In addition to being named the country’s most bike friendly city by Bicycling Magazine, Minneapolis is now one of a handful of cities around that globe that offer a Bike Share Program (launched spring 2010) and as of July, 2010, it has the largest bike sharing program in the country.

The program has been popular so far, and if it continues to succeed, it’s not crazy to imagine Nice Ride matching Paris’ Velib system – which, as the largest in the world, features 20,000 bicycles and 1,639 stations, spaced 300 meters apart.

Minneapolis has more than earned its title as America’s most bike-friendly city, and when it’s comes to sustainable urban design, it sets an amazing example. Off to a promising start, it seems that Nice Ride will only cement that reputation.

As more cities start implementing Bike Share Programs, the National Association of City Transportation(NACTO) has created Cities for Cycling, a project that catalogs, promotes and implements the world’s best bicycle transportation practices in American municipalities.

Bicycling is good for cities. Providing safe, comfortable, convenient bicycling facilities is a cost-effective way for American municipalities to improve mobility, livability and public health while reducing traffic congestion and CO2 emissions.