Best Ride Without Surge Pricing: B-Cycle

Boasting more than 40 stations ­downtown, B-Cycle, the city's official bike-share, is partnering with SXSW and ­renaming itself SXcycles for the week. ­(austinbcycle.com )

Now that the weather is changing, it might be time for a bike ride, and it looks like Cincinnati Red Bike had a good year, even through the colder months.

Red Bike underwent a small expansion to get ready for the spring rush at Fourth and Vine streets on Thursday.

According to Red Bike executive director Jason Barron, Red Bike is red hot.

"So far people are excited about it. Red Bike has been really popular; people have been using it. It’s a nice new thing in downtown," Barron said.

The bike sharing program launched in September with winter on the horizon.

According to the numbers, other than the most snowy parts of February, Red Bike more than survived the winter.

"We had 2,000 riders in December and 1,800 in January. You know the last couple weeks were a little snowy, but people were still out riding even on the worst days," Barron said.

The program worked well for bike enthusiast Frank Henson. He now leaves his own bike home when commuting from Madisonville.

"If you've got eight to 10 blocks to walk, you're going to be just as cold. But when you're on the bike, you get it over quicker," Henson said. "I used to put my personal bike on the front of the bus and come downtown on the bus, get off at a Red Bike station, get on a Red Bike and go."

Henson said he thinks people will find that the program is as easy as riding a bike.

" It's pretty intuitive. You get on the bike, you ride it where you need to go and you check it back in," Henson said.

Along with expansion this summer in Northern Kentucky, there will also be more locations popping in the Cincinnati area. Red Bike hopes to have the expansion done in time for the All Star Game.

The team at Bublr Bikes has begun distributing 70 blue two-wheelers to 10 rental stations around the city, preparing to launch the bike-share system's second year on Monday.

Bublr Bikes registered 5,200 trips by  users in the three-month Milwaukee  pilot run in 2014.

Bublr Bikes launched in Milwaukee in August of 2014, and provided a transportation alternative, primarily in the downtown area. The launch put Milwaukee on pace with all but a few other major cities in the U.S. that provide short-term bike rental systems.

With a few months' experience the system revamped its pricing structure for 2015, and will begin to expand into neighborhoods. Targets for 2015 include Bay View, King Drive, Brady Street and the Menomonee Valley, and the build out will be guided by public input gathered through meetings over the next several months, according to Kevin Hardman, executive director.

"The goal is to have 40 stations," Hardman said. "There's a lot of heavy lifting for us to make that goal."

Hardman is especially excited about a simpler pricing format designed to encourage more people to try the distinctive bikes produced by a Trek subsidiary, B-Cycle.

For walk-up users, the bike rentals will cost $3 for every 30 minutes of use. Monthly passes will cost $15 and include unlimited rentals for 60 minutes or less. If a monthly pass holder keeps the bike for more than 60 minutes, the $3 for every 30 minutes charge will apply. For more details, click here.

In 2014, users paid a $7 access charge that included the first 30 minutes of rental time. It was too confusing and expensive, particularly for people just trying out a Bublr Bike, Hardman said.

"What we did last year was hugely helpful to understand how to run a great system," Hardman said.

The bikes proved popular for commuters who traveled to Milwaukee by train, then pedaled to jobs at ManpowerGroup Inc. and offices in Schlitz Park. Tourists looking to travel between downtown attractions also put the bikes to good use, Hardman said.

"Cities are successful when there's a whole range of transportation choices," he said. "It needs to be a convenient and easy choice."

Bublr Bikes is a not-for-profit business started to create the bike-share system. The launch has been financed through $1.2 million in sponsorships and donations, $3.1 million in federal grants and $300,000 in city dollars generated through a tax-incremental finance district.

To reach the 5-year goal of 800 rental bikes at 100 stations across the city, Bublr Bikes projects it will need to generate $5.3 million from user fees and $3.7 million in donations, sponsorship and advertising.

 Instead of driving from place to place in Downtown Fargo, some are choosing to ride, and that's being made easier for everyone.

Today Great Rides Fargo launched their bike share program. There are 11 stations with over 100 bikes in the metro including some on NDSU's campus.

The bikes can be borrowed for 30 minutes at a time to encourage sharing. A day pass costs $6.

The program has been in the works for three years and is finally up and running.

Sara Watson Curry/Great Rides Fargo, "Healthy transportation has been a huge conversation in our community and so, I think this is going to open up people's eyes for a lot of options to hop on their bike on their lunch break or hop on their bike and head on down to the Y and work out there."

Passes are $15 a month and $75 for a year. NDSU students are able to sign up for free.

Red Bike Gets Rolling - click here to watch a great video on the system

Red Bike is changing the way that people get around Cincinnati. The new bike share system launched on September 15, 2014 with 30 stations. This video explains how to use Red Bike, and shows how it is transforming the city's transportation system. More information is available at www.cincyredbike.com. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @CincyRedBike