Bike Share won't expand in time for Pan Am Games

The public bike system was supposed to add 22 stations, but technical issues means riders will have to wait.

Thestar.com
June 3, 2015
By Ben Spurr

In a setback for Toronto’s Bike Share program, an expansion intended to coincide with the Pan Am Games has been delayed.

Pan Am plans postponed

Bike Share has been forced to abandon plans to add 22 new stations in time for the Pan Am Games next month, as a result of a technical issue that could mean the whole system will have to be either refurbished or replaced before it’s expanded. The problem: Bike Share’s stations are outdated hybrids, with software made by 8D and hardware made by PBSC. Both companies now make their own full stations. Bike Share has three options: go with 8D and replace station hardware; go with PBSC and replace the software; or find another supplier, which could mean replacing all the existing stations.

Arrested development

Although it’s logged more than 2.5 million rides, Bike Share is still the same size as when it launched in 2011 - 80 stations and 1,000 bikes. But according to Marie Casista, head of Bike Share, the program’s size is now an advantage because it will be less expensive to switch to a new, sustainable system. “Our future is looking brighter and better than it ever has,” she said. Though she admitted she was “disappointed” that expansion has been put off, Casista described the delay as “growing pains” and said she intends to order more than 20 stations this summer, with the goal of installing them in the spring.

Despite having 800,000 fewer residents than Toronto, Montreal’s public bike system is more than five times bigger than Bike Share. Bixi Montreal has expanded steadily since it launched six years ago with 300 stations and 3,000 bikes, and by the end of 2014, it had 460 stations and 5,200 bikes. Last year, 23 stations were added, and the system now covers an area of 95 km{+2}. It hasn’t all been a smooth ride for Bixi Montreal, however. In January 2014, the company filed for bankruptcy protection and was taken over by the city. At the time it was more than $40 million in debt.

Divvy

hicago’s bike share system dwarfs Toronto’s, despite the two cities being roughly the same size. By the end of this month Divvy, which is owned by the Chicago Department of Transportation, plans to have 4,760 bikes and 475 stations deployed around the city, a leaps-and-bounds increase from when the program started two years ago with only 65 stations. There have been more than 3.2 million trips logged, and Mayor Rahm Emmanuel accounts for at least some of them - he’s made the program his signature transportation initiative, and is often seen riding a Divvy.
Capital Bikeshare

Washington, D.C., claims to be the first jurisdiction in North America to have launched a bike share system. It began in 2008 with only 120 bikes and ten stations, but since then Capital Bikeshare has expanded to nearby Montgomery County, MD, as well as Arlington and Alexandria, VA. The program is now significantly larger than Toronto’s, with 350 stations and more than 2,500 bikes. With 27,600 annual and monthly members, its effect on the region has been significant - the program estimates it has reduced car travel by more than 7 million driving kilometers a year.

Citi Bike

Bike share is immensely popular in the Big Apple. Citi Bike has only been operating in New York City for two years, but over 88,000 annual members have signed up and the system sees 34,000 rides every day during peak months. By comparison, Bike Share Toronto saw about 74,000 rides in the entire month of May. The Citi Bike system has a fleet of 6,000 vehicles and about 330 stations, and has yet to expand. But despite being afflicted with technical glitches and maintenance problems, last year it announced plans to double in size by 2017.