Toronto Bike Share

[Tuscani01]

Montreal's Bixi has gone bankrupt http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...ram_bixi_files_for_bankruptcy_protection.html

How can Toronto's Bixi program remain in operation without taxpayer funds?

Bixi Montreal was the start of Bixi. They have massive startup costs, as they developed Bixi. Toronto did not have this problem, as we simply used the technology that was developed in Montreal.

Bixi Montreal has received way more taxpayer money than Bixi Toronto, and Bixi Montreal is the one developing the program, hence why Toronto's can still be profitable while Montreal's falls further into debt.

 

[DSC]

Interesting to see that Bixi Montreal actually made a (small) profit last year. Of course they have FAR more bikes/stations than BikeShare Toronto.

I have been a Bixi - BikeShare subscriber since before it launched and it's sad to see how the new management cannot keep docks filled (or emptied) and bikes repaired. I know they say they are going to get bigger and better (unfortunately not until after Pan-Am) but .. See: http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/bixi-posts-a-financial-surplus-for-the-first-time

 

[LNahid2000]

It's been 4 years now without a single expansion...what a pathetic system. Other bike share systems around the world (using the exact same built in Quebec bikes) have made HUGE expansions since the initial opening:

London - 12,000 bikes
New York - 6,000 bikes
Montreal - 5,000 bikes
Chicago - 3,000 bikes
Washington - 2,500 bikes
Toronto - 1,000 bikes

I am a member since the service is still useful to me at $50/year (with groupon). But they need to expand already!

 

[Napoleon]

I am a member since the service is still useful to me at $50/year (with groupon). But they need to expand already!

Yeah, I agree, it makes a huge difference in the usability of the system. In Montreal, unless you're going quite far from the city centre, you just grab a bike and go. You know you'll just randomly come across a Bixi station within a block or two of your destination…there's no need to plan. Here, I don't even know where all of them are in the coverage area, for example, there's not a single station directly along the Richmond Cycle Track. In Montreal, they put them along the major bike routes, which maximizes convenience.

Of course, almost all the times a Bixi would be useful to me, I'm headed outside the coverage area. West of Bathurst, there's 1 station on Bloor, 0 on the new Harbord cycle track, 0 on College, 0 on Dundas, and 3 on Queen. If I want to bike from the core to a bar or dinner, there's nowhere to leave a bike. Sigh.

 

[DC83]

It's been 4 years now without a single expansion...what a pathetic system. Other bike share systems around the world (using the exact same built in Quebec bikes) have made HUGE expansions since the initial opening:

London - 12,000 bikes
New York - 6,000 bikes
Montreal - 5,000 bikes
Chicago - 3,000 bikes
Washington - 2,500 bikes
Toronto - 1,000 bikes

I am a member since the service is still useful to me at $50/year (with groupon). But they need to expand already!

Check out SoBi, Hamilton's new (700 bike) Bike Share system:

https://hamilton.socialbicycles.com/#map

The advantage it has over Bixi/ TO Bike Share is that you can leave them anywhere you want for a small fee ($1), and return one to a hub for a credit ($0.67).

According to the City of Hamilton, since Mar 20 launch there have been 36,396 trips taken, 84,353km travelled & 11,000 hrs of riding.

 

[LNahid2000]

Check out SoBi, Hamilton's new (700 bike) Bike Share system:

https://hamilton.socialbicycles.com/#map

The advantage it has over Bixi/ TO Bike Share is that you can leave them anywhere you want for a small fee ($1), and return one to a hub for a credit ($0.67).

According to the City of Hamilton, since Mar 20 launch there have been 36,396 trips taken, 84,353km travelled & 11,000 hrs of riding.

I didn't even know Hamilton had a system. Hamilton being 1/5 the size of Toronto and having 700 bikes makes Toronto's system seem even more pathetic.

 

[urbandreamer]

I rarely see people using Toronto's system and must wonder how soon before they shut it down?

