bikesharing

BIXI Toronto and the city of Toronto will be relocating 17 stations to accommodate snow removal operations. BIXI is taking advantage of this to relocate under-performing stations to busier locations outside of the original service area to as far west as Euclid and far east as the Distillery District.

The locations moving:

BIXI Toronto will also expand the station at Phoebe Ave / Spadina Ave by adding 24 news docking points. BIXI Toronto area has 8 km2 and with these relocations, the area will now have 12 km2. BIXI Toronto will then enlarge its territory by 50%.

For the schedule, visit our website at toronto.bixi.com or follow our BIXI Toronto Facebook page.

BIXI Toronto Statistics

BIXI Toronto has 3936 members and is really proud to almost have 4000 members after only 6 months of service!

Since May 3rd, BIXI Toronto users have done 372 417 trips. Even if the temperature is slowly going down, the average number of trips per day has almost not decreased.

BIXI Toronto wants to remind all its users that the system is up and running all year around and is the first system open all year in Canada.

Poor Gordon. He was so happy at the convenience, but at some point in the morning reality dawned. I estimate from the pricing chart that Gordon paid at least $100 for that rental (assuming he kept it at his house for about eight hours).

I just received BIXI Toronto's July newsletter and these are the milestones they've reached in just over 2 months:

• Average time/trips (for members): 12 min. 54 sec.
• Average distance/trips (for members): 2.15 Km
• Number of persons who have tried the system so far: 17,903
• Busiest day: July 1st (with 2,907 trips made)
• Total distance travelled so far: 244 998 km (50 times the distance between Vancouver and Halifax!)
• Number of trips since launch (since May 3): over 100,000

I just got back from Montreal where BIXI was born. The bikes are a bit older, and some are a bit worse for wear, but they've stood up to some rigorous use. Montreal has some great separated bike lanes, which tonnes of bike traffic, but not every street is good for cycling. They too have many streets like Toronto's but with the large coverage of BIXI you see people biking even on the less friendly streets. In Toronto we've got fewer friendly bike lanes, but BIXI is just as popular and may reach its 1 millionth ride in less than one year. A big achievement in Rob Ford's Toronto.

Councillor Mike Layton and the Toronto Cyclists Union have started a petition for expanding Bixi Toronto. People have been calling Layton every day since Bixi launched almost two months ago, according to a NOW article. The call is to expand Bixi to the original 3000 bikes planned when the program was originally proposed.

I've heard that things are looking so good that Bixi may beat expectations by reaching close to 1 million trips by the end of the year.

Some of you may have heard about the auditor general's somewhat negative report on Bixi in Montreal. Such troubles don't affect Bixi Toronto since it is incorporated separately and has a business model that doesn't rely on subsidies from Montreal.

This guy Ryan Allan Carter created an effective, professional video of how to use Bixi, and he did all for free. His website bills himself as an on-camera personality, producer and writer from Sydney, Australia (and he's working for various Canadian media, including fab magazine and MTV Canada and MuchMusic). So I guess that explains his ability to pull together a great video. He's got all the details right.

I was going to bug Bixi Toronto to produce a good how-to video since so many people seem to be floundering on Facebook, but now there is not much point.

Now that the Bixi bikes are officially on the street, we can get back to the business of the separated bike lanes for downtown. A not so secret side benefit of bikesharing is that it raises the profile of cyclists and creates more urgency for good bike networks for locals and tourists. This is something Councillor Minnan-Wong made a note of at the Bixi launch.

"My understanding is that Montreal had the separated bike lanes first and then Bixi, and that's why there was pickup and it was successful there," he said. "I plan to bring an omnibus bike report for downtown separated connected bike network to committee in June, and council in July."

His network would link Sherbourne, Wellesley, Beverley and John streets to an East-West path on Richmond Street.

"It's a recognition that cycling is a mode of transportation that is used by people in the city," Mr. Minnan-Wong said. "On Richmond Street, even if you take out one lane you're only removing 25% of the capacity."

To complicate matters, leftie Councillor Adam Vaughan (Trinity-Spadina), who endorsed New Democrat Andrew Cash for MP, bitterly opposes bike lanes in his ward.

All of which goes to prove what odd political times these are in downtown Toronto, where even pin-pointing the pinkos can be a tricky job.

Some of the news coverage:

[Update: Video and story uploaded on Global and story and video on Globe and Mail.]

• blogTO. Quote from Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong: "BIXI is an important part of the city's efforts to encourage cycling," said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34 Don Valley East). "We are confident that this public-private partnership will dramatically increase bicycle trips in the downtown core."
• Global Regina: I got quoted as "volunteer for the Toronto Cyclists Union" (the bike union deserves the credit for helping save Bixi from getting axed). I said that its great for tourists to see the sights. (I also said it would be good for residents, but that's okay.)
• CTV Toronto got Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong on one of the bikes, and he's saying all the right things - good for people, environment. They mention that the aim of Bixi is to have 5000 memberships by the end of the year.

Tino caught early glimpses of the BixiTO bikes yesterday, waiting for the official launch this morning.

The bikes are turning heads and people are trying to figure out how it works. Will it be popular enough to grow, let alone be sustainable? That's yet to be seen, but every city with Bixi so far has been successful and growing; Toronto is bike-friendly enough that it will likely be successful here as well.

Later today myself, Jonathan Goldsbie, and Gian Carlo Crivello, CEO of Public Bike System Company, will be hosted by the Star's Corey Mintz at his house (as part of his column, Fed, by Corey Mintz. It promises to be a tasty lunch and discussion.