Submitted by Andrea Garcia on 22 June, 2011 - 13:22

In the BIXI program’s first month in Toronto, 64,500 total trips were recorded, of which 28,830 were taken in the last week of May alone. The demand for BIXI bikes is significant.

Toronto launched the BIXI public bike system with 1,000 bicycles in a condensed service area. Other cities launched their public bike systems on a much wider scale. For example, Montreal launched with 3,000 bicycles in 2009 and expanded to 5,000 bicycles in the same year. Toronto’s system originally called for 3,000 bicycles distributed between Dupont Street to the north, Lake Ontario to the south, Broadview Avenue to the east and High Park to the west.

The highest usage in the BIXI Toronto system occurs at the periphery, which demonstrates a high demand from Torontonians living outside of the service area. The BIXI program in Montreal experienced the same usage pattern and used this as a justification for expanding the service area.

Given the high level of ridership and demand at the edges of the service area, the Toronto Cyclists Union wants to see an expanded BIXI program of 3,000 bicycles serving more Torontonians across a larger service area.

To that end, we have requested that City Staff be directed, through the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, to formulate a framework for expanding BIXI Toronto. To compliment this request, we have also launched a petition titled "We Want More BIXI!" on our website. Please take a moment to sign our petition!