Further study reconfirmed recently what makes sense intuitively:  moving your body as part of your commute or running errands is healthy. The “transit walk” is the focus of a new study in the March, 2013, Journal of Public Health, which found that people who live in cities with public transit systems that include rail tend to walk 30 minutes more than those without a rail system.

“Transit walkers in large urban areas with a rail system were 72% more likely to transit walk 30 minutes or more per day than were those without a rail system.” Nationally, the number of “transit walkers” (I am loving that term) rose by 28% between 2001 and 2009, while the number of people getting at least 30 minutes of “transit-associated walking time” rose 31%. Transit walking, the study concludes, “contributes to meeting physical activity recommendations.”

There you have it! Feeling in need of some exercise? Getting the signals that some activity would be good for you? Hit the rails, ride the bus! Happily our regional transit system qualifies (barely). We have one light rail line, with another almost open, and others in planning stages, not to mention connecting bus service. (Places like Denver, Salt Lake, Dallas, and Seattle have some really healthy people, judging by their rail lines.) 

But what about upper body workouts? If the train or bus is the new gym, how’s a person to buff the biceps, trim the triceps? I recommend the bike lift, though I don’t have any studies to back me up.  

I get at least two daily reps of the bike lift on my way to work. During winter, I often also get a round of evening reps, putting my bike on the bus to reach the bicycle paths along the Mississippi River (thereby giving myself a break from cold weather and sometimes snowy streets). I’m not sure how much my bike weighs, but let’s just say the beater bike I purchased for winter commuting is not carbon-intensive in more ways than one.

So, what are the basic steps to the bike lift? Here’s a brief guide to putting your bike on the bus—for those days when you are not getting in your transit walk.

Step 1:  waiting for the bus. Ride your bicycle to the bus stop, arriving a few minutes before it is scheduled to arrive. Tip: if your route tends to have a lot of bicycle commuters, try riding to an earlier stop on the route to see if you can beat the competition. If that fails, you can ask the bus driver if you can bring your bicycle on the bus, but it is totally up to the driver. Sometimes the driver will instruct you to get on and off via the back door. Sometimes the answer will be no, in which case, you have to wait for the next bus or lock your bicycle at the stop and return to it later via bus.

Step 2:  position your bike for the lift. When the bus arrives, roll your bicycle in front of the bus so it’s parallel to the front of the bus. Stand back about three feet. If the rack is closed, position your bike so that your front wheel faces left as you face the bus. To release the bike rack, reach up and squeeze the bar in the top center of the rack. It will open towards you. If the rack is open with a bicycle on it, position your front wheel facing to the right. This left/closed, right/open positioning is important for the lift to come.

Step 3: lift and place the bike.  Facing the bike, I grab the front stem and the seat post to lift it up, then place the wheels in the tracks or slots on the rack. That’s the lift! It gets easier over time. And, it’s always good to use the power in your legs to assist with the lift.

Step 4:  secure your bicycle. There is a metal arm by the front wheel that pulls out horizontally (if it’s stiff, yank it) and then raises up to clamp over the top of the wheel near the brakes. Once this is in place, check to make sure any packs or other gear on your bike is secure as well and board the bus.

Step 5:  don’t forget your bike. When your stop comes, get off via the front door and let the driver know that you will be taking your bike off the rack. (You wouldn’t believe how many people get off by the back door and watch their bicycle depart with the bus.)

Step 6:  The down lift. If two bicycles are on the rack and yours is behind, lower the metal arm and roll the bike toward you as you stand near the curb (the arms are positioned to keep you out of traffic when you unload the bike). If yours is the only bike on the rack, take it off and return the rack to the closed position by squeezing the bar in the front center of the rack and lifting it up. It sometimes takes a push to get it to click into the locked position. Take your bicycle onto the curb to wait till it’s safe to enter the street or bicycle path for your ride.

Note:  The Commuter Connection in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul Smart-Trips in downtown St. Paul have practice bike-bus racks. After doing this once or twice, it’s much easier than it sounds! 

Perhaps as one of those early signs of spring, discussion of greenways is on the agenda in February in Minneapolis. If you ride a bicycle, whether for recreation or transportation, the subject of greenways likely brings to mind the Midtown Greenway, a 5.5 mile former railroad corridor in south Minneapolis with bicycling and walking trails.

 If you only drive, you’ve likely passed under the Martin Sabo Bridge, the one with the huge mast and cables (yes, the one that needed major repairs in 2012). The Sabo Bridge gives cyclists using the Midtown Greenway a way over Hwy 55 as alternative to the street crossing. The bridge also connects to other bike routes, such as the Hiawatha LRT trail.

The Midtown Greenway is one of the busiest bicycle routes in the city, with a steady stream of bikes in rush hour. Some have called it a bicycle superhighway. And, people like it because it’s convenient.

As one South Minneapolis resident said, “My back yard literally butts up to the Greenway so it seemed practically criminal to not get on the Greenway–especially since I’ve been freelancing downtown. . . . It was slick and just as fast as driving and saved me anywhere from $7-$12 in parking a day, not to mention that I was able to incorporate exercise into my basic routine.”

Given the success of the Midtown Greenway (and here’s a shout out to the Midtown Greenway Coalition, that works to protect and improve the route), it’s no surprise that people have been looking for other possible places for similar dedicated bicycle and pedestrian routes.

