The Toronto Coalition for Active Transportation (TCAT), The Clean Air Partnership & The Community Bicycle Network are proud to present:
Bikes as a public good:
What is the future of public bikes in Toronto?
There's a funny story behind this. Back in February, I was approached by the ad company JCDecaux with an offer of money if we (CBN) hosted a bikesharing forum. I accepted with eyes open - I knew that JCDecaux was just looking for angles to convince the City of Toronto to buy into their bikesharing system (a la Velib fame). But I figured that couldn't be such a bad thing and even better at least it would offer some kind of public forum where people could debate what kind of bikesharing we want in this city. The funny part is that JCDecaux gave up and took back their offer, but we (CBN and TCAT) are still going ahead with the forum, but with a Transport Canada grant.
Councillor Adrian Heaps recently announced that Toronto was going to have a public bike program by next year. If just a small part of this announcement is actually true then that means momentum is picking up for Toronto to revive bikesharing in this city.
We've got some speakers lined up for the Thursday evening, including experts from the soon to launch Montreal public bike program. We're also hoping to give a preview to Tina Hahn's "Tale of a Yellow Bike" - a story of a Bikeshare bike that travels the world to cities with successful cycling projects. There will also be some backroom sharing of experiences and knowledge. It should be interesting, since we may finally learn how other cities can make a successful go at it.
Come Learn about public bike programs from cycling experts and policy makers. We want you to tell us what a public bike program in Toronto should look like at our forum this fall!
Date: Thursday, September 18, 2008
Time: 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Location: Innis Town Hall
Street: 2 Sussex Avenue, at St George
City/Town: Toronto, ON
Please download and print the attached poster and hang it up around your neighbourhood. Thanks!
More details coming soon!
Comments
hamish (not verified)
Velib and the Paris Metro
Sat, 09/06/2008 - 00:27There were some folks from the Paris transit system at City Hall tonight talking about transit. One question Mr. Giambrone let me ask was about whether the Velib helped the transit system and basically it was felt that it was complementary - part of a mobility package.
Another point of that system was putting the bikes in former car parking spaces.
At times here in Caronto, that could mean another incursion into our bike lanes eh?
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