Cycling infrastructure (Separated bike lanes)

[ADRM]

And isn't it less with a Presto card?

That's the $45 price point to which @mdrejhon was referring!

 

[steveintoronto]

I'm sure it would work out, but the key is convincing people to get on board. IMO, $90 + tax for an entire year is a bit of a psychological barrier for some. But a 4-month (summer) pass for $25? I'm sure lots of people would at least try it, and some would stay.

I would have tried one long ago just out of interest, even though it has little performance appeal for me, if it didn't involve all the psychological barriers. I don't have an i-device, and don't want one. I have a dumb-phone, suits me fine, I pay for use by the minute. I do calls through Google phone when possible. Even though I design and develop electronic components and systems, I avoid the 'computer challenge' when ever possible, detest automated check-out counters at stupidmarkets. Just because one prints and publishes books doesn't mean that they're up on the 'latest novel' or is an expert on the Dewey Decimal System (in digital form or otherwise). And unfortunately, a lot of the 'latest' "conveniences" are predicated on doing the Digital Dance.

Sorry, they can keep their "tanks" thanks, until I'm offered a test ride for a couple of bucks, I'll pass, and so will a lot of others. And before anyone gets their knockers in a nit on "tanks":

[...] “It’s like pedaling a tank,” said Thomas Brereton, 53, an accountant from suburban Westchester County who rides a Citi Bike from the Manhattan train station to his Brooklyn office.

That is precisely why bike share riders across the United States remain safe – even after 23 million rides since 2007 through city streets where taxis screech into bike lanes to pick up passengers and texting pedestrians step obliviously into bikeways, experts say.

“The bikes are heavy, with a very low center of gravity, wide tires, drum brakes that keep the braking system dry even in inclement weather, and the bikes are geared so it is difficult to gain considerable speed,” [transportation researcher Susan] Shaheen said. [...]

http://grist.org/living/u-s-bikeshares-have-killed-a-shocking-amount-of-people/

Unfortunately, as low as the rate of accidents for bike-share has been, the claim of "no deaths" in North Am is no longer true as of Summer last:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...c-crash-on-northwest-side-20160701-story.html

I have trouble understanding the claim for "low centre of gravity" for the Bixi Bikes at least. Just lifting the saddle of one in the rack immediately indicated it wouldn't caster when pushed from the saddle. Perhaps in this age of 'hybrid' bikes with higher bottom brackets that's the case, but by road bike standards, you're riding a truck, not a sports car.

If Toronto Bike Share wishes to continue expanding at the rate they claim, they're going to have to figure out some way to allow 'sampling' or else they're preaching to the already converted, and will saturate the present market.

 

[DonValleyRainbow]

And isn't it less with a Presto card?

That's the $45 price point to which @mdrejhon was referring!

I think the promo ended, did it not?

 

[LNahid2000]

I don't know why you claim that you need an i-device to use Bike Share Toronto, and then go into a whole tirade about it.

 

[ADRM]

I don't know why you claim that you need an i-device to use Bike Share Toronto, and then go into a whole tirade about it.

Because he knows beyond a doubt how to create the best bike share system in the world and it looks very different than the one in this city.

 

[ADRM]

I think the promo ended, did it not?

It did not! https://www.bikesharetoronto.com/presto

 

[steveintoronto]

I don't know why you claim that you need an i-device to use Bike Share Toronto, and then go into a whole tirade about it.

I know you don't, LN. You've made that point many times. Not everyone is like you. If you want Bike Share to appeal to a wider audience, you're going to have to learn how others outside of the *niche* can be attracted to trying it.

I don't know why you claim that you need an i-device to use Bike Share Toronto

Because that's the way it's set-up.

 

[ADRM]

I know you don't, LN. You've made that point many times. Not everyone is like you. If you want to Bike Share to appeal to a wider audience, you're going to have to learn how others outside of the *niche* can be attracted to trying it.

Drop the niche bit, please. It makes for crappy debate on this forum.

At the very least, move it to the bike share thread and spare us.

 

[LNahid2000]

I know you don't, LN. You've made that point many times. Not everyone is like you. If you want Bike Share to appeal to a wider audience, you're going to have to learn how others outside of the *niche* can be attracted to trying it.

Because that's the way it's set-up.

What would make you attracted to trying it? I'm not sure how your i-device tirade was relavent.

