Bikes Bikes Bikes Invade Ford Nation

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Bixi bike-sharing program ready to roll in Toronto

They will come in basic black like those in London, England. Starting May 3, Torontonians can expect to see 1,000 Bixi bikes cruising all over downtown.

That’s when the long-awaited bike sharing program, already available in Montreal, Washington and Minneapolis — and also launching this spring in Ottawa — rolls out here, with 1,500 docking stations and 80 bike stations.

Designed for tourists and residents, the program gives cyclists the option of 24-hour passes or annual memberships, which allow users to grab a bike and park it at the station nearest their destination. Trips under 30 minutes are free. After that, a user fee applies.

Locations for the Bixi stations are expected to be announced in April.

About 1,200 of the $95 annual memberships have already been sold.

While demonstration bikes shown in Toronto in recent months were blue, in the end the city and the program supplier, Public Bike System Company, decided to go with classic black, said Daniel Egan, Toronto’s manager of Pedestrian and Cycling Infrastructure.

ING Direct signed on as a major sponsor last year and other corporate sponsors will be announced in April. Last fall, the city was short about $150,000 for the $600,000 it needed in sponsorships to bring Bixi here.

For people who don’t want to cycle to work, Bixi will provide the option of hopping on a bike to go to lunch or a meeting, said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong, who chairs Toronto’s public works and infrastructure committee.

Minnan-Wong also said he’s getting “positive signals” from residents and council colleagues to the idea of creating physically separated bike lanes in Toronto.

The Montreal program had 11,000 members within its first six months of operation. Last year there were 5,000 silver Bixi bikes on the streets there.

Lets read that line again

Minnan-Wong also said he’s getting “positive signals” from residents and council colleagues to the idea of creating physically separated bike lanes in Toronto.

More Bicycle Lanes? Traffic is grid locked already and you want to help 1200 bicycle riders? What about the 400,000 car driving tax payers that pay for parking and lunch and work?