Bike Share Toronto to offer free rides in July
Current users, anyone who downloads the app will ride for free on Wednesdays
It turns out there is a free ride at city hall, as well as central Toronto streets around it.
Mayor John Tory announced Friday that current Bike Share Toronto users, and anyone who downloads the service’s app, can use one of the black bikes for trips up to 30 minutes at no charge on Wednesdays in July.
Riders are welcome to take multiple trips for free throughout those four days, with charges applying only to any single usage over 30 minutes.
The promotion will celebrate the once-troubled system’s growing success — on Wednesday it set a one-day ridership record of 6,490 — and hopefully expose new users to the joys of grabbing a bike to get from A to B and then leaving it at one of the stations or docking points from Dundas St. W. and Bloor St. E. to Danforth Village.
“It’s about thanking Torontonians for their support of the bike share program so far and getting more Torontonians to discover how fun it can be to cycle around the city and use that as a way to get around,” Tory said.
The system was launched in 2011 as Bixi, an export from Montreal, but struggled financially and was eventually rebranded as Bike Share Toronto under control of the cityowned Toronto Parking Authority.
It’s an alternative to private bike use for short-haul trips, where a rider unlocks the distinctive bike with a credit card and returns it to any of the other docking points.
In March 2013 Bike Share addressed complaints about the network being too sparse over too small a swath of Toronto with a $6-million expansion, most of that money coming from the provincial Metrolinx transportation agency.
Today, Bike Share Toronto runs year-round with 200 stations, 2,000 bikes, 3,500 docking points and about 9,000 members. Usage is on the rise, city officials say.
Cyclists might soon have another option, however. Dropbike, an appbased “dockless” service with selflocking bikes that can be unlocked via smartphone, launched recently at the University of Toronto’s St. George campus. The company hopes to expand to other parts of Toronto.
Tory, who is sometimes chided for the amount of attention he pays to vehicle gridlock, told reporters that “active transportation,” including cycling, is a key part of Toronto’s mobility future.
“We’re trying to make Toronto a better place for cycling.”