BEMIDJI, Minn. – A row of orange bicycles, dewy in the morning sun, sat at Lake Bemidji State Park on a recent Friday, waiting for weekend riders. They are part of a grand experiment: Can a bike share program work in a city this small?
Nice Ride, better known for the racks of green bikes that dot Minneapolis and St. Paul, is trying to find out. This fall, the nonprofit will wrap up the second season of a three-year pilot program in Bemidji, population 13,000. Ridership is up this year, and some say the rentals have boosted the broader bike culture, making it easier for tourists and residents to explore. But Nice Ride has learned a few hard lessons about how such a program functions differently outstate.
Other small cities across Minnesota — and beyond — are keeping a close eye on the results.
"My impression is that we're being watched all over the world by organizations to see if this can work," said Melinda Neville, manager of Nice Ride in Bemidji.
Some Minnesota cities, citing Nice Ride as inspiration, are starting their own programs, with different twists. In Hastings hundreds have ridden with a free bike-sharing program that kicked off in June. Austin will soon collect bicycles for a Red Bike program to start next year. In May, Willmar put out dozens of bikes, painted yellow, at 21 racks.
The Willmar program has no formal check-out, simply urging borrowers to "Ride. Respect. Return." But "return" has proved tricky. Many of those racks now stand empty, as bikes have ended up in backyards. "It's not going the way we wholly anticipated it to work," said Steve Brisendine, director of Willmar Community Education and Recreation.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, the title sponsor of Nice Ride since 2009, is spending $300,000 for three years in Bemidji, with the hope that it offers an easy way to be active.
"The whole purpose of the Bemidji pilot is to really test how a program like that works in a geographic setting that is really different than an urban core," said Janelle Waldock, director of the health insurance agency's Center for Prevention. The results will determine whether Nice Ride sets up shop in another small town.