Bike Share has done sampling in the past by giving away free one day passes at events such as Open Streets. PM me and I'll give you the code for one since they're just sitting around.

 

[salsa]

I know you don't, LN. You've made that point many times. Not everyone is like you. If you want Bike Share to appeal to a wider audience, you're going to have to learn how others outside of the *niche* can be attracted to trying it.

Steve, your bike is a fifty year old classic outfitted with special components. You sir, are a niche.

 

[steveintoronto]

Not everyone realizes it's essentially "$90 for unlimited 30-minute bike rentals, all year long" and you can use any bike stations to reset your rental timer, for longer rides, or intermediate stops in your journey, etc. Cut that price to $45 and it's indeed a steal.

Even better, take a hint from how NYC is doing this: (albeit this is a different demographic, but surely this is a way to appeal to getting more users?)

NYCHA Residents
All New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents qualify for a $5/month Citi Bike membership with annual commitment.

Citi Bike aims to offer New Yorkers an affordable, accessible and fun new transportation option. All New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) residents 16 years and older qualify for a $5/month Citi Bike membership, with an annual commitment. You'll get an unlimited number of rides for a whole year, and access to thousands of bikes across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Jersey City.

The first 45 minutes of each ride are included in your membership price. If you keep a bike out for longer than 45 minutes at a time, you'll be charged usage fees. To avoid usage fees, keep your rides to 45 minutes or less. A ride begins when a bike is unlocked and ends when the bike is securely returned to any Citi Bike station. For more details on pricing, see the Annual Membership page.

A Citi Bike membership is not transferable, and a member key must not be shared.

Here's what you need to sign up:

• NYCHA Account Number (found on your tenant rent bill – example: 001-001-01A)
• Birth year of resident
• Birth day of resident (can be single or double digits, for example 3 or 23)
• Credit or debit card*

• https://www.citibikenyc.com/pricing/nycha
  
  

 

[steveintoronto]

Steve, your bike is a fifty year old classic outfitted with special components. You sir, are a niche.

I am, and I don't deny that. That's why I'm looking for a junker for the winter. (I've found one, for $100, just vacillating on buying it)

 

[ADRM]

Even better, take a hint from how NYC is doing this: (albeit this is a different demographic, but surely this is a way to appeal to getting more users?)

• https://www.citibikenyc.com/pricing/nycha
  

Move. This. To. The. Bike. Share. Thread.

It's much easier for the rest of us to mute you that way.

 

[Tuscani01]

Interesting you note Bay, though, as to me, it's one of the single worst route for cyclists in the city. That'd be somewhat mitigated, though, if the new Yonge St. design miraculously manages to produce physically-protected cycle infrastructure.

I actually prefer Bay over Sherbourne. I find the lights along Sherbourne are badly timed for North-South Traffic. It's a bit weird riding along what feels like a highway, but that HOV lane does make a difference in how safe I feel. I find motorists tend to stay out of the lane, and when they do enter it, its wide enough that they can pass me without me feeling squeezed in.

As for Yonge Street, there are a lot of forces pushing for a fully pedestrianized Yonge, which would not include bike lanes. I'm leaning towards this idea, and hoping for bike lanes along Bay instead.

 

[ADRM]

I actually prefer Bay over Sherbourne. I find the lights along Sherbourne are badly timed for North-South Traffic. It's a bit weird riding along what feels like a highway, but that HOV lane does make a difference in how safe I feel. I find motorists tend to stay out of the lane, and when they do enter it, its wide enough that they can pass me without me feeling squeezed in.

As for Yonge Street, there are a lot of forces pushing for a fully pedestrianized Yonge, which would not include bike lanes. I'm leaning towards this idea, and hoping for bike lanes along Bay instead.

On the latter, definitely agree that there are a few different options worth pursuing, though I'm skeptical that given the climate of the road safety and mobility debates in our city we can get buy-in for both a pedestrianized Yonge (though I thought the thinking was more so a widened sidewalk and bike lanes of some sort) and the removal of one vehicular lane one street over. I'm fine with a protected lane on either Bay or Yonge, though.

Interesting to hear your sense of Bay -- I moved to the city about 6 months ago and started biking down Bay from Bloor during rush hour and found the HOV lane uniformly terrifying. I now extend my trip to take the Beverly bike lanes south from Bloor and then cut over on the Harbord lanes and Wellesley track. Feels much safer than having cabs scream past me at 70 km/h (not to mention the buses).