Bike sharing at RNC a success

By Alex Heegaard

As the RNC packed its banners, balloons and giant TV screen and headed out of town, the Freewheelin bike-sharing program piloted at the political conventions in Denver and St. Paul reported terrific success.

The program is a joint operation between Humana, one of the nation’s largest public health benefits companies, and Bikes Belong, a bike advocacy organization that works to help programs that get people on bikes.

Freewheelin aims to cut down American obesity levels and the nation’s carbon foot print, according to a press release.
With a total of 7,523 rentals, riders pedaled 41,724 miles — 15,141 of these miles in the Twin Cities — burned a total of almost 1.3 million calories, and reduced their carbon footprint by 14.6 metric tons.

Humana donated $10 per mile toward the Red Cross’ hurricane relief fund since to aid areas damaged by Hurricane Gustav.
The way the bike-sharing program worked was to first go to a Freewheelin station. In Minneapolis, stations were located at the Government Plaza, Loring Park, 206 E. Grant St., and the Stone Arch Bridge.

In St. Paul, Crowne Plaza, Upper Landing Park, and Indian Mounds Park hosted stations.

To get a bike, riders filleed out a registration form, signed a waiver, and provided a credit card number and identification. Renters had to be 18 or older.

Freewheelin provided not just a bike, but also a helmet, and lock. If equipment was returned to one of the six stations by 7 p.m., the rental was 100 percent free.

City planners, community organizers and bike enthusiasts have been talking about the idea of bike-share programs for a while.
Although some of it seems utopian daydreaming, the Freewheelin program has the potential to be a real part of our urban life.

The city of Paris is implementing a low-cost bike-sharing program and organizers there expect to have 20,600 bikes available at 1,450 stations by the end of the year.

In the Paris program, bikes are free for the first half hour. Rental fees apply after that, but some daily users of the program say they only spend about 10 euros — around $13 — a year on fees.

Here in the United States, Freewheelin will be returning most of the 1,000 bikes donated by Fuji, Schwinn, Specialized, Trek, Raleigh, and Giant. But 70 bikes will remain in each city since mayors in Denver and the Twin Cities say they want to start ongoing bike-sharing programs. It will be up to the individual cities to plan and implement their bike-share programs.

As an employee at a bike shop in Minneapolis and a tried-and-true bike nerd, I was thrilled with the program when I went to check it out on Labor Day.

I checked out a single-speed Specialized Globe. Freewheelin set up several single-speed bikes because of their recent popularity as low-maintenance commuter bikes.

Also available were automatic-shifting bikes, or bikes that shift gears automatically like a car with an automatic transmission, normal 10-speed bikes, and cruiser bikes with wide seats and big fenders.

All the bikes had a comfort-frame style, giving the rider a more upright riding position and making the bicycles usable for riders of different ages, fitness levels and experience.

All the bikes appeared to be well-tuned and in great shape. I was really pleased with the single-speed I checked out, and went zipping around the St. Paul river waterfront and up in the downtown area near the Xcel Energy Center.

Other riders seemed pleased as well. Edward Farley, Jr. of St. Paul said he was trying out the program as a way to enjoy the warm weather down by the river. He thought it was well organized and hoped “to see more of it.”

Mary Hilfiker, another St. Paul resident, attended anti-war demonstrations near the Xcel Center with the bike she checked out and was enthusiastic.

“I loved it, I could not have done what I did today without it . . . It was a very adventurous day, thanks to my little Freewheelin bike,” she said.

Freewheelin hopes to take the pilot program to other cities in the U.S.

“Just like one voter can impact the outcome of an election, one cyclist can help significantly reduce the environmental impact that our lifestyles have had on the planet, ” said Jonathan T. Lord, Humana’s senior vice president.