Bike Share

Roads - Rails - Sidewalks - Bikeways
mullen
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby mullen » May 29th, 2013, 1:02 pm

it would be nice if they actually expanded this further south...where people would actually use the bikes to commute. this year's expansion appears to be for recreational use which i thought was the first intent of the program. the furthest southern station is 36th and bryant. but whatever, more bikes are great wherever they are.

twincitizen
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby twincitizen » May 29th, 2013, 2:22 pm

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
Thanks for sharing. I actually found that pretty fascinating how they evaluate the different types of stations by use and level of subsidy/profit. As someone else mentioned, I hope they constantly reevaluate the placement of the "equity" stations and freely experiment with them since they are big money losers anyways. They still don't have a gd station AT Target Field. A couple are sort-of nearby, but nothing that would be useful to ballpark employees or visible to attendees for marketing purposes. Target Field has TONS of bike racks and actively encourages fans to arrive by bike, but I can't understand their resistance to allowing a station ON the plaza or 7th Street side for employees.

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Le Sueur
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby Le Sueur » May 29th, 2013, 2:27 pm

it would be nice if they actually expanded this further south...where people would actually use the bikes to commute.
I was playing around with the new Beta GoogleMaps and their biking directions from end to end of the Blue Line are faster via Bike than on the LRT. :o

matt91486
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby matt91486 » May 29th, 2013, 5:07 pm

I think the lack of density is really paralyzing the system, because it makes it useful for only some trips, essentially. I think it'd be great if they could get a 30 or so station expansion that doesn't try to push the borders of the coverage area any further and just tries to fill in gaps. DC did this in one of their recent expansions, and it seems like the best strategy for people to be able to consider it more of a regular option.

MSPtoMKE
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby MSPtoMKE » May 29th, 2013, 11:11 pm

Just stumbled upon this today, this map shows 29 of the largest bike share systems to scale, ranked by number of stations. Nice Ride is certainly more spread out than most of its peers:

http://qz.com/89019/29-of-the-worlds-la ... n-one-map/
(Full Size) http://qzprod.files.wordpress.com/2013/ ... ck_001.png

Some systems, particularly some enormous ones in China, are omitted due to lack of information.

Citi Bike Share in New York just opened a few days ago, so this map must be pretty recent. Prior to that, Nice Ride was only a little behind Washington DC in terms of largest systems in the US. I believe Chicago and LA also have systems planned to open soon that will also be larger than Nice Ride.
My flickr photos.

mullen
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby mullen » May 30th, 2013, 6:13 am

putting bikes around the lakes and up and down the river is cool but intent of this system is for short commutes to work, errands...etc. drop the bike off and get another one to complete the next leg of your journey. i was told by a nice ride spokesperson once that they don't expand south because those neighborhoods have residents who already own bikes. so by that logic they shouldn't have stations in uptown, either.

612transplant
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby 612transplant » May 30th, 2013, 7:09 am

One thing that those maps could indicate is that whereas *some* systems truly are built for tourists and occasional trips, ours is designed more with the daily commuter in mind. Compare us to Toronto, especially. Their system appears to be clustered very densely around the core-- Toronto is a geographically much larger city than what that system serves.

Didier
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby Didier » May 30th, 2013, 9:29 am

The discussion should also include the fact that it's not exactly cheap to pick up a Nice Ride bike for a random one-off trip. The last time I used one I believe you had to pay $4 or $5 for a 24-hour pass, and then from there it was "free" as long as you checked into a station within every 30 minutes.

That's not too bad if you use the bikes regularly or if you are using the bike to replace a taxi or downtown parking or something. But when I'm going somewhere within a mile or two from my house, which is in the University area, a Nice Ride would theoretically be a perfect mode of transportation, but I can rarely justify paying at least $4 for a two-mile bike ride.

Or maybe I'm just doing it wrong?

Tcmetro
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby Tcmetro » May 30th, 2013, 9:49 am

I guess the idea is that if you use the bikes several times a week or more frequently, go with the annual, $60 option. Otherwise, I would suggest buying a bike that would be better and more comfortable than a Nice Ride bike.

Viktor Vaughn
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby Viktor Vaughn » May 30th, 2013, 12:24 pm

Yeah, if you live in their service area and would use it for short trips, the annual pass is the way to go.

When Niceride launched the daily pass it did seem kind of expensive to me. Except if you compare it to the price of renting a bike from a shop, then it looks super cheap. Citibike in NYC just launched with annual passes for $95 and daily passes for $9.95.

