Twin Cities Streets for People

The City of Minneapolis is on track to launch a new bike-sharing program in the spring of 2009. Extremely popular in Paris, Barcelona and Stockholm, the bike sharing program will allow subscribers to pick up and drop off rental bicycles at locations throughout a large area of Minneapolis and, in later phases, throughout both St. Paul and Minneapolis.

With 1,000 bicycles planned to be available, the Minneapolis program will be the largest in the United States when it opens. Washington, DC currently has a bike sharing pilot program in place with 100 bicycles and New York City is planning a program (with a really clever checkered-cab motif).

Bike-sharing programs are so popular because they provide flexible access to bicycles and allow users to take one-way trips, picking up a bike at one location and dropping it off on the other end. Transit riders can also use bicycles to get to and from transit stops, helping to make transit a more convenient option for more people.

According to the Downtown Journal, prototype bicycles were available today for testing.

Find out more about the program at:
http://www.twincitiesbikeshare.com/

And here is the Downtown Journal's coverage:
http://www.downtownjournal.com/index.php?&story=12722&page=65&category=92