Skip to Content
Streetsblog California home
Streetsblog California home
Log In
Streetsblog USA

How Giving Bike Share Prime Real Estate Attracts More Riders

One of the more successful stations in MInneapolis' Nice Ride system is parked right in front of the Birchwood Cafe. Photo: Bill Lindeke
One of the more successful stations in Minneapolis's Nice Ride system is parked right in front of the Birchwood Cafe. Photo: Bill Lindeke/Streets.mn
false

We've written before about how bike-share "station density" -- how closely together stations are placed -- is a key variable in how successful systems are in attracting riders.

Here's a new theory on how station locations can have an impact on bike-share use. Bill Lindeke at Streets.mn says it matters where stations are placed within commercial sites and public areas. The more prominent the better, he says, citing the example of a cafe in Minneapolis:

It was outside the Birchwood where I first noticed the odd psychological effect of bike share stations. I was sitting sipping a coffee in the sunshine, watching people ride and walk up and down the street, and the new kiosk made quite an impression before the front door. As couples walked past, they would stop and gaze at it for a few key seconds.

“Hm, maybe someday I’ll try that out,” I heard someone say.

“How do they work,” couples would murmur to each other

The key thing for me was that these were people, so I thought, that would never bike around South Minneapolis on their own. Even if you never use it, the Nice Ride station breaks down a psychological barrier between us and them, the bicycle people and the rest of us. It offers a gateway into an intimidating world, an exciting potential that is really helpful for forwarding conversations about urban bicycling past a divisive impasse.

And unlike almost every other small business, the Birchwood puts its bike rack and its Nice Ride station right before the front door, taking up (at least) two prime parking spots. That sends a message of welcoming, and amplifies the feeling of comfort that becomes so crucial to actually changing behavior.

According to Nice Ride director Bill Dossett, and the other staff that chatted with us at length, some stations in seemingly sensible locations — say by a LRT stop or along a bike route — have low performance because of their atmospherics. If the stop is in the middle of a large parking lot, tucked into an alley, or at a chaotic intersection, people are far less likely to use it.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Seattle Bike Blog reports that a local cyclist has prevailed in a legal battle -- with important legal repercussions -- over injuries she sustained on a recreational trail. The Urbanist looks at criticisms of the transportation bill moving toward passage in Washington. And the Bike League explains how the University of Wisconsin at Madison received "gold" status as a bike-friendly campus.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog California

California Officials Rally Behind Climate Superfund Act to Make Big Oil Pay

The legislature has failed to pass legislation to tax polluters for the past couple of years. Maybe next year will be different.

October 29, 2025

Wednesday’s Headlines

The op/ed on LA Metro is CRAZY.

October 29, 2025

An Olympian Task: Replicating Paris’s Bike Boom in Los Angeles

The Olympics can help transform the streets of Los Angeles — if they look to the example of Paris.

October 28, 2025

Eyes on the Street: North Berkeley BART Bike Improvements

Advocates celebrate another ribbon cutting on some great bike infrastructure to improve connections at North Berkeley BART. It needs more concrete though.

October 28, 2025

LAX Is Spending More Than A Billion Dollars To Make Horseshoe Traffic Worse

LAX roadway expansion is "a zombie project, carried forward solely by inertia, by an airport going through the motions for literally no reason."

October 28, 2025
See all posts