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Toronto Bike Share

Not bad if you live and work very central... but I will have to hold out until they at least go north to Dupont and west to Ossington.
 
Same map here, I guess: http://www.torontolife.com/daily/in...wntown-bike-locations-on-one-interactive-map/

I have a feeling this will fail immediately if the locations aren't expanded. This area is already extremely well-served by transit, not to mention the most walkable. Who's going to use these? U of T, Ryerson, and OCAD students crossing the city for lunch?

I guess I could finally ride to a decent coffee shop from the Financial District during work, but considering their pricing structure, it'll cost a minimum of $10.50 for the ride (1 hr 22 mins).
 
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grey said:
I guess I could finally ride to a decent coffee shop from the Financial District during work, but considering their pricing structure, it'll cost a minimum of $10.50 for the ride (1 hr 22 mins).
Click to expand...

I don't get it. Why wouldn't you make two independent trips of under 30 minutes?
 
Yeah, that would bring the cost down to $5, but I'd need to stay within the Spadina-Jarvis-Bloor boundaries in order to find a station to park it on both ends of the trip.
 
Guys, this is just the beginning of Bixi. Already they've expanded outside the Spadina-Jarvis-Bloor boundaries with a station in Kensington Market. Starting small is exactly how they proceeded in other cities. With Montreal the demand was so high they added stations every month in the beginning. So bite the bullet and support it, even if there isn't a stop today outside your front door. These sorts of projects will make the city better. Isn't that what you all want?
 
dob467 said:
Guys, this is just the beginning of Bixi. Already they've expanded outside the Spadina-Jarvis-Bloor boundaries with a station in Kensington Market. Starting small is exactly how they proceeded in other cities. With Montreal the demand was so high they added stations every month in the beginning. So bite the bullet and support it, even if there isn't a stop today outside your front door. These sorts of projects will make the city better. Isn't that what you all want?
Click to expand...

Yes I want it.. but I would be absolutely insane to pay for a service where the closest bike station is almost a 30 minute walk from my apartment. I will sign up as soon as a bike stop is within 10 minutes of my place.
 
Yes, supporting a project that will undoubtedly improve the city, but might not immediately benefit you at this very moment would definitely make you insane. I take it you don't travel downtown much?
 
grey said:
Yeah, that would bring the cost down to $5, but I'd need to stay within the Spadina-Jarvis-Bloor boundaries in order to find a station to park it on both ends of the trip.
Click to expand...

Get a membership and do the trip every work day during pleasant days of the year.

That gets it down closer to $1 per round-trip.
 
dob467 said:
Guys, this is just the beginning of Bixi. Already they've expanded outside the Spadina-Jarvis-Bloor boundaries with a station in Kensington Market. Starting small is exactly how they proceeded in other cities. With Montreal the demand was so high they added stations every month in the beginning. So bite the bullet and support it, even if there isn't a stop today outside your front door. These sorts of projects will make the city better. Isn't that what you all want?
Click to expand...

Are futures phases guaranteed? Doesn't expansion depend on the success of this intial rollout? If that's the case, they really could have given it more of a fighting chance with a few stations outside this zone.

I suppose if you consider it more of a short-haul taxi service rather than outright "bicycle rentals," it makes more sense. I guess that's what they're going for, anyway.

The membership pricing is better than I thought. For a while, it looked like it wouldn't cost much less than booking a Zipcar!
 
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Yonge & Alexander

bixi1.jpg



Queens Quay & York

bixi2.jpg
 
dob467 said:
Guys, this is just the beginning of Bixi. Already they've expanded outside the Spadina-Jarvis-Bloor boundaries with a station in Kensington Market. Starting small is exactly how they proceeded in other cities. With Montreal the demand was so high they added stations every month in the beginning. So bite the bullet and support it, even if there isn't a stop today outside your front door. These sorts of projects will make the city better. Isn't that what you all want?
Click to expand...

Spadina/Queens Quay (The music garden) is also outside of the original boundary.

And wow @ Queens Quay/York. Nice too see them thinking about the amount of traffic each location will be getting when deciding how many bikes to provide.
 
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hmm, I'm kinda worried about vandalism here. How secure are these bikes exactly ?
 
Based on what I saw in Montreal, they're very sturdy. Unlike our street furniture, some serious thought was put into durability when designing the bikes and stations. The bikes and parking stations didn't seem to be taking a lot of damage over there, but I don't know what kind of maintenance was going on behind the scenes. I don't think it'll be a huge problem here.
 
I'm moving towards the city centre, to the Dufferin/College area. Bixi, given its small zone, is almost useless to me, I'd rather take my chances with my own bicycle that\s set up for my frame. That said, Bixi Toronto, with a larger service zone (say Pape to Roncy to St. Clair) would be a huge success if going by Montreal standards. There's a major Bixi hub at Jean-Talon Market, which is about as far from the financial core of Montreal as say Wychwood Barns is to Toronto's. Wychwood Barns would be a very popular hub.

So, no, I won't sign up, though I would have considered it if it were a larger zone. I think hubs at the Ward's and Hanlan's docks at the islands would work great, as there's a Bixi hub at Jean-Drapeau Station on Ile-Ste-Helene that allowed me to bike around Montreal and finally visit Habitat 67 in person last summer.

Yes, the Montreal Bixi bikes are very sturdy and tamper-proof. Which means they are heavy, and only have 3 gears.
 
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