Nice Ride Minnesota expands in downtown St. Paul

You now have even more options for using Nice Ride bikes to get around — 26 Nice Ride stations have been installed in the downtown St. Paul area and are ready for use.

Nice Ride Minnesota, a local nonprofit that provides public bike sharing to the Twin Cities, released a map revealing all new station locations, bringing the total number to 146 stations and 1,328 shiny green bikes available to ride across the Twin Cities this summer.

To see a map of the new stations, visit www.niceridemn.org. Nice Ride Minnesota is supported through a variety of funding sources and title sponsor Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. The downtown Saint Paul expansion was funded through public private partnerships, including $480,000 from the National Park Service, $300,000 from Blue Cross, $100,000 from the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative, and $100,000 from the Minnesota Department of Transportation.

Blue Cross also gave Nice Ride 10,000 helmets to distribute to encourage biking safety.

“Blue Cross has been supporting Nice Ride from the very first day it launched in 2010," said Ken Burdick, president and CEO of Blue Cross, a title sponsor of Nice Ride since its inception. “Our support continues because Blue Cross believes bike sharing is a perfect example of the transformative changes needed to improve health and help prevent diseases caused by lack of physical activity. We’re excited to be cheering on Nice Ride as it provides even more people with access to this fun and innovative service.”

For more, visit www.niceridemn.org.