Local bike-sharing nonprofit Nice Ride Minnesota hopes to eventually be the first system in North America to introduce dockless bikes by the thousands while maintaining the docked bike program it has operated in the Twin Cities for nearly a decade. But that can't happen without a little tech and a lot of planning.
Over the last year, Nice Ride has been working with the City of Minneapolis to develop plans for the rollout of 1,500 dockless bikes. The first of this new fleet will make its Minneapolis debut in mid-September, a Nice Ride spokesperson told Minne Inno.
These special blue bikes are equipped with GPS technology that will not require them to be parked a traditional bike-sharing stations. These bikes are less expensive to maintain than the traditional docked variety, which Nice Ride has been operating since its launch in 2010.
Users will be able to book either type of bike through Nice Ride's new app (now available) which shows the location of both docking stations and dockless bikes in their area.
Over the last year, dozens of metros across the country have adopted dockless bike and e-scooter programs. This summer, the dockless craze finally arrived in the Twin Cities.
Nice Ride announced in early July that it was working with Lyft-owned Motivate, the largest bike share operator in North America, to develop a hybrid system that would maintain the nonprofits current docked bikes and bring 1,500 additional dockless bikes to Minneapolis.
After seeing how other cities have struggled with dockless bikes, Nice Ride wanted to be mindful about bringing the new technology to the Twin Cities. The organization has been working with the city to create a "Virtual Station Master Plan," which will guide the launch of dockless bikes in the city for the first time. Virtual stations are a key part of Nice Ride's deal with Minneapolis.
All of Nice Ride's dockless bikes will be required to park in special dockless zones, marked by a white lines on the ground and a blue sign above. Some existing bike racks can also be used as virtual stations, according to Nice Ride's master plan. There will be 200 virtual parking sites when the nonprofit's bikes first hit the streets next month, but Nice Ride hopes to eventually add hundreds more.
"Eventually we hope that dockless bike stations will be as ubiquitous as bus stops," Nice Ride General Manager Melissa Summers previously told Minne Inno.
Nice Ride's dockless system will not be the first to debut in the Twin Cities metro. San Francisco-based Lime brought its dockless bikes to Edina, Golden Valley, Minneapolis, and most recently, St. Paul this summer within the last two months.
