Toronto Bike Share

[Northern Light]

Councillor Moise asked Toronto Parking Authority at Budget Committee,
"With a 10.8 million budget in 2026 for Toronto Bike Share how many more docks, iconic bikes, and e-bikes does TPA aim to acquire?"

Answer:
"Approximately 900 new bikes, of which 260 are e-bikes, 73 stations, and 1500 docking points, and 306 are e-docks for the e-bikes"

Here's the un-asked question, "How many of those 73 are actually from last year's budget, that you claimed to have delivered already, but haven't?

Lets review what they claimed back in October:

Actual, as at January 16th, 2026:

1006 Stations

Of these, 7 were installed this month.

So what are they committing to above? Is it 73 more than today? Or 1,086? Or is it 73 more than they claim they already did which would be 1,215?

Just wondering.

 

[txlseries4]

Here's the un-asked question, "How many of those 73 are actually from last year's budget, that you claimed to have delivered already, but haven't?

Lets review what they claimed back in October:

View attachment 709311

Actual, as at January 16th, 2026:

1006 Stations

Of these, 7 were installed this month.

So what are they committing to above? Is it 73 more than today? Or 1,086? Or is it 73 more than they claim they already did which would be 1,215?

Just wondering.

Juking the stats!

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

I tried searching this thread, I tried googling the vastness of the interwebs, yet I still cannot find anyone complaining/discussing what I see as a major issue with the new fleet of Bike Share TO bikes - the seat angle.

Basically, from what I can see, there are two fleets: the old black frame bikes and the new orange frame bikes. There is a serious problem with the new orange bikes. Here is the picture that illustrates the problem (old black bikes in the foreground, orange bike in the background):

The orange bikes have their saddle tilted up. The front of the saddle is higher than the back. By contrast the old black bikes' seats are horizontal (or nearly horizontal).

This is a big problem for anyone of the male persuasion. This upward saddle tilt is incompatible with male physiology.

The upward saddle tilt causes pressure on the prostate. With such an extreme angle, it causes a lot of pressure.

It is not just a comfort issue, it is a genuine health concern.

Pressure on the prostate from improper bicycle seat angle cuts off blood circulation to the prostate, leads to groin numbness and can lead to long-term fertility problems as the result.

Personally, I can't use these orange bikes for longer than 10 minutes before my groin goes completely numb.

I can't believe the bike manufacturer (DeVinci I assume?) shipped these bikes as is. I can't believe no one at Bike Share TO questioned the saddle tilt and accepted the delivery.

Anyways, I am going to try to address this with Bike Share TO. I emailed their general customer service as per @Northern Light suggestion:

This is the email you're looking for:

customerservice@bikesharetoronto.com

If that doesn't work for you, I''ll give you an internal one that will.

But try this one first.

I might take you up on your offer of internal email depending on how it goes with customer service.

I'll keep you guys posted on the progress.

 

[ilovebikeshare]

New Bikeshare station at Bessarion station along Line 4, creating the beginnings of a true bikeshare network along Sheppard!

 

[DSCToronto]

I tried searching this thread, I tried googling the vastness of the interwebs, yet I still cannot find anyone complaining/discussing what I see as a major issue with the new fleet of Bike Share TO bikes - the seat angle.

Basically, from what I can see, there are two fleets: the old black frame bikes and the new orange frame bikes. There is a serious problem with the new orange bikes. Here is the picture that illustrates the problem (old black bikes in the foreground, orange bike in the background):
View attachment 717940

The orange bikes have their saddle tilted up. The front of the saddle is higher than the back. By contrast the old black bikes' seats are horizontal (or nearly horizontal).

This is a big problem for anyone of the male persuasion. This upward saddle tilt is incompatible with male physiology.

The upward saddle tilt causes pressure on the prostate. With such an extreme angle, it causes a lot of pressure.

It is not just a comfort issue, it is a genuine health concern.

Pressure on the prostate from improper bicycle seat angle cuts off blood circulation to the prostate, leads to groin numbness and can lead to long-term fertility problems as the result.

Personally, I can't use these orange bikes for longer than 10 minutes before my groin goes completely numb.

I can't believe the bike manufacturer (DeVinci I assume?) shipped these bikes as is. I can't believe no one at Bike Share TO questioned the saddle tilt and accepted the delivery.

Anyways, I am going to try to address this with Bike Share TO. I emailed their general customer service as per @Northern Light suggestion:

I might take you up on your offer of internal email depending on how it goes with customer service.

