Toronto Bike Share

[daptive]

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.

From my understanding they’re going to bring over the smaller baskets from the current e-bikes. So we won’t be getting the larger basket at all

 

[chrisw]

A phone mount would be a massive improvement.

Interested to see what Phase 1 of the Toronto Bike Angels Program will look like in 2027.

They're also Presto/One-fare business case review and finalization by Q2 2026.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

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

I would pay extra for that feature for sure. I spend a lot of time walking 20 minutes to the one bike in the neighbourhood only to be beaten to it by seconds.

 

[Northern Light]

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.
....

The first thing that jumps out at me is how limited the coverage expansion is in many ways. Its not just @Towered 's neighbourhood they're leaving unserved.

Its much of Etobicoke and a bit chunk of cental-west Scarborough.

Noe the limited coverage in each of the 3 Etobicoke wards, pretty sparse in the north 1/2 of the Don Valley wards, and almost nothing on the eastern side of Don Valley east or the north-central or north west portions of Ward 21.

 

[TwoWheelPoli]

The first thing that jumps out at me is how limited the coverage expansion is in many ways. Its not just @Towered 's neighbourhood they're leaving unserved.

Its much of Etobicoke and a bit chunk of cental-west Scarborough.

View attachment 721162


Noe the limited coverage in each of the 3 Etobicoke wards, pretty sparse in the north 1/2 of the Don Valley wards, and almost nothing on the eastern side of Don Valley east or the north-central or north west portions of Ward 21.

Holyday's ward badly needs some additional bike share stations along Eglinton to serve the western Crosstown extension. And maybe a few along the West Deane and Etobicoke Creek Trails while we're at it.

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

The first thing that jumps out at me is how limited the coverage expansion is in many ways.
Its much of Etobicoke
Noe the limited coverage in each of the 3 Etobicoke wards

They don't want to offend Doug Ford's precious feelings by putting any stations near his home, maybe?

 

[chrisw]

The expansion of Bike Share to Toronto island contributed to 10% of total revenue for the entire program last year ($1.4 Million). The City cancelled an agreement with a private bike rental company on the Island that was only paying them an $83,000 fee, annually (+2% of revenue).

From X user Observing the city. Overlooked this in the report. These stats are quite impressive for Centre Island. Able to drive 9% of revenue from 1% of rides. Also 43% of day passes and 33% of new users.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2031774914110259334

 

[DSCToronto]

Not to sound like a broken record....but, I would really like BikeShare to sort out the problem of totally empty and totally full docks. Yes, balancing is complex but it CAN be done or they can buy more docks/ Last week I saw a BS truck filling EVERY space on a dock which is probably NOT helpful !

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Not to sound like a broken record....but, I would really like BikeShare to sort out the problem of totally empty and totally full docks. Yes, balancing is complex but it CAN be done or they can buy more docks/ Last week I saw a BS truck filling EVERY space on a dock which is probably NOT helpful !

I honestly think some sort of cash return program for docking bikes into empty docks would sort the system organically, at least in the high density areas of the city/network.

 

[afransen]

Incentivizing user rebalancing is probably more cost effective than staff-performed rebalancing, or at least it allows staff rebalancing to focus on higher impact rebalancing. BST has talked about implementing this for a while but I haven't seen any updates. Other cities like NYC have being doing this for some time, but you have to be careful not to make it gameable or make the rewards useless.

 

[afransen]

I honestly think some sort of cash return program for docking bikes into empty docks would sort the system organically, at least in the high density areas of the city/network.

You have to be careful. In NYC they had people riding bike back and forth between neighbouring docks just for the payout.

 

[daptive]

Not to sound like a broken record....but, I would really like BikeShare to sort out the problem of totally empty and totally full docks. Yes, balancing is complex but it CAN be done or they can buy more docks/ Last week I saw a BS truck filling EVERY space on a dock which is probably NOT helpful !

I honestly think some sort of cash return program for docking bikes into empty docks would sort the system organically, at least in the high density areas of the city/network.

Incentivizing user rebalancing is probably more cost effective than staff-performed rebalancing, or at least it allows staff rebalancing to focus on higher impact rebalancing. BST has talked about implementing this for a while but I haven't seen any updates. Other cities like NYC have being doing this for some time, but you have to be careful not to make it gameable or make the rewards useless.

The documents linked a few comments up mentions that they’ll start Phase 1 of Bike Angels in the first half of 2027! So still a lot of waiting to do

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

Yes, balancing is complex but it CAN be done or they can buy more docks

I honestly think some sort of cash return program for docking bikes into empty docks would sort the system organically

Incentivizing user rebalancing is probably more cost effective than staff-performed rebalancing

You have to be careful. In NYC they had people riding bike back and forth between neighbouring docks just for the payout.

All of this is not as complicated as it seems. At least not to a data professional. They have all the data they need to determine:
1. Rush hour flow patterns
2. Weekend flow patterns
3. Dock status in real time

Each station can be a donor at one point in time and a receiver a few hour later. Your rebalancing should anticipate this and fill up donors and empty out receivers ahead of time.

You don't set targets on a station to say that it's ~50% full all the time. You set a target of 7 bikes at a station by 6am if you know that 5 bikes will be taken out in the morning. You set a target of 7 empty docks by 4pm if you know that 5 bikes will come into the station at night.

You then create orders to rebalance the nearest stations with each other in real time. 2 bikes from station A to station B, 3 bikes from station C to station B. Order valid for the next 2 hours. What you do next is you offer those orders as scavenger hunt missions on the Bike Share app for anyone looking to cash in on rebalancing rides.

This way you don't have people riding back-and-forth between the same stations. You have them bring the system to optimal balance at any given time without any waste.

If anyone at Bike Share would like to hire me to architect this for them, I'm able and willing

 

[MisterF]

New Bikeshare station at Bessarion station along Line 4, creating the beginnings of a true bikeshare network along Sheppard!View attachment 718033View attachment 718034

Does anyone know if the cycle tracks on Sheppard are still going to be extended through this area or is that project a victim of Bill 60?

 

[Northern Light]

Does anyone know if the cycle tracks on Sheppard are still going to be extended through this area or is that project a victim of Bill 60?

I haven't checked in the last few months, but I was told this was on hold due to Bill 60.