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Toronto Bike Share

TPA is one of the best run city departments from my understanding - largely because it's the one city agency charged with turning a profit.
 
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WislaHD said:
The report gives the impression that the Bike Share Toronto program is fairly competent in planning and operations and well-managed as far as city departments go. The real barrier to operations and expansion seems to be a simple matter of available funding.

The next Toronto budget needs to include more funding for Bike Share. I hope public officials see the massive potential at wake here.
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This is year 1 of a 4-year expansion plan which is approved, and base-budgeted.

However, the purchase contract is 1-year only; and that always leaves years, 2, 3 and 4 of the plan subject to that year's budget process.
 
innsertnamehere said:
TPA is one of the best run city departments from my understanding - largely because it's the one city agency charged with turning a profit.
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This MAY be true now but a few years ago their whole Board was fired following an auditor report.

joshmatlow.ca

Council replaces Toronto Parking Authority board after auditor general report

July 6, 2017 Dave Nickle North York Mirror Toronto Council has voted to replace the board of the Toronto Parking Authority following a scathing report by the city's Auditor General. - David Nickle/Metroland Earlier this month a controversial land deal from...
joshmatlow.ca joshmatlow.ca
 
DSC said:
This MAY be true now but a few years ago their whole Board was fired following an auditor report.

joshmatlow.ca

Council replaces Toronto Parking Authority board after auditor general report

July 6, 2017 Dave Nickle North York Mirror Toronto Council has voted to replace the board of the Toronto Parking Authority following a scathing report by the city's Auditor General. - David Nickle/Metroland Earlier this month a controversial land deal from...
joshmatlow.ca joshmatlow.ca
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TPA has gone in waves........

They were early adopters of 'Pay and Display', including automating parking lots, not just on-street.

They've been consistently profitable over the years.

On the other hand, notable scandals aside; they have never pushed to alter their mandate to under-price the market in parking (by 25%) which has doubtless left tens of millions in profit on the table.

I would describe their overall performance as slightly better than middling.

Toronto Public Library remains the class-act of the Toronto civil service; they are very adept at use of technology and have grown productivity by leaps and bounds over the years, and with that expanding service
levels far faster than their budget has grown.
 
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I got my bike share subscription last year and I have to say I have been enjoying it. This is coming from someone who already owns a road bike and a single speed(currently locked in storage).
One thing that really bugs me is that the network on the east side isn't that good. Why are there no stations after Warden? Nothing in Scarborough bluffs, but then about 10 stations East of Guildwood?

I think there's huge potential for the bikeshare stations to serve as last mile vehicle in Scarborough but the network is non existent. I'm thinking Scarborough Go, Eglinton GO , Warden and Kennedy Stations.
I once sent an email to their customer support and here's what they said:

Thank you for your email. We appreciate your suggestion and have shared it with our team.

Station installation plans are in part guided by a number of factors, such as population, points of interest, bikeability and transportation connections. A continuous grid of ~300m distance between stations is a guiding factor as well.
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I would be curious to know people's thoughts on that.
 
elcorrerador said:
I got my bike share subscription last year and I have to say I have been enjoying it. This is coming from someone who already owns a road bike and a single speed(currently locked in storage).
One thing that really bugs me is that the network on the east side isn't that good. Why are there no stations after Warden? Nothing in Scarborough bluffs, but then about 10 stations East of Guildwood?

I think there's huge potential for the bikeshare stations to serve as last mile vehicle in Scarborough but the network is non existent. I'm thinking Scarborough Go, Eglinton GO , Warden and Kennedy Stations.
I once sent an email to their customer support and here's what they said:



I would be curious to know people's thoughts on that.
Click to expand...

Bikeshare expansion to all parts of the City has been approved.

There is a 4-year plan that begins this year, although this year's expansion is the smallest of the bunch adding 38 additional stations.

They've hired a consultant to help them decide the order of the rollout.

But regardless within 4 years most of the City will have some measure of coverage (though some areas will still be a bit sparse.)

The past reasoning was simple, the network functions best as a network, in other words 1-5 stations flung off a far distance from main network will not draw as much usage, because they aren't connected to the rest of the network.

The core of the network has been built out from downtown; the extension into southern Etobicoke is only a couple of years old, and the isolated bits in Scarborough and North York less than that and they were considered pilots.

But the system has proved sufficiently popular that it will now grow into most areas.
 
elcorrerador said:
Thanks for the info. Are the locations for this year's additions public yet?
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No.

They will be made public either when the City holds a presser for the expansion, or on either the April or May agendas of the Toronto Parking Authority.

The agenda for the April meeting should be out in about 2 weeks
 
Bikeshare expansion appears to be underway.

Several new stations have been installed in the last few days.

Some could be relocations, but we're now up to 620 stations in operation, where the previous high was 616.

New Stations:

- Dawes Road/Victoria Park Avenue

- Kingston Road and Hayworth (just east of Woodbine)

- 85 Lee Avenue (the Green P lot at Queen/Lee)

- Mutual Street (Arena Gardens)

Thanks to @elcorrerador for making me look! LOL
 
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Great news to hear the expansion, but on a side note is the city actually that stupid that they cant determine how they should roll out the expansion? Really, they have to hire a consultant to help them figure that out?
 
Northern Light said:
Bikeshare expansion to all parts of the City has been approved.

There is a 4-year plan that begins this year, although this year's expansion is the smallest of the bunch adding 38 additional stations.

They've hired a consultant to help them decide the order of the rollout.

But regardless within 4 years most of the City will have some measure of coverage (though some areas will still be a bit sparse.)

The past reasoning was simple, the network functions best as a network, in other words 1-5 stations flung off a far distance from main network will not draw as much usage, because they aren't connected to the rest of the network.

The core of the network has been built out from downtown; the extension into southern Etobicoke is only a couple of years old, and the isolated bits in Scarborough and North York less than that and they were considered pilots.

But the system has proved sufficiently popular that it will now grow into most areas.
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I've been nagging bike share for stations in Thorncliffe/Flemingdon since 2020. Fingers crossed the neighbourhood can get at least one station this year.
 
Amare said:
Great news to hear the expansion, but on a side note is the city actually that stupid that they cant determine how they should roll out the expansion? Really, they have to hire a consultant to help them figure that out?
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The consultant enrichment program is a core mandate of the City!

How did you miss that @Amare

LOL
 
Amare said:
^I've got to find a way to join that program, great way to make some additional $$$ by making reports anyone who rides a bike in this city can probably share similar details to.

This city always finds new and great ways to piss away money.
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While I agree that hiring outsiders (consultants) to do regular ongoing jobs is not the way to go, it is (at least in part) the result of the uproar there always is when the City's own staff numbers increase. Hiring a consultant to do something that needs to be done often and 'for ever' is clearly stupid; hiring a consultant to carry out a specialised task that only happens occasionally is not.
 
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