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Toronto Bike Share

allengeorge said:
Or, just use Bikeshare.

Also, I think it’s a little sad that the vast majority of people have never experienced (or will never experience) anything better than a department store bike. They are awful. One would be better off buying a used bike from a coop. That said, I don’t judge people for buying what they can to get some wheels.
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This discussion elsewhere got me thinking about how much one of these city bikes would cost if sold individually to consumers, can anyone make an educated guess?

Just curious, not looking to buy. I only ride recreationally and I’m unfamiliar with the market.

I’m generally satisfied with the quality of the shared bikes. When I find one in good condition with an extra tall seat, they ride beautifully! Gearing is smooth though the gear range is modest (as I would expect from a user accessible design), and the bikes are on the heavy side.
 
reinventingthewheel said:
I’m generally satisfied with the quality of the shared bikes. When I find one in good condition with an extra tall seat, they ride beautifully! Gearing is smooth though the gear range is modest (as I would expect from a user accessible design), and the bikes are on the heavy side.
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Me too.

The streets can be so bumpy and I feel way safer on the heavy bikes. Going up on hills is not fun, but I could use the exercise.
 
reinventingthewheel said:
This discussion elsewhere got me thinking about how much one of these city bikes would cost if sold individually to consumers, can anyone make an educated guess?
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Regular bikes or e-bikes?

The regular bikes are really heavy, and I find it far, far nicer to ride even a fairly entry-level hybrid from a well-established brand like Specialized, Trek, Giant, etc., which you can get for around $800. If you want to buy Canadian there are a few brands like Brodie and Kona (? - I think it's partly Canadian still?) still putting out stuff for the commuter market (commuter is a tough market to be in, since buyers are price sensitive and don't necessarily value quality).

If you want to splash out, I actually bought one from Landyachtz out of Vancouver, had a great experience with the folks there putting together something, and really love riding the bike. There are a ton of great bike makers out there, and so much great stuff being put out.

(Apologies for the enthusiasm - I'm a bike dilettante in some ways. I think cities are best explored walking and biking, and love biking around.)
 
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Was going to post this in the Cycling Infrastructure thread but thought this was a better place, after @just east of the creek posted while in Montreal:
Bixis everywhere and Bixi mechanics and bicycle movers everywhere around town
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Some context, numbers, and comparison since I didn't know and went looking. Both BIXI Montreal and Bike Share Toronto have ~10,000 bikes, but Montreal has 2600 e-bikes vs Toronto's 889 (Toronto's site says "1800+" but the e-bike count doesn't reflect that. E-bike count is absent from BIXI's data so their # in circulation might differ too). Toronto's just shy of 800 stations while Montreal's just over (830, though they claim "more than 900"), but offer 7 weekday valet "superstations", running ~7am-7pm M-F, compared to our 3 that run 7-10am. I have to think such focus on balancing the bikes/stations (like offering rewards for helping balance stations) on top of their cycling network has helped drive their ridership.

Montreal had 0 riders for January, February, March, and only 95k in December -- beginning Nov 2023 they now operate some stations during the winter -- which is sort of unbelievable because comparing 2023 ridership numbers...
Toronto 5,713,143
Montreal 11,790,743
 
Over the past few months I have noticed that the balancing of bikes is not nearly as good as it was and there are far too many docks with no bikes or no free (or working) docks. Also, as I got what looked like brand new bike yesterday, I realise how the older bikes have deteriorated and are far 'rougher' to ride - I though the extra effort required to ride them was just because I am getting older!.
 
txlseries4 said:
Was going to post this in the Cycling Infrastructure thread but thought this was a better place, after @just east of the creek posted while in Montreal:


Some context, numbers, and comparison since I didn't know and went looking. Both BIXI Montreal and Bike Share Toronto have ~10,000 bikes, but Montreal has 2600 e-bikes vs Toronto's 889 (Toronto's site says "1800+" but the e-bike count doesn't reflect that. E-bike count is absent from BIXI's data so their # in circulation might differ too). Toronto's just shy of 800 stations while Montreal's just over (830, though they claim "more than 900"), but offer 7 weekday valet "superstations", running ~7am-7pm M-F, compared to our 3 that run 7-10am. I have to think such focus on balancing the bikes/stations (like offering rewards for helping balance stations) on top of their cycling network has helped drive their ridership.

Montreal had 0 riders for January, February, March, and only 95k in December -- beginning Nov 2023 they now operate some stations during the winter -- which is sort of unbelievable because comparing 2023 ridership numbers...
Toronto 5,713,143
Montreal 11,790,743
Click to expand...

Of note, the Montreal system is only ~10% larger than Toronto's, by bike numbers (10,000 vs 9,000) and about 13% larger by stations ( ~900 vs 797)
 
Wow - so, approximately 1M fewer people than Toronto (37% smaller), a bike -share system that’s 10% larger by number of bikes and 13% larger by number of stations, but 200% the usage? Damn.

Is that the effect of better infrastructure as well as less car-friendly policies?
 
allengeorge said:
Wow - so, approximately 1M fewer people than Toronto (37% smaller), a bike -share system that’s 10% larger by number of bikes and 13% larger by number of stations, but 200% the usage? Damn.

Is that the effect of better infrastructure as well as less car-friendly policies?
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That’s the effect of starting building out dedicated bike infrastructure years before Toronto, and their bike share service starting 2 years before ours.
 
slicecom said:
That’s the effect of starting building out dedicated bike infrastructure years before Toronto, and their bike share service starting 2 years before ours.
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I wonder if price is a factor at all, they're similar..........

But Bixi - 45M is $107

Vs

Toronto Bikeshare 45M is $120

Bixi also has a monthly option at $22 which may be preferable for fair weather cyclists or just to get people to try it.
 
allengeorge said:
Wow - so, approximately 1M fewer people than Toronto (37% smaller), a bike -share system that’s 10% larger by number of bikes and 13% larger by number of stations, but 200% the usage? Damn.

Is that the effect of better infrastructure as well as less car-friendly policies?
Click to expand...
Yes, Montreal had bike lanes over 25 years ago (not many but some) and it takes time for people to change old habits. I have not biked there much for several years now and they probably have more lanes now but we only really started putting them in a decade ago and, though it is really pretty good here, there are still several gaps and places with not very safe sharrows.
 
DSC said:
Yes, Montreal had bike lanes over 25 years ago (not many but some) and it takes time for people to change old habits. I have not biked there much for several years now and they probably have more lanes now but we only really started putting them in a decade ago and, though it is really pretty good here, there are still several gaps and places with not very safe sharrows.
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Montreal has 184km of Cycle Track or equivalent
Toronto has ~80km

Montreal aiming to get that to 200km by 2027
Toronto is aiming to get to close to the same by 2027
 
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