Minneapolis started the US's first bike-share program in June. For this program, the city is providing 700 bicycles and 65 kiosks around Minneapolis where you can rent the bikes. At this point, there have been 25,000 rentals. That's a lot of pollution saved and exercise gained! In fact, blue cross/blue shield is a cosponsor of Nice Ride b/c of the health benefits of riding bikes. The bikes look like this (this is a drawing because couldn't find a real picture):
To rent the bikes, you need a credit card. Nice Ride puts a $250 hold on your card in case you steal the bike, then you have to buy a 24-hour subscription for $5. With that subscription, you can take as many 30-minute or less rides as you want for free. Any trip longer than a half hour has some fees, and each additional half hour over a 90 minute trip costs $6. You can take as many trips as you want, but they all have to be shorter than a half-hour if you don't want to pay any more fees.
Confusing, no? My girlfriend Anna rang up about $230 worth of fees once when she rented a bike and didn't return it until the next day! Basically, the bikes are meant for short, commuter-type trips, and are not very good for sightseeing or just biking around town. Another criticism of the bike-share program is that it does not exist in poor and black neighborhoods, though there are plans to expand. Also, the bikes are very slow. A trip that would take me about 20 minutes might take 35 or 40 on a "Nice Ride" bike.
On the whole, though, I think the Nice Ride program is a good idea. It has seen a lot of use, and gotten a lot of people to bike around town that wouldn't normally. College students, workers, and visitors can all use the bikes, and it helps decrease pollution and give people exercise.
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