I'll keep you guys posted on the progress.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostate_massage

 

[txlseries4]

I tried searching this thread, I tried googling the vastness of the innerwebs, yet I still cannot find anyone complaining/discussing what I see as a major issue with the new fleet of Bike Share TO bikes - the seat angle.

Basically, from what I can see, there are two fleets: the old black frame bikes and the new orange frame bikes. There is a serious problem with the new orange bikes. Here is the picture that illustrates the problem (old black bikes in the foreground, orange bike in the background):
View attachment 717940

The orange bikes have their saddle tilted up. The front of the saddle is higher than the back. By contrast the old black bikes' seats are horizontal (or nearly horizontal).

This is a big problem for anyone of the male persuasion. This upward saddle tilt is incompatible with male physiology.

The upward saddle tilt causes pressure on the prostate. With such an extreme angle, it causes a lot of pressure.

It is not just a comfort issue, it is a genuine health concern.

Pressure on the prostate from improper bicycle seat angle cuts off blood circulation to the prostate, leads to groin numbness and can lead to long-term fertility problems as the result.

Personally, I can't use these orange bikes for longer than 10 minutes before my groin goes completely numb.

I can't believe the bike manufacturer (DeVinci I assume?) shipped these bikes as is. I can't believe no one at Bike Share TO questioned the saddle tilt and accepted the delivery.

Anyways, I am going to try to address this with Bike Share TO. I emailed their general customer service as per @Northern Light suggestion:

I might take you up on your offer of internal email depending on how it goes with customer service.

I'll keep you guys posted on the progress.

I vaguely remember seeing similar complaints before somewhere else online and someone saying the seat angle is something configured by the mechanics with bike share. Don't know if that's right or wrong

The bikes are from Lyft Urban Solutions (formerly PBSC) and the push bike is the ICONIC model: https://www.lyfturbansolutions.com/products#iconic

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

The bikes are from Lyft Urban Solutions

I thought Lyft provides the technology part (smart stations, the app) while the bikes for Toronto are subcontracted to Devinci.

configured by the mechanics with bike share

The seats do not seem to be adjustable. The angle is determined by the angle of the seatpost, the saddle clamp, and the saddle itself.
As far as I can see, bikeshare bikes use an integrated seat clamp that has a set (not adjustable) angle. In fact, even though the old and the new bikes have different-looking saddle clamps, they are still set to the same angle:

The difference is in the seat itself. The new seats are a different model with thicker padding and a different angle of the tubes that connect to the saddle clamp. It's really this new seat that does not work with the bikes.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Lodging my regular complaint into the new year. Three hour span of rush hour this morning and absolutely zero Bike Share bikes anywhere in Midtown Toronto between Bloor and Lawrence.

How is this network supposed to be seen as reliable without bikes.

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

Lodging my regular complaint into the new year. Three hour span of rush hour this morning and absolutely zero Bike Share bikes anywhere in Midtown Toronto between Bloor and Lawrence.

How is this network supposed to be seen as reliable without bikes.

Yesterday was a turning point for me. I no longer see Bikes Share as a viable primary commute option. While there was no shortage of bikes along Martin Goodman from Humber Bay Shores all the way downtown, a was still an hour late for work because of thinking "hey, it's so nice outside, let me cycle to work this morning"

First, I must have gone through 5-6 bikes trying to find one that works without any issues. Rusted chains, deflated slow tires, wobbly pedals, crooked steering, broken shifters - all par for the course.

And then I spent 40 minutes riding around South Core trying to find an empty dock. The app gives you false hope: you look up a station, it says it has a couple of open docks, you get there and it's full by then. I ended up blindly riding up Simcoe until I finally came across a station with two open docks near Roy Thomson Hall. As I was docking my bike, two more people on Bike Share bikes showed up, only one spot was left - a cruel game of musical chairs.

I wanted to make Bike Share work for me, but I have to conclude that it is not a viable primary commuter option. I will still use it for the last mile trips when I take transit anywhere in the city. But I am going back to riding my own bicycle and paying for maintenance on it (which is a pretty penny compared to Bike Share cost of membership).

 

[afransen]

Yesterday was a turning point for me. I no longer see Bikes Share as a viable primary commute option. While there was no shortage of bikes along Martin Goodman from Humber Bay Shores all the way downtown, a was still an hour late for work because of thinking "hey, it's so nice outside, let me cycle to work this morning"

First, I must have gone through 5-6 bikes trying to find one that works without any issues. Rusted chains, deflated slow tires, wobbly pedals, crooked steering, broken shifters - all par for the course.

