Mayor R.T. Rybak wants YOU. On a bike, that is.

The mayor has been meeting with Louisville-based Humana as well as RBC Dain Rauscher and other businesses to secure financing and infrastructure support for a self-service bike program that could distinguish Minneapolis nationally.

The plan, in the early stages, would most likely be run by a private business or nonprofit entity — not city government, Minneapolis officials said. The goal is to increase the Twin Cities’ percentage of bicyclists by making it easier to swap four wheels for two, at a time when the number of bicyclists commuting to and from work in Minneapolis and other cities is on the rise.

Although Washington D.C. has the nation’s first large-scale self-service bike program — it’s launching its Smart Bikes plan this month — Minneapolis is viewed as a leader in biking. It’s got more dedicated bike lanes and paths than D.C. (more than 100 miles), it trails only Portland, Ore., in the percentage of bicycling commuters (2.5 percent vs. 3.5 percent), and it has the highest number of bike racks per capita in the U.S. And while a voluntary Twin Cities bikes program failed more than a decade ago, the latest idea — combined with growing numbers of bicyclists and new federal financing for biking infrastructure — is likely to pan out over the long term, Rybak and others say.

“Minneapolis is a great city for biking — we’ve got a lot of things going for us,” Rybak said at the recent dedication of the Martin Olav Sabo Bridge, which carries bikers from the Midtown Greenway across busy Hiawatha Avenue. “This is my pet project . . . and we’re looking for businesses and community leaders who can have these [bikes and racks] available to people.”

The idea springs not just from the mayor’s affinity for the sport but a unique opportunity related to the upcoming Republican National Convention. Louisville-based health insurer Humana is providing 1,000 bikes and several bike racks to both Minneapolis and St. Paul for free use during the event Sept. 1-4. The cities may keep a small number of those bikes and bike racks. St. Paul officials also are working on a plan for a similar self-service bike program.

D.C. program sparks corporate interest

The bike plan may include bike racks with six to a dozen bicycles available throughout the city in high-use locations. The cost of bikes and related expenses — the rack itself as well as installation — would likely be $1,500 or more, Rybak said; that’s $9,000 to $18,000 per rack. D.C. officials are spending more than that (an actual figure was unavailable) and finance it through their bus advertising budget, said Jim Sebastian, the city’s director of transportation. The program, which is launching this month or in early June, has attracted interest from building owners in the district. About 2 percent of D.C.’s population commutes to and from work on bike.

“We have a lot of developers that want to get racks near their properties,” Sebastian said.

While no corporate sponsors are on board, Sebastian said that option remains open. The city’s goal is to have 5 percent of its population commuting to work by 2015.

D.C. residents who want to use the special bikes pay $39 for a year’s enrollment and swipe a credit card to get a bike. It’s unclear, Rybak said, if the Minneapolis program would cost money or only require a credit card for registration and swiping at bike stations, to ensure the return of bicycles.

Rybak is meeting with Humana officials, who have researched the self-service bike program; the Fortune 500 company has a small-scale self-service bike program based at its headquarters in Louisville.

Rybak has also been in talks with several big companies about donating the money and space for bikes and racks. Dain Rauscher and several others that he declined to mention have tentatively committed to the program (Dain Rauscher officials did not return phone calls for comment).

Rybak said he’d like to get more businesses in high-bike traffic locations — the Wedge Co-op and others in the Uptown area are among them.

“We’re looking at whether to go with a nonprofit model or something else,” Rybak said.

It’s uncertain if any city money would be needed for the plan. Whatever plan is created, it would likely need City Council approval, officials said. The aim would be to implement it by early 2009.

Federal funding to reduce car traffic

The city of Minneapolis recently secured $25.5 million in federal funding “to improve modal shift” — that is, to increase the number of bicyclists and pedestrians. It was the only major city in the U.S. to be awarded a $7 million federal grant to encourage drivers to trade their four wheels for two, according to Jeremy Hanson, the mayor’s spokesman.

The city has 17 projects under way to add bike lanes and related improvements. And the number of bikers appears to be increasing, said Donald Pflaum, transportation planner and the city’s bike coordinator.

Currently, 2.5 percent of the population in Minneapolis bikes to work in non-winter months. That percentage drops to less than 1 percent in the winter.

But both winter and non-winter bike use is growing, Pflaum said. Earlier this month, more than 2,000 people turned out for the city’s Bike to Work Day. Pflaum said there is a visible increase (that he hopes to quantify in the next round of bike counts) in middle-aged and older adults commuting; currently half of the city’s bike commuters attend or work at the University of Minnesota.

In Amsterdam, where bike culture is more established — and winters more mild as well as terrain more flat — one-third of residents bike to work. The figure is even higher in some German cities.

“I don’t think we’re ever going to see 35 percent of the people biking like we do in parts of Germany or France. But I do think it’s realistic to look at 5, 6 or 7 percent of the population biking, especially if fuel prices keep going up,” Pflaum said. “It’s all about removing barriers.”

Pet project

Anyone who’s been around the mayor in recent months — even stood a few feet from him at a public event — knows about his “pet project.”

How does he know the plan will work?

“Because it’s the mayor’s pet project!” Rybak joked to bikers and other attendees at the recent dedication of the Martin Olav Sabo Bridge.

In the course of two weeks, Rybak met with Humana officials, spoke at the opening of the Midtown Greenway bike center, dedicated the Sabo bridge, kicked off Twin Cities Bike Walk Week with a high-profile pedal through town that had him beating a bus rider and car driver by minutes, accepted a “platinum award” from a national biking group and vowed to oust Portland as the nation’s top biking city.

Rybak bikes from his south Minneapolis home about four times a week in the spring and summer. He commutes to his downtown office occasionally (on a specialty road bike) but more regularly takes his Proflex mountain bike to the numerous trails in and around Theodore Wirth Park.

The mayor said he would have more details on the business model for the program as well as partners after a meeting later this month with Humana and local business leaders.

D.C. Sebastian says it’s doubtful any U.S. city will one day see one-third of its residents relying on bikes for transportation. But that doesn’t mean D.C. — and Minneapolis, with its more substantial infrastructure, he notes — can’t set some goals.

Cities like Amsterdam and Paris “made an investment that paid off,” he said. “For both Minneapolis and D.C., the thinking is if you build it, they will come.”