Insurance Giant Donates $1m to Minneapolis Bike Sharing

Minneapolis’ forthcoming bike-sharing scheme, entitled Nice Ride, has recently received more than a little financial help from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.  Last month, the nationwide insurance giant offered a donation of $1 million to help fund the third-generation program.  The company puts such weighty financial resources behind programs such as Nice Ride that encourage physical activity because of the immense costs that obesity puts on the U.S. healthcare system annually.  The particular funds for Nice Ride come in the form of settlement proceeds that the insurance company gained in its historic settlement with the tobacco industry.

Such funds are wholeheartedly welcomed by Nice Ride, which will be the first bike-share program of its kind to run exclusively as a non-profit entity.  Nice Ride will require $3.4m to rollout phase 1 of its program and will then need an additional $1.5m annually for upkeep.  So far they are well on their way; other notable financial backers include Bike Walk Twin Cities, a group that funds bicycle and walking projects around the greater Twin Cities metropolitan area, which has donated $1.75m to Nice Ride.  The City of Minneapolis, a founding partner in the Twin Cities Bike Share Project, will contribute $350,000 in start-up funding.

Nice Ride is set to debut in May of 2010, and will deploy 1,000 bikes at 80 kiosks across downtown Minneapolis, the Uptown neighborhood, as well as the University of Minnesota campus.   Many miles of new bike lanes, in addition to other city infrastructure, will be completed by the spring launch date to aid the deployment.  If the first phase f the program proves a success, Nice Ride will consider expansion into St. Paul.  In order to get the wheels rolling, however, the program is working  to release an RFP in the coming weeks so that it can single out a vendor and proceed with its planning.  Learn more about Nice Ride here!