Denver B-Cycle was named one of the top five most innovative transportation companies by Fast Company magazine.

The business magazine’s rankings, which came out in March, listed the Denver bike-sharing program fifth on their Top 10 list.

Fast Company said the high ranking was “for bringing the first large-scale bike-sharing system to the U.S.”

Fast Company added: “B-Cycle made its debut on Earth Day 2010, bringing 400 bikes to 40 docking stations in Denver. In just one month, more than 3,000 people had used the system. B-cycle now lets users check out bikes with credit cards and monitor real-time availability on iPhones.”

The rankings came out a day before B-Cycles kicked off their second season on March 15 with 500 bikes and 50 docking stations.

During the first B-Cycle season the program logged 102,981 rides totaling 211,111 miles around Denver.

Boulder is also looking to start their own B-Cycle program.

Nissan, Azul, IBM and General Electric were the four companies ranked ahead of Denver B-Cycles.

See the full rankings at FastCompany.com.

Mitchell Byars: mbyars@denverpost.com