BIXI Toronto very close to reality

With a whisper we find out that city staff have a two week extension to wrap up the last of the negotiations and sign the contract with PBSC (which operates BIXI). Kudos to BlogTO for following up with city staff:

Daniel Egan, City of Toronto manager of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, told me over the phone that "BIXI has essentially met all the milestones, but the sponsorship deadline was extended by a couple of weeks to finalize some of the details." That's why there hasn't been a formal announcement -- the program isn't actually officially a go until this happens. But, regardless of this slight extension, Egan confirmed that the May 2011 "launch date remains the same."

They like to keep things to themselves: even the bike advocacy community leaders in Toronto were not told about the extension. I was under the assumption that we would be hearing the news by today. Either way, this leaves us cautiously optimistic. We may win this battle, just as Mayor Ford declares the end of the "war on the car" (I guess that means we should put away the IEDs). Apparently he hasn't received the memo that the world has now passed "peak oil" back in 2006. I wouldn't break open the champagne too early Ford. You may have to start fighting the war on reality.