Public bike programs for Toronto: need user input

I think the niche that would make a bikeshare program really work is if it was located at transit stops across the city (and particularly at Union). Since you cannot take a bike on most transit during rush hour (and even if you could, it would be a challenge), such a service would allow people to, say, grab a subway across town and bike a few miles to their destination rather than waiting (what sometime feels like forever) for a connecting bus.

This might open up commuting opportunities for people outside of the downtown core who aren't comfortable biking more than a few miles. And, it would open up opportunities for people who come into Toronto on GO and who aren't going somewhere near the subway line to get where they are going more easily.

I applaud your efforts to renew Bikeshare and wish you the best but I think that there is a higher priority: installing more bike parking infrastructure. Most workplaces still don't have proper bike parking facilities, and there are all sorts of restaurants and other venues where the racks are always full.

If Bikeshare is going to re-launch, it should do so on a large scale where network effects can be realized. At present, I think those kinds of resources would be better used on other bicycle infrastructure improvements.

At the risk of heresy, large scale investment a la Montreal -- 15 million for Gawd's sake! -- could be better spent elsewhere if the goal is to promote cycling as a serious form of transport. IMO the main obstacle to public bike programs enjoying the wide spread, steady patronage required for success is already sitting in the garages, spare rooms and verandas of the vast majority of urbanites: it's the bikes they own.

Public bike sharing programs are viable only if they provide what one cannot attain on one's own or deliver it at a lesser cost and with greater convenience. Arguably, in this affluent city, rare is the serious obstacle (economic, storage, etc..), preventing one from buying a personal two wheeler. A decent bike, certainly of better quality than the asylum yellow beaters of the late Bikeshare, can be had for the price of an XBox; that the console is ubiquitous and, I'd wager, is put through more workouts attests to the priorities rather that the means of Joe Sixpack.

So if you already have the velo-access that the bike share program aims to provide the question then becomes, does it measurably improve the experience, that is, make it more convenient, less troublesome? From what I've read of the OYBIKE, JCDecaux, and seen of Toronto public bike programs, I say 'no' -- for me at least. Submitting to cell phone protocols, returning and retrieving bikes at hubs, the one configuration fits all setup of the public bike fleets, detract from the appeal of the program; nothing is more convenient than having recourse to your own bike.

But that's not to condemn all bike sharing initiatives as exercises in futility, only that their large scale adoption, like, let's say, car rental or leasing agencies, seems unlikely. Indeed, in limited applications, university campuses, tourist areas, for those 'between bikes', sharing would seem ideal.

So let's have our tax money go where it will do the most good; I'd rather it be directed toward improving infrastructure rather than underwriting a public bike program. Though the barrier to getting more bums on bicycles is cultural, not logistical nor economic, I suspect the less hostile our streets are to cyclists the more our culture will change. Fifteen million bucks will buy a lotta bike lanes.

In regard to the comments above that compare a bike-share/renting program to the relatively low expense of owning a bike ... I thing that's true if you think of this program as an alternative to a bike-only trip.

Where I think a program like this can work is for people who need to get somewhere in Toronto (easily) that isn't close to a subway or GO stop. For those folks, particularly if they are traveling during rush hour train, bringing a bike isn't a viable option. But, accessing a bike in Toronto could make there trip substantially easier and faster.

Imagine coming in from, say Oakville, and heading for a job or to visit friends near College and Grace (Little Italy). You could go into Union, take the subway to College and a streetcar to Little Italy. You could get off at the EX and take the Bathurst bus north and transfer to the College streetcar (or walk).

Or, you could get off at Union (or the EX), run your credit card into a machine .. get a bike and ride to your destination. If you had more than one place to go, the bike would be by far more convienient. But, even if I only had one destination, I'd probably still opt for the bike ... less hassle and more fun.

Imagine if there were bikes across TO at subway and GO train stops how many places within the city would be faster/easier to get to ... even if you only rode 2 - 4 miles.

That makes sense to me and would probably introduce a lot of people who would never dream of biking to the sport.

Further to the discussion...

I don't contest the benefits of a bike share program only their scope, which I anticipate will be meagre relative to the investment. What seems apparent by the magnitude of the Paris and Montreal ventures is that the success of such programs necessitates a substantial outlay, as well as political will and organization, that certainly goes beyond that which implemented Toronto's BikeShare.

Let's face it, Toronto's entry, the laudable efforts of its personnel notwithstanding, was doomed to failure: a dilapidated fleet having little or no integration with mass transit hubs that, most significantly, operated in an environment ranging from indifferent to hostile toward cyclists.

Tone paints a picture of the visitor from Oakville hopping off the train and onto a bike at Union, and I don't disagree, it's an appealing scenario, although the degree to which it would realistically materialize is up for debate. To my mind the much more compelling and common scenario is of the motorist living in Willowdale, East York, or Etobicoke who won't consider cycling downtown because it's too 'dangerous'.

Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker in the Jan 18 Star: "Two things discourage people from cycling in Toronto: One is feeling safe on the road, the second is you don't want your bike to get stolen." My experience, through conversations with friends and acquaintances corroborates this; the first fear is by far the greater deterrent. (Ask your friends and neighbours the reason why their commutes or errands are not by bicycle; I'm curious as to whether they echo the sentiments I hear.)

If the question is to how to most effectively promote cycling in Toronto, and recognizing that resources are limited, I would start by addressing the concerns closest to home before moving on to those of visitors from Oakville -- I'd like to see my neighbours on their own bicycles first! To that end, amending or building infrastructure, e.g., bike lanes that mollify safety concerns and measures that minimize the prominence of autos in the core a la Bogota or London would seem a good place to start. Economics, congestion and convenience -- the last possibly a consequence of a bike share program -- will take care of the rest.

I acknowledge the advantages of a bike share program, which, as Darren rightly stated, can be indirect and subtle, but I also acknowledge the needs of such a program. Critical among them is a culture and attendant infrastructure that embraces cyclists. That tens (hundreds?) of thousands of private bicycles in Toronto function chiefly as dust collectors is mute testimony to our shortcomings in this area. To urge Torontonians to share public bicycles before we can convince them to use those they already own seems misguided.