The City of Minneapolis has entered in to license agreements with three operators — Lyft, Lime, and Spin — to participate in its Shared Bike and Scooter program launching in mid-April.
To foster greater cooperation and coordination across jurisdictions the City, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the University of Minnesota and the City of Saint Paul issued a joint solicitation for vendors and worked together to review and rank operator proposals.
Under this multi-vendor program, a sole license for bike sharing was issued to Lyft to continue to operate the Nice Ride system with both classic pedal bicycles and electric-assisted bicycles. The City also issued licenses to Lyft, Lime and Spin to operate motorized foot scooters.
Equity and safety continue to be key focus areas for the program. As part of the City’s Equity focused requirements, at least 30% of each operator’s scooters must be distributed in Equity Distribution Areas in north and south Minneapolis and a maximum of 40% of each operator’s scooters are allowed downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods.
Beyond the scooter distribution requirements, operators are required to have low-income pricing programs and participate in other City led pilots, such as a Mobility as a Service pilot to streamline equity program access and will feature prominently at each of the City’s 30+ Mobility Hub locations. Operators will also be incentivized to provide more parking infrastructure such as bike racks, docking stations and on-street parking corrals. If you’re interested to suggest a new location for a bike rack or have feedback to improve an existing bike rack location, please complete this form.
Operators are also required to have ongoing education and outreach on safe riding and proper parking behavior. State law regulates how motorized foot scooters can be operated and riders must follow similar traffic laws as bicyclists. Scooters cannot be ridden on sidewalks and must be parked upright using the kickstand and locked to a municipal signpost or public bike rack, outside of the pedestrian path of travel.
According to the city, this new program will continue advancing the City of Minneapolis’ transportation goals as outlined in the Transportation Action Plan, such as supporting safe street operations and focusing on human-centered design, removing the barriers of physical ability, geographic placement, language, payment methods, and income as well as sharing data that supports the City’s ongoing transportation planning and operations work.
For more information about motorized foot scooters, visit the City’s website or call 311.
