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
that's great! I had kept checking that map to see when they would update it, guess it was very recent. I had heard that one issue with St. Paul downtown was that people would be riding the bikes downhill and then finding another means of transport back up hill... (I don't visit St. Paul so I don't know the layout myself) wonder if that will be costly having people shuttle bikes around daily?
Also I think I might buy a membership this year! they have a station next to my gym and parking ramp, however sadly not one next to my home haha The idea behind it sounds great I would hope they have countdown timers so you know how much time you have left before your 30min is up!
Also I think I might buy a membership this year! they have a station next to my gym and parking ramp, however sadly not one next to my home haha The idea behind it sounds great I would hope they have countdown timers so you know how much time you have left before your 30min is up!
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
Just saw a Strib article, Nice Ride expanding down the Hiawatha corridor next year. http://www.startribune.com/local/minnea ... 96286.html
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
Just saw a Strib article, Nice Ride expanding down the Hiawatha corridor next year. http://www.startribune.com/local/minnea ... 96286.html
That's fantastic news! I think it really does make the LRT lines more accessible to many more people if they can bike to a station return a bike ride the train, and then bike again to there destination! Of course the trains are able to handle a few bikes from riders however they can't support everybody with a bike!
I personally can't wait until they expand them to the Red! Stations there are much farther apart and less walkable streets that bikes would be IMO increase the usage alot! Imagine any downtown resident could take the train to MOA take the BRT to the planned outlet mall around 13 and cedar, and continue south to Apple Valley for more shopping! Although perhaps a bike and lock rental would be a better option instead of the Nice Ride program.
If all that happens then that might be the straw that make it realistic for me to go 100% car free.
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
I would think one could find pretty much anything they need to shop for either Downtown, or at the Mall...Imagine any downtown resident could take the train to MOA take the BRT to the planned outlet mall around 13 and cedar, and continue south to Apple Valley for more shopping!
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
So, what about electric bicycles (http://www.coolhunting.com/tech/stromer ... cycles.php). Could Nice Ride kiosks also act as recharging stations for electric bikes? And if we can get self-balancing, or four-wheeled, rechargeable electric bike with driverless technology, is this the "PRT" everyone has been dreaming about?
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
On the subject of Nice Ride, they usually start rolling out the stations around April 1. That is going to be exceptionally difficult this year. I wonder if they may opt to wait an extra week or so to prevent damage to the stations and the bikes themselves. Despite the massive snowfalls of winter 2010-11, I seem to remember a pretty early spring that year as well. Then there was last year, in which winter never came at all, and we had already seen several temps in the 70s at this point.
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
I hear that exposing them to road salt voids the warranties. I think they're going to have to wait until the snow melts and the street sweepers come through before the season can start.
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
According to the Nice Ride blog back on March 8, they were aiming for the first week of April.
https://www.niceridemn.org/news/2013/03 ... llout_2013
https://www.niceridemn.org/news/2013/03 ... llout_2013
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
Nice Ride has a new blog post up talking about the 2013 season. This year, they've received some funding for some stations from the National Park Service and Hennepin County in addition to Blue Cross Blue Shield of MN who has been the primary sponsor in the past (in addition to many other smaller donors, if memory serves). They plan to have 170 stations this year.
https://www.niceridemn.org/news/2013/03 ... _locations
https://www.niceridemn.org/news/2013/03 ... _locations
Mike Hicks
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
Stanchions in place on Hennipin & Franklin yesterday
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
Q. What, what? A. In da butt.
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
They are shutting down Nice Ride during the snowstorm. I can't remember this happening before. Has it?
http://m.twincities.com/twincities/db_3 ... d=xC0kQRQp
http://m.twincities.com/twincities/db_3 ... d=xC0kQRQp
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
I doubt it, since Nice Ride is only a few years old and this weather is pretty bad even for Minnesota.
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
Don't know if anyone else has seen this PDF here that they accidentally appear to have made public: interesting analysis of how they internally view stations and what they perceive of St. Paul stations. Disappointing lack of discussion of too much future expansion, but it sounds like those hoping for anything in Northeast are out of luck.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... 8514,d.aWc
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... 8514,d.aWc
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
I never would have expected the stations along Franklin Avenue in Seward to be placed in the "equity" category -- seems like that area would do pretty well, but maybe the #2 bus diverts a lot of the potential users. They mentioned that stations along the east end of University Avenue in Saint Paul may have been negatively impacted by construction, and I think that holds up pretty well -- those equity stations overlap really well with the heavy construction zone last year.
