Nice Ride Minnesota has a new app. It also wants to raise the number of single rides taken on the bike sharing network.
To get the word out about the Nice Ride Share app - available free from Apple iTunes and the Google Play Store - and get occasional riders to hop on the shiny green bikes, Nice Ride has reduced the price of single rides to $2.50 per half-hour for trips booked using the app. Riders using the app will pay $2.50 for each subsequent thirty minutes of ride time.
The regular price of $4 for half-hour trips remains in effect for riders who check out a bike from pay station.
Riders can use the app to locate the nearest Nice Ride station, rent and unlock bikes, and see real-time dock and bike availability. Nice Ride Bike Share also lets users purchase or renew memberships and manage their accounts while on the go, said spokesman Ian Reed.
The app also lets riders plan bike friendly routes using built in maps, track recent trips and distance traveled, and access unique insights into gas savings and carbon dixoide reduction.
Through Tuesday, Nice Ride users have logged about 238,000 trips, a decline of about 9 percent compared to last year. Reed attributed the drop to the lack
Nice Ride use is down about 9 percent this year compared to last summer, Reed said.
"This season has in some ways been a challenge because we had such great weather and great events downtown - like the MLB All-Star Game - over the past couple of years that we just haven't had this year."
While ridership systemwide is down, one bright spot has been usage around the University of Minnesota where there has been a 15 percent increase this season, Reed said.
Nice Ride has 1,700 bikes and 190 stations throughout Minneapolis and Saint Paul.
