According to The Atlantic Media's
CityLab web magazine, the Twin Cities' Nice Ride bike-sharing program "has become part of the fabric of Minneapolis, a once-fading city clearly on the rebound."
In her article,
"This Really Might Be the Nicest Bike-Share System in the United States," Sarah Goodyear writes that Nice Ride is also one of the most successful bike-share programs in the U.S., in part because "checking out one of the system's 1,550 bikes is indeed a pleasant experience, as is riding along the city's well-developed bike infrastructure, which includes 92 miles of on-street bikeways and 85 miles of off-street paths—many of which are high-functioning commuter routes, not just recreational byways."
She also notes that "Biking around Minneapolis in the halcyon days of late spring and early summer reveals a city that feels like it's preparing for an increasingly prosperous future. Construction crews are everywhere, building new residential developments in a downtown that was long ago hollowed out by urban renewal. A brand-new light rail line has just started running between the Twin Cities, easing the commute of thousands and creating a new kind of physical connection. A grand hall originally built as the trading floor of the Minneapolis Grain Exchange is now finding new life as CoCo, a collaborative space filled with startups and entrepreneurs, some of whom have come here from bigger and more expensive cities to find a different pace and environment."