I'm not surprised that the stations in North Minneapolis are still landing in the equity category, simply because I think they were and still are spaced out too much. They also remain pretty disconnected from the rest of the network. It doesn't seem like anyone pondered how riders would get from North Minneapolis into downtown or the Warehouse District. I-94 limits the number of practical crossings, so it would make sense to me to actually put the bikes next to the relatively few bridges/underpasses that do exist.
Nice Ride has a very Uptown-centric view of the Twin Cities, though the report does point out in one way how that's good -- their most profitable station is/was out on West Lake Street by the Calhoun Beach Club, since such a high proportion of the users of that station pay for 24-hour subscriptions. Nice Ride's most recent expansion added stations at Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet, and if those also have good profitability, it should help subsidize other stations quite a bit.
I'm still baffled by the lack of integration with the bus/LRT network. I think the relative success of Nice Ride installations along the Summit/Grand Avenue corridor shows that they can work well along transit routes (both as a last-mile service and as a complement to relatively infrequent service, like the 20-30 minute gaps on the 63). But they've been relatively reluctant to add stations along the Blue Line (Hiawatha), and the recent deployment leaves me scratching my head a bit (a station at 46th, but nothing directly at the Minnehaha Park or Fort Snelling LRT stops?)
Oh well, things will get better over time.
I'm not surprised that the stations in North Minneapolis are still landing in the equity category, simply because I think they were and still are spaced out too much. They also remain pretty disconnected from the rest of the network. It doesn't seem like anyone pondered how riders would get from North Minneapolis into downtown or the Warehouse District. I-94 limits the number of practical crossings, so it would make sense to me to actually put the bikes next to the relatively few bridges/underpasses that do exist.
Nice Ride has a very Uptown-centric view of the Twin Cities, though the report does point out in one way how that's good -- their most profitable station is/was out on West Lake Street by the Calhoun Beach Club, since such a high proportion of the users of that station pay for 24-hour subscriptions. Nice Ride's most recent expansion added stations at Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet, and if those also have good profitability, it should help subsidize other stations quite a bit.
I'm still baffled by the lack of integration with the bus/LRT network. I think the relative success of Nice Ride installations along the Summit/Grand Avenue corridor shows that they can work well along transit routes (both as a last-mile service and as a complement to relatively infrequent service, like the 20-30 minute gaps on the 63). But they've been relatively reluctant to add stations along the Blue Line (Hiawatha), and the recent deployment leaves me scratching my head a bit (a station at 46th, but nothing directly at the Minnehaha Park or Fort Snelling LRT stops?)
Oh well, things will get better over time.
Mike Hicks
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
The map in that PDF doesn't quite show it, but there's a new station at Minnehaha Parkway and Lake Nokomis. My wife and I noticed it (empty) a week or two ago. Yesterday it had bikes and we saw at least two people biking the Parkway on NR bikes. We checked out the map and were surprised to see that this particular station is kind of an island. I would assume the thought is that people will rent the bikes to go around the lake or up/down the Parkway then return them to the same station, rather than use them to get somewhere else in a one-way fashion.
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
As this program matures it would be cool if they could use technology and instant pricing to entice riders to move bikes back to stations that need replenishing.
Say the U's station is low on bikes because they are all downtown. Offer the first 10 people to bike back to the U a free ride. You could send out notifications via text for frequent users.
Save money on the need to truck bikes around, lower the operating/rental cost, give a few free rides in the process. Win-win-win.
Say the U's station is low on bikes because they are all downtown. Offer the first 10 people to bike back to the U a free ride. You could send out notifications via text for frequent users.
Save money on the need to truck bikes around, lower the operating/rental cost, give a few free rides in the process. Win-win-win.
Re: Nice Ride Minnesota
I wonder if it would also be possible to integrate nice rides with metro transit. Maybe for a moderate increase in fare, one could option to get a transfer that would allow seamless transition from bus/train to bike and back.
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