When Claire Mullen has a bad day, she jokes about taking a bike ride.

There’s just something about pedaling around on a cruiserstyle bicycle that seems to make her day a little better.

Maybe it has something to do with the bell.

“When you hear that bell, you can’t help but have a smile on your face,” Mullen, mobility management director with KANcycle said.“It’ll turn that bad day around, and help you find some joy.”

Earlier this summer, KANcycle, a program of OCCK, Inc. Transportation, Salina, and Zagster launched a new rural bike-share effort in Ellsworth and seven other communities across north-central Kansas. The program’s aim is to enhance local transportation options for residents by offering self-service, rental bike stations. In mid-June, 80 bicycles and 17 bike stations were distributed among Ellsworth, Salina, Belleville, Beloit, Concordia, Lincoln, Mankato and Minneapolis.

The program was launched locally during a July 2 ribboncutting.

Although the program just originally involved Salina, it didn’t take long for officials to consider widening its reach.

“We saw the need for transportation in these smaller communities, and so we looked at being regional,” Mullen said. “We work in all of these eight communities, so that’s where the idea came about.”

It took about six months to get the pieces aligned, Mullen said, including securing the needed funding. Ultimately, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas provided an initial $160,000 to cover the bicycles and marketing support during the first year.

Another piece of the puzzle involved meeting with city officials in each community. In May, Mullen met with Ellsworth City Council members to get program approval and authorization to place bicycle racks on city property.

Ellsworth was given 10 bicycles in all, equally divided between two racks at two separate locations. One rack is located in the Krizek Park parking lot. The other is on South Douglas adjacent to the Ellsworth County Historical Society.

For those unfamiliar with a bike-share program, Mullen suggests going to the KANcycle website to learn more. The website also features a video demonstrating how the program works. She’s also considering making the bicycles available at community events for locals to try out for free.

“They’re five-speed bikes that we could unlock, so they can try for free and see just how enjoyable they are,” she said.

Riders can join the program through an annual membership or on a pay-as-you-go basis. Annual memberships are $30, and include free rides for trips under an hour. Annual student memberships are $20, and include similar perks. For riders not wanting a membership, the rental rate is $1.50 for 30 minutes.

By using a free Zagster mobile application, riders can rent a bike. Each bicycle has a unique number which riders enter into the app to unlock the bike. After the rider returns the bike to a designated station, the rental ends, and the bike is available for someone else to use.

Though the program is just weeks old, it’s already getting noticed by other communities wanting to bring it to their towns.

“We’ve already had eight other communities not in the original eight counties where we already are,” Mullen said. “Some are east, south and west. There’s interest from all over.”

With so much interest, officials had to also see if BCBS would want to continue helping the program grow in the coming years. Officials are now planning to start the next phase of the program in November or December, and then launch in the spring once the weather is nicer, she said.

“We want people to use this, and we’re excited to do something like this,” Mullen said. “It’s something different. It’s something exciting and new, and we hope people will take advantage of that.”