{"id":52400,"date":"2015-07-23T12:27:26","date_gmt":"2015-07-23T16:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?p=52400"},"modified":"2015-07-24T07:45:25","modified_gmt":"2015-07-24T11:45:25","slug":"bike-share-toronto-downtown-subway-relief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/07\/23\/bike-share-toronto-downtown-subway-relief\/","title":{"rendered":"Bike Share Toronto and downtown subway relief"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a long-standing<\/a> Bike Share Toronto member, I was excited to read that the Ontario government is investing<\/a> in additional bikes and an expansion of the network. And as a cities\/infrastructure nerd, I of course immediately started drawing dots on maps and chatting with anyone who will listen about where new Bike Share stations should be placed and how to get more people using the network.<\/p>\n

According to the Metrolinx media release<\/a>, the new docking stations and bikes \u201cwill be located close to transit stations and in dense areas where demand is likely to be strong, which helps connect users to transit in the first and last kilometres of their journeys.\u201d Placing bikes near transit stations is clearly a good idea, but more will need to be done in order to get people off of trains and onto bikes. Improved on-street cycling infrastructure will play a major role, but there\u2019s another factor: Bike Share Toronto has never been marketed as a commuting option.<\/p>\n

At the program\u2019s outset, many stations were placed seemingly to benefit tourists. Later, then-owner Bixi ran an ad campaign that pitched bike sharing as way to hop from one social destination to another \u2014 which always struck me as only slightly better than the cycling strategy Rob Ford published in 2010, which depicted cycling as a purely trail-based recreational activity. There are many possible reasons why Bike Share Toronto is marketed in this manner. Perhaps the Toronto Parking Authority, like the program\u2019s previous administrator, figures that anyone who wants to commute to work on a bike is already doing so. It might also be the limited range of the network, or the fact that commuters\u2019 unidirectional nature would create bike-distribution hassles.<\/p>\n

Yet despite all this, many Bike Share Toronto members use the system to get to and from work \u2014 often in combination with public transit. If this is indeed the kind of user Metrolinx and the City intend to attract by putting more bikes outside of subway stations, their way forward is clear: Think of bike sharing as an inexpensive, modular, smaller-scale version of the downtown relief line, and act accordingly. Prioritize installing \u2014 and maintaining bike supply \u2014 at stations on Line 2 that encourage people travelling east and west to disembark before Bloor-Yonge or St. George, and instead grab a bike for those aforementioned \u201cfirst and last kilometres of their journeys.\u201d<\/p>\n

But then \u2014 and this is crucial \u2014 support this effort with bike lanes, and foster it with marketing that shows how bike sharing can become a vital part of a subway rider\u2019s daily transit mix in general, and as a savvy way to bypass the downtown stations of Line 1 in particular. Because, though bike sharing is by no means the sole solution to transit overcrowding, Toronto\u2019s program has a wealth of untapped potential. All that\u2019s needed, along with this new investment, is a strategic shift in how Bike Share Toronto is viewed \u2014 by its administrators, and its thousands of potential members.<\/p>\n

Photo by Amanda N Sherrington<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a long-standing Bike Share Toronto member, I was excited to read that the Ontario government is investing in additional bikes and an expansion of the network. And as a cities\/infrastructure nerd, I of course immediately started drawing dots on maps and chatting with anyone who will listen about where new Bike Share stations shouldContinue reading “Bike Share Toronto and downtown subway relief”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4039,"featured_media":52402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bikes","category-transit"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBike Share Toronto and downtown subway relief - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2015\/07\/23\/bike-share-toronto-downtown-subway-relief\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bike Share Toronto and downtown subway relief - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a long-standing Bike Share Toronto member, I was excited to read that the Ontario government is investing in additional bikes and an expansion of the network. 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