Bike Share Toronto launched in 2011 as Bixi Toronto, with 80 stations centred around the downtown core of Toronto and 1,000 bicycles. The system was operated by PBSC. In 2013, PBSC announced that it was unable to pay back $3.9-million of a $4.5-million loan from the City of Toronto and filed for bankruptcy. The City decided to cover the loan by diverting money from an automated public-toilets program; the City then took control of the bike-share program. On April 1, 2014, the TPA took control of the bike share program, and renamed it to Bike Share Toronto. The new operator of the system was Alta Bicycle Share. A planned expansion of 22 stations for the 2015 Pan Am / Parapan Am Games was abandoned. The original stations operated on a hybrid platform; software was supplied by 8D and hardware came from PBSC. Later, each company developed its own full system of hardware and software, no longer supporting integration of components with other vendors. As a result, all existing stations would have to be replaced or retrofitted.
System expansion
The first expansion launched in June 2016, with $4.9 million in funding provided by Metrolinx and $1.1 million in Section 37 funds. The expansion added 120 stations and 1,000 bikes, for a total of 2,000 bicycles and 200 stations. The TPA chose PBSC as the supplier of the new bicycles and stations. As part of the agreement, PBSC would also retrofit the existing stations to be compatible with the new stations. On April 1, 2017, the TPA transitioned the day-to-day operation of Bike Share Toronto to Shift Transit, a PBSC partner company, while maintaining ownership of the system. A further expansion of the system took place in August 2017, with the system expanding to 270 stations, 2,750 bikes and 4,700 docks, with $4 million in expansion funding from the Government of Canada and the City of Toronto. The August 2018 expansion expanded the station to 360 stations, 3,750 bikes, and 6,200 docks. By the end of 2019, 105 new stations and 1,250 more bikes had been added to the system in 2019, with a corresponding increase in ridership to over 2.4 million. In June 2020, it was announced that the system would expand substantially, with 1,850 new bicycles and 160 stations outside the downtown core, such as in North York and Scarborough. The size of the system would increase to over, with docking stations in 20 of the 25 wards. This expansion would also add 300 e-bikes to the system, allowing easier journeys in hilly parts of the city and speeding up long-distance journeys.
Ridership
Ridership numbers denote "trips" per year; one "trip" is usually between 1 and 30 minutes. The system's fee structure strongly encourages longer-distance commuters to split each journey into shorter "trips" of 30 minutes or less.
Year
Ridership
Source
2019
2,400,384
2018
1,975,384
2017
1,510,802
2016
834,235
2015
667,000
Bikes
The bicycles are utility bicycles; they have a unisex step-through frame with an upright seating position. They are equipped with internal hub gears, drum brakes, fenders, chain guard, generator lights, and a front rack. The conventional bikes are PBSC's "Iconic" model. The e-bikes which have been ordered for the e-bike pilot project are PBSC's "E-Fit" model. All the bikes have been configured with three-speed hubs.
Mobile apps
It is still possible to rent a bicycle at most stations using the payment kiosk, but it is perhaps easier to use a mobile app instead. The officially-recommended mobile app is the "PBSC" app. A competing app, called "Transit App", also works.
In June 2017, Toronto MayorJohn Tory announced a "Free Ride Wednesdays" program, which allowed anyone to take free trips of up to 30 minutes on every Wednesday in July 2017. There were no limits to the number of trips per day. Fees applied only if any one single trip exceeded 30 minutes. Free Ride Wednesdays were also held in June 2018 and August 2019. Afterwards, Bike Share Toronto signed a multi-year sponsorship agreement with CAA in order to cover future Free Ride Wednesdays.
Criticism
Credit cards have been found to be difficult to use at some payment kiosks. Also, users need to make stops at one or more intermediate stations during a single journey if it takes more than 30 minutes.
