Nice Ride may pedal outside Twin Cities

The Nice Ride bike sharing service is considering expanding to Rochester and other cities outside of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Bill Dossett, executive director of Nice Ride, says the move is in response to interest expressed in Twin Cities suburbs and other locations.

But expansion would require a shift in thinking about how the Nice Ride is designed.

"The system that we're doing is really an urban system," Dossett said. "It's a tight network of short trips. It's probably not the best system to do in a suburb or a small city that's going to have different needs."

One organization is stepping forward to help Nice Ride re-think its mission. "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, which is our title sponsor, has come forward and said we want to help you figure out what we can do in response to those types of requests," Dossett said.

A job posting by Nice Ride says the idea is to replicate existing bike stations in Rochester. Riders would be eligible to use bikes in both the Twin Cities and southeast Minnesota. Dossett said it's too early to know what any other expansion might look like.

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