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Toronto Bike Share

So.............

Though I've been a big booster of, and reporter on Bikeshare, until today, I hadn't yet tried it out myself.

Until recently the spotty number of locations in the East York area left me feeling it wasn't worth my time.

But I went and tried the single-ride pass in the last hour or so to see what I thought.

My observations;

Seat adjustability is easy.
No problem unlocking or docking the bike
Rides perfectly fine at speed.

On the downside, I'm about 5'8, but my height, such as it is, is in my upper body. Meaning I have short legs.
I found it rather irksome that with the seat at its lowest I still couldn't touch the ground except on tippy toes and barely that.
The relevance of which is, that while that's not a super big deal for getting on/off the bike, assuming there's space to lean...........
I found the steering/handling of the bike very poor at low speeds (biking up hill and dropping to maybe 5km/ph).
In that context my inability to stably put my feet down is a problem; it really means if I have to go slow, I have to stop and walk the bike.
Not crazy about that.
I enjoyed the ride portion, otherwise and found the brakes good enough.
I still find the location choices a bit stifling for local use but I may get the annual pass for use in other areas of the City.
Though I do wonder about those low-speed stability issues on busy streets where I would require access to a curb if speeds got under about 15km/ph.
 
Amare said:
"It's...going to disrupt my sleep and it's going to increase transient traffic into an otherwise very, very quiet section of King Street"

Really....are you kidding me?
Click to expand...

This is nuts. Different strokes, I know, but when I told a few of my neighbours that I'd written my councillor to request that a Bike Share station be installed on our street, their response was an enthusiastic "wait, we can do that?!"

Anywho, it worked and we have a Bike Share station coming just down the street sometime in the next couple weeks.
 
Northern Light said:
Though I've been a big booster of, and reporter on Bikeshare, until today, I hadn't yet tried it out myself.

Until recently the spotty number of locations in the East York area left me feeling it wasn't worth my time.

But I went and tried the single-ride pass in the last hour or so to see what I thought.

My observations;

Seat adjustability is easy.
No problem unlocking or docking the bike
Rides perfectly fine at speed.
Click to expand...
Very relatable, I've been following Bikeshare myself but until the recent expansion in Midtown there had been little reason for me to use it.

I really have to commend them for finding a good bike model that seems durable and resistant, but not overly heavy or awkward to use. Seat adjustability ease is a huge bonus. I find that the app could be simplified to unlocking bikes but whatever.

The biggest problem as I can see with the recent expansion outside of downtown Toronto is that the 30 minute time is insufficient for slightly longer trips. It needs to be 45 minutes for leisurely cross-downtown or midtown-downtown rides.

If this expansion through Midtown keeps up, I may invest in the annual pass next year. It's really well priced to be competitive with transit even if you use it just during the summer months.
 
ADRM said:
This is nuts. Different strokes, I know, but when I told a few of my neighbours that I'd written my councillor to request that a Bike Share station be installed on our street, their response was an enthusiastic "wait, we can do that?!"

Anywho, it worked and we have a Bike Share station coming just down the street sometime in the next couple weeks.
Click to expand...

Did you just email your councillor with your request? I'm considering doing the same...
 
ADRM said:
This is nuts. Different strokes, I know, but when I told a few of my neighbours that I'd written my councillor to request that a Bike Share station be installed on our street, their response was an enthusiastic "wait, we can do that?!"

Anywho, it worked and we have a Bike Share station coming just down the street sometime in the next couple weeks.
Click to expand...
Wow I didnt know this could be done/or would have that level of an impact.

I wish I could do the same, but seeing as my councillor is Mark Grimes...it's not even worth my time. I'll just let Bike Share continue to do their thing and expand out west, the less he knows about it the better.
 
I have to say, if bike availability at midday is any indication, the program's popularity in the midtown Yonge corridor is phenomenal.

Looking at the system map, and going north from Mt. Pleasant Cemetary, roughly following Yonge, to just north of Eglinton, btw Mt Pleasant in the east, and Duplex in the west...

6 bike stations with zero bikes available
6 bike stations with one bike available
1 bike station with 4 bikes available

St. Clair/Spadina and Vaughan Road show similar types of numbers.
 
Today's new Bikeshare Stations are:

Florence Gell Park (south of Dundas/Scarlett and west of Jane)
Twelfth St / Thirteenth St (Just north of Lake Shore Blvd W (btw Kipling and Islington)

Other stations were announced today; but I told UT about them last week!
 
H4F33Z said:
I sent a proposal to the folks at Bikeshare TO for my neighbourhood. I suggested potential locations like Leaside Park, RV Burgess Park, East York Town Centre, Overlea/Thorncliffe East, E.T. Seton Park Access Road, Don Mills and DVP ("The Forks") and Don Mills/Overlea.
Click to expand...

Be sure and send that same list to your Councillor.

Bikeshare has a vested interest in accommodating the wishes of Councillors.

Your Councillor is Jaye Robinson - Ward 15
 
New Bikeshare Stations for July 3rd, 2020.

Victoria Park Avenue/Danforth Avenue (north-west corner) (was a public lane used by cars)
Kingston Rd/Beech Avenue (Top of Glen Stewart Ravine)
Wallace Avenue/Pauline Avenue (north of Bloor, west of Dufferin)
 
I gotta ask: why the lack of Bikeshare on Toronto Island?

I was there the other day and people bring a lot of bikes over, but you'd think a station at every port and then at key areas would be very nice.
 
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