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Toronto Bike Share

Allandale25 said:
Anyone tried them yet? I assume the docking station for the e-bikes looks different? Haven't seen any pics of it yet.
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My partner and I tried today. More fun than I thought and you do have to pedal so get some (assisted) exercise. They are in regular docks and look very like manual (i.e. pedal) bikes. Not sure I would buy one as I really bike for exercise but if I am using a rental one and an electric were available I would probably take it. The Bixi map shows where the e-bikes are, which is how we found two in same dock.
 
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LNahid2000 said:
I've been using them everyday and they're a gamechanger for hills. Got up to Yonge/Eglinton from Yonge/Gerrard in 16 minutes yesterday and I didn't even feel the hills. I may bike to Guildwood GO on Monday to run an errand...I should easily be able to get from Danforth/Victoria Park to Guildwood in under 30 minutes on one of these.

You can dock them in any station and Bike Share staff will charge them when they run low. There will also be 10 stations that charge the bikes, with one of them currently deployed at 20 Charles St E. I wonder if they'll do anything to encourage people to dock at charging stations.
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The SoBi system in Hamilton is dockless, but you'd pay a small premium for leaving it in a place that's not a designated rack. The next person would get a small credit for taking a bike found outside a designated area and dropping it at a designated rack. I could see such a thing happen with the e-bikes once it is fully rolled out.
 
LNahid2000 said:
Today's bike share trip....I wonder if I'm the first person to do this. So close to 30 minutes too!

View attachment 256147
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This was so much faster on an ebike today. Hopefully it's still there for me to get back after I grab dinner and some Krispy Kreme.
Screenshot_20200825-183841.jpg
 
jelbana said:
That's fair, I'm in favour of doing demand estimation. As you've suggested, Bike Share could offer both 45-minute annual memberships and 30-minute annual memberships at price points that make sense to recouping costs and then see which does better.
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I did some Google searching.

Premium memberships which are still available:
  • Vancouver's docked "Mobi" system has a standard plan which includes 30-minute trips, and a premium plan which includes 60-minute trips. The premium plan costs 23% more.
    • BikeData Vancouver suggests: Their standard plan may be 3% more popular than their premium plan. (Unlike Toronto, they also have a monthly plan, which is quite popular, too.)
  • Bixi Montréal's regular plan includes 45-minute trips. Their premium shared plan, which is marketed to corporations, includes 60-minute trips.
Older premium membership plans:
  • Vélib' Paris plans include 30-minute trips. They used to offer a premium Vélib' Passion plan, which included 45-minute trips. The Passion plan was priced 23% higher. I think the Passion plan disappeared when the system was taken over by Smovengo.
    • Their current premium plan no longer includes 45-minute trips. Instead, it's designed for frequent e-bike users.
Conclusion:

Premium bicycle-sharing memberships already do exist — just not in Toronto. :)
 
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mickael said:
View attachment 266002
My brother sent me this earlier on. Does this mean bike share is a success.. or that people prefer riding downhill
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It will be interesting to see how the ebikes perform. They are a lot more appealing to less-fit people or if you have to go uphill.

I kind of feel like we should think about this as similar to transit. Even if, as a business, it doesn't fully recover its cost, it is enabling trips and relatively low overall cost and without increasing congestion. I hear people talking about preferring it to transit for speed or directness.
 
DSC said:
My partner and I tried today. More fun than I thought and you do have to pedal so get some (assisted) exercise. They are in regular docks and look very like manual (i.e. pedal) bikes. Not sure I would buy one as I really bike for exercise but if I am using a rental one and an electric were available I would probably take it. The Bixi map shows where the e-bikes are, which is how we found two in same dock.
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Some research indicates that pedal assist ebikes result in more trips and longer trips by bike, so that overall the exercise is roughly maintained.
 
WislaHD said:
The idea of e-bikes kinda make me wish there were electric scooters here. Especially for going up-hill to Midtown.
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Good news, along with the announcements of E-bikes and Free Ride Wednesdays, Toronto Bike Share is looking into an e-scooter pilot. (subject to e-scooter regulations being made by city council)
 
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