BIXI Toronto reached 100,000 trips and 250,000 km travelled in 2 months

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.

herb : 13 years 11 months ago
Tags: bikesharing, BIXI Toronto, statistics

Telling our story

To judge by the number of people who don't know exactly what to make of my helmet camera, not all that many Toronto cyclists wear helmet cameras on a regular basis. Perhaps a few more of us should consider it. If more people saw what the streets look like to cyclists, we might get more support, particularly if we put our stories together into a narrative. I think about the series Whale Wars on the Animal Planet TV show. I don't generally agree with Paul Watson or the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, but first-hand footage of their struggle makes for an exciting narrative, and I have to say that having watched their struggles, I have somewhat more sympathy for the Sea Shepherds than I did before I started watching the series. Cyclists have compelling and exciting stories to tell, and if those of us who record our rides put our footage together, maybe we too could come up with a basis for a show to pitch to Discovery or TLC or even TVO.

locutas_of_spragge : 13 years 11 months ago
Tags: activism, helmet camera, speaking out

How to Suppress Cycling in Toronto: A Simple Plan

Let’s say you were a member of the Ford team, and you were tasked with suppressing cycling and rolling back existing cycling infrastructure. How best to accomplish this?
Try this:

  • First, get some authority. PWIC chair would be a nice whip hand to have.
  • Get some credibility – learn to cycle, and become the poster child for the newly converted.
  • Join the local advocacy group and wave your new Cycling Union membership card every chance you get.
  • Scrap the existing official cycling plan. Work with the Union to come up with a new plan and get their endorsement.
  • Request a Status Report from city staff on cycling infrastructure. Use this as a mechanism to introduce your changes.
  • Announce that the new administration is going to spend twice as much on cycling infrastructure as the old one. Wave your membership card, get good press, get the Union to claim some success.
  • Blow some of the new spend on rolling back existing infrastructure, arguing that it is not supported by the local communities, or was poorly planned by the previous administration, or is not widely used. Ignore anything in the Status Report that does not support the these statements.
  • At the same time, announce plans for new infrastructure spending to distract the press and give the Union something to cling to. Offer to trade upgraded infrastructure in one location for eliminated infrastructure in another. Then amend the direction-to-staff motion so that there is no enforceable link between the two.
  • Make sure that any money proposed for actual construction will not be spent on expanding the network. Instead, ensure that it merely upgrades existing infrastructure – especially in places where it is not particularly needed (e.g. Beverley, Hoskins, etc. – amongst the most bike-friendly streets in the city).
  • Where possible, push projects that will act as a wedge issue with existing cycle-friendly communities (Beverley St. / Grange Community Association), institutions (Hoskin Ave. / U of T), or councilors (John St. / Councillor Vaughan).
  • Get the press to rationalize that some of the old infrastructure has to be sacrificed for the new (because cyclists only deserve a zero-sum game).
  • Let the KPMG reports torpedo the rest for you.

Looks like a pretty good plan – I guess the hardest part was learning to ride the bike.

debra : 13 years 11 months ago
Tags: bike lanes, Bike plan, city hall, politics