There’s long been discussion of trying to extend the Midtown Greenway over the Mississippi River into Saint Paul, along a route adjacent to the railroad tracks and Ayd Mill Road. In Minneapolis, there are a few different routes under discussion (check out the web site of Twin Cities Greenways for a summary). A greenway route in North Minneapolis has gotten a boost in planning and community discussion via the City of Minneapolis Health Department.

If built, the North Minneapolis greenway would extend from the Shingle Creek Trail in the north and to approximately Plymouth Avenue North in the south. Extending a little over four miles, it would connect three schools and four parks and provide a very attractive north-south route for walking or bicycling, as well as new green spaces for the neighborhoods along and near the route.

A few different models and examples of greenways were considered by the community last fall, including a “full linear greenway’ (with no motorized access except emergency vehicles), “half-and-half” options that create a dedicated bike way alongside one-way or two-way streets, and a bicycle boulevard.

The discussion of options shows how, with bicycling and pedestrian routes, we’re just learning to expand our terms and sense of what’s possible. 

 Bicycle boulevards are sometimes called greenways.

In Minneapolis, there are several bicycle boulevards, but one of the most scenic and pleasant, the Riverlake Greenway, runs parallel and south of the Midtown Greenway, along 40^th and 42^nd Streets from near Lake Harriet to the Mississippi River. This “greenway” is an on-street bicycle route on residential streets with very low traffic. On this greenway, it’s easy for two bicycles to ride next to each other and for families to ride together. Bicycle boulevards are very popular routes with women. They also often have features that make walking safer, such as curb bump-outs and medians that provide a place to wait in the middle of crossing busier streets. In Portland, they call bicycle boulevards “neighborhood greenways.”

Greenways can also be “linear parks.”

Do you know Milwaukee Avenue in the Seward neighborhood? Or the 37^th Avenue North greenway in North Minneapolis. Though both extend just a few blocks, they may be the closest models for what’s being considered on long stretches of the North Minneapolis Greenway. In the 1970s, a few blocks of Milwaukee Avenue (just south of Franklin Avenue) were closed to automobile traffic. Where the road used to be is now a pathway for walking and bicycling. Streets crossing Milwaukee were blocked off. The result is an oasis of greenery, with houses fronting a park-like stretch, aka a “linear park.” The owners of those houses use alleys behind the houses for driving access and to park their cars.

The preferred option for the North Minneapolis Greenway includes a mix of features, including not only the way the route is constructed but also things made possible by re-thinking how to use space:  playgrounds, community gardens, BBQs, and more. The options, once you start to consider them, are many. The response in North Minneapolis indicates that people like the ideas.

The North Minneapolis Greenway is the focus of a community open house on February 12 from 6-7:30 PM at North Commons Recreation Center, 1801 James Ave. N. Maps and information are available on the City’s web site: www.minneapolismn.gov/health/ship/northminneapolisgreenway

The following post is from Amy Duncan, Nice Ride superfan and reborn bicycling enthusiast. Here’s her story.

The last time I rode a bike was in the ‘70’s. I had a tricked out bike for sure. Banana seat, handle bar tassles – training wheels. When the training wheels came off, the bicycle went to the garage and never came out again. In fact, I never touched a bike again. Until last year.

As an employee of The City of Minneapolis, I was eligible for a subsidized Nice Ride 1-Year Subscription. Devoted to employee’s wellness and well being, The City of Minneapolis has partnered with Nice Ride Minnesota to offer this benefit to all their employees. I was intrigued. What if I could figure out how to ride a bike without falling off within 11 feet? Could I conceivably use Nice Ride as a commuting option? I was excited about this and decided to find out. My partner rode a bike regularly, maybe I could too! I signed up and became one of Nice Ride’s inaugural subscribers in September 2010.

I wasn’t nervous. The City of Minneapolis had provided a ton of information about Nice Ride and how the system works. Bike maps, system information, subscription information. It was all there. And no parking hassles or gas worries? I just had to get on the bike and ride.

I gave up my car seven years ago, so I was used to walking from my Elliot Park apartment to the City of Minneapolis offices at City Hall, but now I had a faster and more convenient way to commute. I pulled out my Nice Ride key, unlocked a bike, adjusted the seat, and hopped on. Was I really riding? Yes, I was!  Comfortably positioned on the oh-so-comfortable seat, smoothly pedaling and squeezing the sophisticated braking levers, I briefly thought about those handlebar tassles from long ago, and said, “no, this is absolutely better.” From that day forward, I’ve considered the bike to be my number one commuting option. I learned to ride a bike again and 100 percent of my success belongs to Nice Ride. I can now ride anywhere for miles and miles (to which I am still slightly in shock about) both on a Nice Ride and on my own bike.

And I don’t just use the bike to commute. Sometimes I take the long way home just for fun. I ride for both leisure and to run errands in Uptown, Midtown, Northeast, and around the lakes. I might even try a ride to St. Paul in the next few months.

Even though this year I purchased my own bike, I’m still a Nice Ride 1-Year Subscriber. It comes in handy when I need a one-way ride. Like when it rains—I hate riding in the rain. (It’s true, we’re not all hard core cyclists). Plus, I don’t have to worry about a bike lock or maintenance.

I also like the more active lifestyle Nice Ride offers and I’m happy I finally caught up to my partner’s passion for biking. Nice Ride definitely can create healthier people and give them a chance at a longer life. You just got to get moving! It’s so easy to hop from here to there with Nice Ride. Just get away from your desk and on to the bike!

What would I change about Nice Ride? Not a thing!  I’m pretty much a SuperFan. Well, maybe add some handlebar tassles.