One reason I suspect Hamilton & Mtl's was more active is the average user may have less money? Another: both Mtl & the Hammer have overall greater density (of renters?) over a greater area than Toronto.

It really seems to me--admittedly I don't bike anymore--Toronto's bike trend has just become another way for people to show off their bling ... err ride.

 

[DaveFlavanoid]

I rarely see people using Toronto's system and must wonder how soon before they shut it down?

One reason I suspect Hamilton & Mtl's was more active is the average user may have less money? Another: both Mtl & the Hammer have overall greater density (of renters?) over a greater area than Toronto.

It really seems to me--admittedly I don't bike anymore--Toronto's bike trend has just become another way for people to show off their bling ... err ride.

Cycling has always had huge amounts of conspicuous consumption -- just look at the number of people that spend thousands on race bikes, yet are horribly out of shape.

 

[niwell]

Given its size I would say Toronto's bikeshare is fairly well used. I see them on the street all the time (having to pass them on my bike), and the station at my work seems heavily used. I'd go as far as to say it's surprisingly well used given how small the system is. If the boundaries expanded in to cover the west end to say, Roncesvalles and east to places like Leslieville or even the Beaches I think it would be very successful. The big problem is it's not terribly useful right now if you are leaving the central core.

I used Chicagos's Divvy bikeshare heavily last summer and plan to again when I am there next month. Same setup as Toronto just bigger. Being able to bike out to Logan Square and go to bars, or when I was staying in LS bike downtown for a museum was very useful. Looking at the funding setup of Divvy its interesting to note how much it is privately sponsored - from the health insurance industry no less! Huge startup funds from the federal government too, which would be nice.

 

[mdrejhon]

I just became a SoBi member in Hamilton for $15/month (unlimited rentals up to 60 min use per day).

I just walk up to the bike, punch in my password code, and the bike is automatically rented.

All SoBi bikes have built-in GPS trackers, and has a built-in LCD screen to do reservation right on the spot (by entering your code).

I see them on the map on my phone, too. And I can reserve via phone too, as long as I pick it up quickly. I see SoBi stats and usage reports too.

They all have electronic U-bars built into them, so you can lock to a parking meter or stop sign, etc -- anything is a SoBi bike dock!

I'm starting an experimental SoBi+GOtrain commute, about once a week for now, and may ramp it up. Take a bike to one of the Hamilton GO stations (West Harbour or Downtown) and catch a GOtrain. And also to take advantage of the non-stop PanAm express train (Toronto-Hamilton with no stops) for my return home.

What's neat is that SoBi puts all the electronics into the bikes instead of the stations. All bikes have a GPS tracker built into them. The stations are just cheap dumb racks where new station locations can be fully funded via community fundraising (I think maybe $1000). I signed up when a neighbor parked a bike at a stop sign near my house. And it was there ready to reserve. I notice I can just park a bike overnight near me (+$1 fee) and usually it'll be next to me the next morning, before a different subscriber takes it.

Signup was fast, and I could walk up to a bike less than 5 minutes after signup. No deposit was needed (bikes are GPS tracked, theft resistant). That was much faster than BIXI membership, who mails you an RFID key first or charges you a temporary deposit until you return the bike.

With only 700 bikes, but much cheaper stations, it more stations than Toronto does, and covers a bigger area. Plus people park bikes off-station so I can rent them closer to my place if somebody parks a bike closer to me than the neareset station. And I can do the same, as long as I park within the SoBi GPS geo-fence. Unlike with BIXI-type systems.

I want to support the expansion of the system even though I already own 3 bikes. I just don't want to commute by bike in both directions (weather can be bad on the return commute) -- or bring my bike onto a rush-hour GOtrain. SoBi is perfect for that as it allows a 1-way bike commute, park and forget. I sometimes stay overnight downtown, so I don't have to worry about bike theft. I can do the return trip by bus, car pickup, taxi, future LRT, or whatnot. Or get a different SoBi.