And then I spent 40 minutes riding around South Core trying to find an empty dock. The app gives you false hope: you look up a station, it says it has a couple of open docks, you get there and it's full by then. I ended up blindly riding up Simcoe until I finally came across a station with two open docks near Roy Thomson Hall. As I was docking my bike, two more people on Bike Share bikes showed up, only one spot was left - a cruel game of musical chairs.

I wanted to make Bike Share work for me, but I have to conclude that it is not a viable primary commuter option. I will still use it for the last mile trips when I take transit anywhere in the city. But I am going back to riding my own bicycle and paying for maintenance on it (which is a pretty penny compared to Bike Share cost of membership).

To be fair, this was the first really nice day of the season.

I don't think Bike Share is a reliable commute option where you have to be at a specific place at a specific time. I see it more as an Uber alternative. You definitely can't count on a bike being nearby or an available dock near your destination. Kind of an option if it works out, not something you can count on. Maybe eventually that will change as the system matures.

 

[txlseries4]

I think it’s likely they don’t see themselves as a daily commuter option and so rebalancing diligently isn’t high on the priority list. Already they seem to act like people don’t need to use the system between Oct/Nov and April/May. In terms of their revenue and ridership only a small portion comes from members so part of me sees the rationale even if I don’t like it

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

I don't think Bike Share is a reliable commute option where you have to be at a specific place at a specific time. I see it more as an Uber alternative.

It's great for other things, not just Uber replacement. Here are two use cases that I fond absolutely invaluable:

1. The last mile commute. A lot of times the bus routes from higher order transit don't have the frequency of service that works for you. For example, there is no bus service between Mimico GO and Humber Bay Shores outside of rush hour. When your options are a $12 Uber, a ~25 minute walk or a Bike Share, the choice becomes obvious. I used Bike Share for this even during the height of the winter. Similarly, the bus frequency from Old Mills to HBS is every ~40min late night. Bike Share is a viable alternative.

2. Unexpected/emergency trips. A few weeks ago when there was a GO train derailment near Union, our train stopped at Exhibition and dumped all passengers. The thousands of people from a crowded GO train do not nicely fit into a Flexity streetcar with 10 min service frequency. I just walked to the nearest Bike Share station around the exhibition place, and off I went. I was surprised to see that I was the only one to do that though.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

1. The last mile commute. A lot of times the bus routes from higher order transit don't have the frequency of service that works for you. For example, there is no bus service between Mimico GO and Humber Bay Shores outside of rush hour. When your options are a $12 Uber, a ~25 minute walk or a Bike Share, the choice becomes obvious. I used Bike Share for this even during the height of the winter. Similarly, the bus frequency from Old Mills to HBS is every ~40min late night. Bike Share is a viable alternative.

I was also nearly an hour late for work today after having to walk to the TTC station and riding it downtown (I had foolishly walked 20 minutes after the one remaining bike in the region only to be beaten to it by seconds).

I got off at St Andrew and saw it was a 15 minute wait for the streetcar so I hopped on a bike and completed the last mile commute. No shortage of bikes downtown of course!

I also believe I am going to have to invest in a personal bike. The Bike Share network is a nice to have but for the days when there are no bikes available, I need a back-up option. The usage of the system has noticeably gone up in recent years and the scarcity of bikes in the system when I need to use it is an ever-present issue.

 

[daptive]

The 2026 Bike Share Operating Plan (PDF) gives us our first look at the new e-bikes coming this year, unfortunately the document says they're bringing the "smaller baskets" from the old e-bikes to deter tandem riding. Absolutely ridiculous that we can't even fit a gym bag into these baskets just so we can deter the chance of someone riding unsafely. The most Toronto things to make life more difficult for the average person because of the outliers.

Global News article also mentions:

To begin executing on that, the authority said in its presentation that it’s planning to deploy 1,250 solar docks, 350 electric docks, 200 new e-bikes and 750 traditional bikes. It is also planning on bringing in 100 next-generation e-bikes and installing 1,500 pillar docking points to minimize mis-docking.

...

Bike Share Toronto also revealed last December that it would be creating a “sustainable funding model” through new revenue streams as part of its new five-year plan.

Those streams could include a loyalty program, feature upsells, advanced reservations, strategic partnerships, sponsorships and fare integration.

Finally, they talk about developing phase 1 of Bike Angel Program in first half of 2027.

 

[vic]

I hope the front and rear fenders have additional mudflaps. These don't look like they have great coverage.

Wonder if my messenger/shoulder bag would fit in that basket with those new side-walls.

New seat post clamp looks interesting too. Hopefully people will understand how to use them better than the traditional quick-release style that seem to get abused in special ways...

Personally though, I'd prefer more non-ebike expansion.