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Bixi Watch 2011 Continues

By Steve Kupferman

20110426bixi3.png
A screenshot of Bixi Toronto’s newly updated website, as it appeared earlier this morning.


Bixi Toronto is scheduled to launch exactly one week from now, on May 3. Until Monday night we still had doubts, because there were no new details on how, specifically, the rollout was going to work. But the Bixi Toronto website was just updated with a trove of information, and now we know two important things that we didn’t before.


New Thing #1: Station Locations
A Google map on the Bixi Toronto site shows the exact anticipated locations for the system’s docking stations (there are supposed to be 80, but we haven’t counted). One surprise is that a few of them fall outside the boundaries of the established coverage area. For example, there’s one in Kensington Market, even though Spadina Avenue is supposed to be the system’s western limit. The Market is a major downtown cycling destination, so having a station there would increase the utility of Bixi Toronto as a whole.
Less great is the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a single planned station location in all of Chinatown—though to be fair, you’d probably have to move a dozen crates of mangosteens out of the way to fit any new street furniture there, or otherwise eliminate on-street parking.
CityPlace is also apparently getting shafted for stations. It falls at the western extreme of Bixi Toronto’s boundaries, but even so, to exclude so many condos from easy access to the bikes seems like a missed opportunity, especially considering the fact that the neighborhood isn’t well served by existing transit, with just a couple of streetcar lines for around 12,000 residents.
The plan, when last we checked, was for Bixi’s coverage area to expand over time. If that happens, some of the system’s initial deficiencies may disappear.

20110426bixi2.jpg
Stations are already being installed in locations around downtown. Photo by Alexander Wu.


New Thing #2: Telus and Desjardins are Bankrolling Things
Most of Bixi Toronto is being paid for with a $4.8 million loan, taken out by the Public Bike System Company (the company that provides Bixi and will operate the system in Toronto) and guaranteed by the City.
But as part of the contract between the City and PBSC, the system also needs $600,000 per year in sponsorships for its first three years. Last summer, ING Direct Canada was announced as Bixi Toronto’s lead sponsor. For this they enjoyed several months of deserved ballyhoos.
EXCEPT! In a press release dated March 16—the day after the Bixi Toronto release date was announced, bringing with it a fresh round of publicity—ING announced that it had backed out of the deal late last year, and was no longer involved in Bixi at all. “Unfortunately during contract negotiations last November,” says the release, “we were unable to reach an agreement with BIXI on the terms of the sponsorship, which changed over time.”
The new main sponsors are Telus and Desjardins. Get used to their logos, because you’ll be seeing them all over downtown, emblazoned on Bixi gear.

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Comments

  • tomwest

    Why are Toronto's fees so much more than Montreal's? In Montreal, a 30 day subscription costs $28, but in Toronto it costs $40. Similarly, Montreal pays $6 for each half hour (over 90 mins), but Toronto pays $8. Why the price difference? (If anything, Montreal should be more, because they have to remove and set up the stations every year).

  • tomwest

    Also, Montreal subsrcibers get to ride for 45 minutes at no additional cost, whereas Toronto's limited to 30 minutes.

  • http://profiles.google.com/teapotmilena Milena Pandy

    Montreal's was originally 30 minutes as well. They just recently lengthened the time to 45 minutes, because they greatly expanded the geographical area that Bixi covers, and 30 min was no longer a reasonable amount of time for possible journeys. In Toronto, the area is so small that 30 min is more than enough time. I'm sure they'll lengthen it if they ever expand the area (which is the hope).

  • http://ryancoleman.ca ryancoleman

    I suspect part of it is just differences in sheer scale – Montreal has a much bigger, more established system. I don't know what their initial rates were but it wouldn't surprise me if they'd been higher (or another possibility is they've learned that they started too low in Montreal and are adjusting their rates as they launch new cities)

  • Squint

    My guess is that land in Montreal is generally cheaper then in Toronto. Look at renting an apartment or buying a home, for an example, and you'll see that it's less expensive to live in Montreal. Therefor they didn't need to spend as much to get the infrastructure up and running when they started it. I doubt the prices were higher and then got lowered, that just doesn't sound like “business” to me. And also take into the account that they don't have bixi bikes all year round, they have them out from April to November.

  • Squint

    My guess is that land in Montreal is generally cheaper then in Toronto. Look at renting an apartment or buying a home, for an example, and you'll see that it's less expensive to live in Montreal. Therefor they didn't need to spend as much to get the infrastructure up and running when they started it. I doubt the prices were higher and then got lowered, that just doesn't sound like “business” to me. And also take into the account that they don't have bixi bikes all year round, they have them out from April to November.