While it's cool to see Niceride is covering operating costs with user fees and sponsorships the NYC bikeshare is not planning on any public subsidy for capital costs or operations.

Btw, it's been real entertaining to watch the launch of NYC Citibike from afar. Streetsblog's coverage has been thorough, with daily links to other news outlet's reporting. The tabloids, such as Murdoch's NY Post, have been especially hysterical, hyperventilating how bikeshare will ruin the city. But just like here, once bikeshare gets underway most people love it, and opposition dissolves.

I feel like Niceride quickly became the face of everyday people on bikes. Rather than just tattooed Jimmy John's delivery people darting through traffic, pretty soon downtown had groups of fifty year old women riding bikes for the first time in years. Somehow all those bright greens Nicerides legitimized biking as a mode of transportation. In this same vein, I expect Citibike to be completely transformative for NYC. New York’s density, transit system, and pedestrian lifestyle is a perfect fit for bike share.

Didier
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby Didier » May 30th, 2013, 12:26 pm

That's my point. These bikes have a lot of value if you use them enough, but they're not very cheap if you just want to use them when convenient. That has to be factored in when discussing the ridership numbers in certain locations.

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Andrew_F
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby Andrew_F » May 30th, 2013, 12:34 pm

But there certainly is room for expansion south along a few corridors-- Bryant, Nicollet, Chicago, and Hiawatha would all be good corridors to place stations every 6 blocks or so, down to where they cross Minnehaha Parkway.

Didier
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby Didier » May 30th, 2013, 2:04 pm

As an aside, I love the Nice Ride program in general and am not trying to knock it. I just think the concept of a bike share sounds like the type of thing where you'd just grab one and go a couple blocks and not think twice about it, but the model is based more on regular use.

Matt
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby Matt » May 30th, 2013, 5:56 pm

I'd like to see Nice Ride add a one time use fee of something like 1 or 2 dollars rather than just having a 6 dollar all day pass and an annual pass. The 6 dollars is too much for someone who will only need the bike for one quick ride where that same person would probably be willing to pay a buck or 2.

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Nick
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby Nick » June 8th, 2013, 7:26 pm

If you're curious about my picture run today but don't have the NSA hookups to see my cell metadata, check this out! Managed to pull off the whole thing for free.
Nick Magrino
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MNdible
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby MNdible » June 8th, 2013, 7:33 pm

Awesome, Nick. I salute you and your photo taking!

twincitizen
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby twincitizen » June 12th, 2013, 6:21 pm

1. I hope everyone familiar with Nice Ride MN has been following the absolute hysteria surrounding the implementation of Citi Bike in NYC. Certain media outlets (NY Post, WSJ, others, mostly right-leaning but not exclusively) have been slamming this program at every opportunity. They have actually managed to get a significant chunk of the public all whipped up about it too. There's been some flailing coming from the left as well, but that seems limited to disliking Citibank and the placement of corporate advertisement in public spaces, such as parks. Naturally there has been animosity towards the loss of on-street parking where stations have been placed.

Naturally, The Daily Show had the best take on it: http://www.hulu.com/watch/498676

2. Apparently Nice Ride is going to attempt expansion into Rochester and perhaps other cities and/or suburbs. They are looking to hire someone to run that expansion: http://www.minnesotanonprofits.org/job-details?id=68147

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Le Sueur
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby Le Sueur » June 12th, 2013, 7:43 pm

Naturally, The Daily Show had the best take on it: http://www.hulu.com/watch/498676
"A eyesore in the neighborhood? We in the hood! Them little pretty royal blue a$$ bikes, if anything they gonna decorate this mother..."
I think they look nice too! :)

MSPtoMKE
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby MSPtoMKE » June 14th, 2013, 9:23 pm

Citi Bike sure has been spurring a lot of debate about Bike Sharing... Here's something else for the map nerds amongst us:
http://bikes.oobrien.com/global.php

You can zoom into cities and watch time lapse animations of station usage.
My flickr photos.

orangevening
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Re: Nice Ride Minnesota

Postby orangevening » June 18th, 2013, 1:24 pm

Citi Bike sure has been spurring a lot of debate about Bike Sharing... Here's something else for the map nerds amongst us:
http://bikes.oobrien.com/global.php

You can zoom into cities and watch time lapse animations of station usage.

Very cool. Surprised how big Montreal's system is. Add nobody on the West Coast has bike-sharing yet-esp. Portland where it all began (in the US anyway). I know Seattle hold up is about how to have helmets with them (it's the law there). Mayor Mike "Mike Bike's" McGinn is all for them


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