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Toronto Bike Share

8pm last Thursday. Wanted to get a bike when I got off the train from Mimico but there was none. Even that last one didn't have any. Ended up walking to by destination which added another 20mins. Would be great if these were more reliable as a last mile solution.

It would be great if there were tons of bikes everywhere, but it's going to be a while before bikes are always available in huge numbers in low density suburbs like Mimico. It's nice that they've expanded that far out, but they should probably focus on making it more reliable downtown and around, which is where the majority of their users are.
 
It would be great if there were tons of bikes everywhere, but it's going to be a while before bikes are always available in huge numbers in low density suburbs like Mimico. It's nice that they've expanded that far out, but they should probably focus on making it more reliable downtown and around, which is where the majority of their users are.

There are infill bikes/stations being added in the core; but Bike Share's Expansion Plan came with a clear mandate to expand to every ward in the City. The program requires the support of suburban councillors and citizens, so suburban expansion will continue apace.
 
8pm last Thursday. Wanted to get a bike when I got off the train from Mimico but there was none. Even that last one didn't have any. Ended up walking to by destination which added another 20mins. Would be great if these were more reliable as a last mile solution.
View attachment 539627
Even if there had been a bike @ Mimico, your problem would then have been finding a dock for it at the end of your 20 minute walk. You cannot only add bike stations at major hubs, you need to have others scattered around these.
 
At $0.50 subsidy per ride vs $0.70 for ttc, the city could save a lot of money by just including bikeshare with the ttc monthly pass and with the 2 hour transfer.

Bikeshare is at 5m rides, ttc is at 500m…if you double to 10m and ttc goes to 495m then you save 1m$ in subsidy between the two…

Much lower capital cost for bikeshare, so it’s in the interest to swing the ratio towards bikeshare…
 
At $0.50 subsidy per ride vs $0.70 for ttc, the city could save a lot of money by just including bikeshare with the ttc monthly pass and with the 2 hour transfer.

Bikeshare is at 5m rides, ttc is at 500m…if you double to 10m and ttc goes to 495m then you save 1m$ in subsidy between the two…

Much lower capital cost for bikeshare, so it’s in the interest to swing the ratio towards bikeshare…

I'm all for considering lower prices for Bikeshare, but your above modelling doesn't work.

TTC capital costs are fixed, the bus doesn't cost any less to buy, nor the tunnels any less to maintain if ridership shifts to Bikeshare.

The operating costs (fuel, an operator salary) only decline if service is reduced, which at most times of day would lead to a downward spiral in ridership as frequency plummeted.

Which would mean a higher subsidy per rider, not a lower one.
 
I'm all for considering lower prices for Bikeshare, but your above modelling doesn't work.

TTC capital costs are fixed, the bus doesn't cost any less to buy, nor the tunnels any less to maintain if ridership shifts to Bikeshare.

The operating costs (fuel, an operator salary) only decline if service is reduced, which at most times of day would lead to a downward spiral in ridership as frequency plummeted.

Which would mean a higher subsidy per rider, not a lower one.
Yes the above is the simple case to illustrate why increasing bikeshare makes sense.

I suspect actually what would happen is that the ridership on both would increase due to network effects and people switching from cars.

1) shorter rides where ttc is was delayed would move to bike
2) shorter rides in general would move to bikes
3) buses would have more room for longer rides
4) more people would be able to make use of buses for longer rides where they might not have before because of 1 or because they can now access more routes without long transfers

The end result would be that overall fare revenues would rise, as would overall subsidy but some of that rise would end up going to bikeshare and overall be less per rider total.

Better capital utilization of buses for long distances and better utilization of bikes for shorter distances.

Less people driving = more efficient use of buses.

In this scenario lets say bikeshare increases to 10m by moving a bunch of short trips to bike, and ttc stays at 500m (by attracting new longer riders...but is capital constrained as you said)....we now have a more efficient system, and a lower per rider subsidy (across both systems).

Bikeshare can of course do this themselves, by building a world class system and just converting drivers or transit users. But the fare integration would actually accelerate it, and make it by design.
 
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At $0.50 subsidy per ride vs $0.70 for ttc, the city could save a lot of money by just including bikeshare with the ttc monthly pass and with the 2 hour transfer.
Given the move to Presto, I thought the number of monthly passes issued had dropped substantially. I’ll try to find docs and reports on this.

That said - you do raise some interesting questions.

FWIW, I think longer trips are more expensive than shorter ones for the TTC, so, shifting short trips to Bikeshare, while potentially better for the city could have a negative impact on the TTC’s perceived performance. That may be fine: we should look at our transport system holistically.

(Sorry - all of this is off-the-cuff, so I probably have holes in my thinking.)
 
I thought in the dead of winter I'd have no problem finding a bike, but the neighbourhood was pretty dry like in summertime- possibly because the weather was practically summer-like.
 
Bikeshare is expanding again:

+ 3 stations since I last reported, with King/Niagara added and McRae/Laird, and one restoration.

We now have 788 Bikeshare Stations.

* I don't know if they have the 2024 bikes/docks in yet, or this is equipment they didn't get in last year. If the former, this will be the earliest start to install we've ever seen.
 
Bikeshare ridership in the east end is likely being artificially suppressed:

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13 Bikeshare docks along Danforth from Broadview to just east of Greenwood, only a single bike currently available at one. Its post-rush, I'd expect the numbers to be light, that's nuts.

I should add, if I added the next 3 stations to the south at various points along the corridor I would add only 1 additional bike. For 2 bikes in 16 stations.
 
Bikeshare ridership in the east end is likely being artificially suppressed:

View attachment 546096

13 Bikeshare docks along Danforth from Broadview to just east of Greenwood, only a single bike currently available at one. Its post-rush, I'd expect the numbers to be light, that's nuts.

I should add, if I added the next 3 stations to the south at various points along the corridor I would add only 1 additional bike. For 2 bikes in 16 stations.
It's been like this for a couple weeks now, slim pickings every day. For some reason the Chester bike station (Arundel) has had 10 or so e-bikes docked there out of power for a bout a month now.
 
It's been like this for a couple weeks now, slim pickings every day. For some reason the Chester bike station (Arundel) has had 10 or so e-bikes docked there out of power for a bout a month now.

If you don't mind; could you put in a query w/them about what's going on? I'd be interested to read their reply.

customerservice@bikesharetoronto.com

I'd send that message myself, but I think it would be better coming from someone they don't know as well, LOL
 
Could it be a lot of bikes out of circulation for maintenance? I thought ridership was much higher than it usually is seasonally due to the weather.
 
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