Why get a bicycle when you can 'B-Cycle'?

DENVER - The goal of staying fit is partly why starting this summer there will be 500 loaner bikes available around downtown Denver.

The B-Cycle Program will focus initially on the downtown Denver business district, University of Denver campus and adjacent neighborhoods. The bike stations will be situated in a 3- to 4-mile radius of downtown Denver. The program is expected to double in size to more than 1,000 bikes by Spring 2010.

For now, city employees will be able to take part in the Citywide Bike Sharing Program. This is a pilot program for the citywide bike sharing system. Any City and County of Denver employee can view an online safety training presentation, sign a user agreement, and then check out a bike from the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Building for business or recreational use. Bikes must be returned to the same location by 10 a.m. the following business day.

Bikers who participate in the program will swipe a card to check out a bike. When they get home, they can log onto a Web site that will tell them how far they went and how fast, how many calories they burned, and how they reduced their impact on the environment.

Denver is one of the first cities nationwide to launch this kind of program.

"B-cycle is going to, I think going to believe set the bar very high nationally as other cities look to figure out how to do this in their own city - we want to make sure they say, 'Alright, in the end all the work that Denver's put into this, this is the standard that we need to emulate,'" said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

The nonprofit Denver Bike Sharing will manage the program. Wednesday, the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee presented Denver Bike Sharing with a $1 million check.

Humana Inc. donated 30 bikes, bike stations and wireless access cards because of the successful Democratic National Convention bicycle share program.

The Downtown Denver Business Improvement District has approved $50,000 for bicycle parking projects in the downtown area. This will include the installation of 75 to 100 racks, as well as matching funds for property owners that improve the bicycle parking facilities for their respective properties.

This initiative is designed to help the City of Denver implement the Strategic Transportation Plan it completed last October. The goal is to make Denver one of the most accessible downtown areas of any city in the U.S.