It's impressive how big an area Hamilton's new bikeshare can economically cover with just only 700 bikes, and still provide a way for bikes to be nearby (by allowing you to "dock" off-station).

 

[aquateam]

Cycling has always had huge amounts of conspicuous consumption -- just look at the number of people that spend thousands on race bikes, yet are horribly out of shape.

I'm glad you mentioned this. My personal impression of the sport of cycling is that most of the cyclists that I see are middled-aged men with muffin-tops spilling out of spandex bike gear while riding $20 000 + bikes that they drove to the cycle course in their SUV.

I'd like to apologize in advance to any cyclists that I may have maligned. I'm probably just bitter because they pass me so quickly when I'm trying to bike home uphill on my cross-bike while loaded up with ~20 lbs of gear.

 

[salsa]

I'm glad you mentioned this. My personal impression of the sport of cycling is that most of the cyclists that I see are middled-aged men with muffin-tops spilling out of spandex bike gear while riding $20 000 + bikes that they drove to the cycle course in their SUV.

I'm a member of a cycling club (Toronto Bicycling Network), and your assessment accurately describes many of the riders I meet there. As for myself, I'm a little different. I'm young and thin, I bring my bike on transit, I don't wear spandex, and my bike still nice but nowhere near $20,000.

 

[Napoleon]

I want to support the expansion of the system even though I already own 3 bikes. I just don't want to commute by bike in both directions (weather can be bad on the return commute) -- or bring my bike onto a rush-hour GOtrain. SoBi is perfect for that as it allows a 1-way bike commute, park and forget. I sometimes stay overnight downtown, so I don't have to worry about bike theft. I can do the return trip by bus, car pickup, taxi, future LRT, or whatnot. Or get a different SoBi.

It's impressive how big an area Hamilton's new bikeshare can economically cover with just only 700 bikes, and still provide a way for bikes to be nearby (by allowing you to "dock" off-station).

The ability to park and forget is really a novel and awesome one. I wonder if something like that might be the key to expansion in Toronto. Right now, the system is so geographically limited as to not be useful most of the times I would want to use it. If we had a system like Montreal's, I wouldn't hesitate to buy an annual membership.

A little off-topic, but I think the ability to park anywhere is what makes Car2Go so useful in a lot of other cities. The small number of designated, reserved spots has made it pretty hard for me to use. despite having one 30 feet from my front door.

 

[PL1]

The ability to park and forget is really a novel and awesome one. I wonder if something like that might be the key to expansion in Toronto. Right now, the system is so geographically limited as to not be useful most of the times I would want to use it. If we had a system like Montreal's, I wouldn't hesitate to buy an annual membership.

I was just in Montreal last weekend and I was struck by how many Bixi stations there are, each with many more docks (and bikes) than there are here. (I was staying in Downtown near the convention centre). I bought a Bikeshare Toronto membership in November and have used it several times, but the lack of stations (and occasionally bike availability) has limited my usage. Also, I tend to commute home by running in the good weather, which has also limited my usage.

I do like the system though. It needs to be bigger.

 

[Napoleon]

I was just in Montreal last weekend and I was struck by how many Bixi stations there are, each with many more docks (and bikes) than there are here. (I was staying in Downtown near the convention centre). I bought a Bikeshare Toronto membership in November and have used it several times, but the lack of stations (and occasionally bike availability) has limited my usage. Also, I tend to commute home by running in the good weather, which has also limited my usage.

I do like the system though. It needs to be bigger.

The Montreal system is amazing. The home area for Toronto is too small to be useful for most of my trips. One thing that was great in Montreal was just being able to hop on and go without figuring out where the stations were in advance…I just knew that there would be one within a block or two of my destination. In Toronto, there are so many fewer stations that it requires some planning to figure out where they are. Shockingly, there's also almost none along the major cycle tracks in the city. Montreal has them every 2 blocks or so on the major bike routes.