Bikes fly off the racks at new University of Minnesota lending program

A fleet of familiar-looking bright-green bicycles have been spinning around the University of Minnesota campus this semester, now featuring maroon-and-gold flourishes.

The bikes are part of the university’s new bike library, an immediately popular program that aims to let students check out rides for free, for as short as a day and as long as a semester. And to get it up and running, the school snapped up 280 bikes from a citywide bike rental program that went belly-up last year.

After a years-long run, Nice Ride ceased operations in Minneapolis in 2023 following a decision by Blue Cross Blue Shield to pull out of the program. It left a gap that the Gopher Bikes, now launched after a successful trial run, is trying to help fill, said UMN Transportation Programs Manager John Mark Lucas.

“We were really sad when Nice Ride was going to leave,” Lucas said. “When that was closing, it became a challenge for us.”

Nice Ride offered free 30-minute rentals and low-cost daily rates for students — an extremely helpful resource, especially for international students and others who live further away because of high housing costs in the immediate vicinity of campus, Lucas said.

As longtime partners with Nice Ride, the university was able to request 280 bikes, saving them from being scrapped for metal and getting them into the hands of students. Four bikes were designated for each of UMN’s 11 residential halls, totaling 44. Those bikes are checked out by students just as they might check out a vacuum cleaner. The rest of the bikes are term-long rentals, distributed to students based on a first-come-first-served online application.

The program has already proved to be extremely popular. All the rental spots are currently filled.

“It’s nice,” Lucas said of the library program’s demand. “We probably should have been more positive about what we were expecting.”

The transportation department looked to similar bike library programs at large universities in other states. Each student who successfully applies receives a bike, helmet and u-lock. The program was promoted to students during the sustainability and transportation fairs that are part of Welcome Week.

“We are just happy to say it’s free. A lot of the students are surprised,” Lucas said. What is asked of participants? “Just return it, please, and take care of it,” Lucas said.

Aarush Berry, a freshman and international student, said the free bike rental cut his transit time between classes across campus in half. Before Gopher Bikes he solely relied on public transit, he said.

“It’s really been helpful for me,” Berry said last week, before hopping on his bike and speeding off.

Most of the program’s $40,000 budget goes toward paying a part-time mechanic to work on the bikes. So far, most repairs have been of the bike’s old tires, Lucas said.

The demand for the program is heartening, he said. Beyond students, the program has already fielded inquiries from staff members and visiting scholars who may be in Minneapolis for only a portion of the year, Lucas said. He hopes to be able to add more bikes to the library.

“If the opportunity arises again, like if I find that they haven’t scrapped the rest of the Nice Ride bikes, I might go and collect them myself,” he said.