Public Bike Sharing
There has been a recent explosion of bike sharing systems in many cities around the world. BIXI Toronto launched on May 3, 2011 with a limited amount of bicycles and stations, with the plan to expand in the first 2 weeks to 1000 bikes available at 80 stations located in an area bounded by Bathurst Street to the west, Bloor Street to the north, Jarvis Street to the east, and Queens Quay to the south. Users can purchase yearly or monthly memberships and can then rent the bikes from any of the stations. The first half hour will be free. It is anticipated to be funded almost solely through user fees.
The new system is the second bike sharing system in Toronto. The first was the Community Bicycle Network's popular BikeShare program which ran from 2001 to 2006 with approximately 150 bikes and 15 stations. It closed due to a lack of long-term grant funds and lack of alternative funding sources to cover all the costs, such as advertising revenues or membership fees.
Read more about this topic: Cycling In Toronto
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