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The lowdown on BIXI station relocations

Posted by Derek Flack / November 24, 2011

17 Comments

BIXI Station LocationsA few weeks ago we reported that BIXI was set to move some stations outside of the original boundary. At the time, the bike-sharing company had revealed some of the locations to be moved, but not where they would end up. That's changed today, as BIXI updated its website with the new station information.

Here are the relocations:

  • Shuter St/ Bond St to SW corner Sherbourne/ Carlton (Allan Gardens)
  • CNE to SW corner Trinity/ Front (Distillery)
  • Peter/Queen to SW corner Bathurst/ Queens Quay (Island Airport)
  • Duncan/ Queen to NE corner Queen/ Van Auley
  • Hayter St/ Bay St to NE corner Euclid/ Bloor
  • Beverley St/ College St to SE corner Bathurst/ Lennox
  • Beverley St/ Grange Ave to SE corner Queen/ Portland
  • College St/ Roberts St to NW corner College/ Major
  • Hoskin Ave/ Devonshire Pl to SE corner Bloor/ Brunswick
  • Surrey Place/ Grovesnor Ave to NE corner King St/ Princess Ave
  • Yonge St/ Dundonald St to NE corner College St/ Borden
  • University Ave/ Richmond St to SE corner Wellington St/ Portland St
  • Church St/ Granby Ave to NW corner Church St/ Alexander St
  • University Ave / Charles St to NE Bay St/ Scollard Ave
  • Mutual Ave/ Dundas to NE corner Sherbourne St/ Wellesley St
  • Jarvis St/ Shuter Ave to SE corner Bathurst St/ Dundas St

Although the relocation of some of these stations will surely inconvenience a small group of people, taken as whole, the expansion of the system is a most welcome development. The move westward further into the Annex just makes sense, as does having a station by the Distillery District.

In addition to the relocation of these stations, BIXI will also expand the dock at Phoebe Ave and Spadina avenues. Because the reason cited for the relocation efforts has to do with snow removal, all of the work is expected to be completed by the end of next week. As I said last time, though, one hopes that the bike-sharing program will study the changes and consider the keeping the system in this expanded state on a permanent basis.

What do you think of the changes? Is there an area in the city that you think could desperately use a BIXI station that doesn't have one?

Update (3:40 p.m.):

Snow removal isn't the only reason the stations are being moved. According to a press release, "BIXI Toronto worked closely with its partner, the city of Toronto, to study the performance of each station and decided to relocate stations with a low level of use to busier locations....These relocations will allow users to benefit from a larger service area."

Also worth noting from the press release is that BIXI is now up to 3936 members. That's not bad for a service that's only 6 months old.

If you want to check out a map of the relocations, check out the Grid's article.

Photo by Martin Reis

Discussion

17 Comments

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john / November 24, 2011 at 02:28 pm
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Expansion has to happen for BIXI to succeed. Of course, if it's expansion only through relocation, thinning out the stations, in the long-term that will fail. Hopefully in the spring they will fill in the stations that are moving, in addition to adding more. If you're trying to get young tourists on board, clearly expansion down queen west up ossington and then back east along college/dundas is vital.
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James Eberhardt / November 24, 2011 at 02:38 pm
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I think adding some "destination stations" during the busier summer months would be a good idea. High Park, Cherry Beach and Kew Gardens are some examples of where I'd put some stations, without needing to put stations everywhere in between. Of course, this would pose a problem when a station is full or empty and there wasn't another station somewhere close by to utilize as a substitution.
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David / November 24, 2011 at 02:46 pm
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Good to see the CNE one shifted to Distillery District. It should've moved closer to the condos that went up east of Fort York instead, though (author's disclosure: I don't live there). I agree with John above that expansion is key, but to make Bixi attractive for tourists there are many other things to fix. In my personal experience, tourists I've encountered would've loved to use it, but found the Bixi system confusing and the 30-minute limit restrictive. Another drawback for the tourists is the lack of a phone at the stations. What do you do when something didn't work as intended and you don't have a cell phone (read: many tourists)? I personally got burned by this in London Cycle Hire, on which I wasted £5.
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Abe / November 24, 2011 at 02:58 pm
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Interesting
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Joanne / November 24, 2011 at 03:04 pm
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How about Liberty Village? Say King and Strachan?
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David H / November 24, 2011 at 03:05 pm
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I agree with John; for Bixi to be successful, it has to expand - and that doesn't mean simple making the area bigger whilst keeping the number of stations the same.

I also understand why the CNE station is being moved (although I grieves me, as the husband of an exhibitor, that they should choose to do it now, in the middle of the One of a Kind show - when we'd like to get as many people to the place as possible... could they not have waited a week until all the major shows of the season were over?

On the other hand, as David says, the Distillery one is a good idea and the CNE station would have been better off further east, yes, making the area smaller - but making the station scloser together again.

As a sometime user (winter mostly, when I don't want my own bike exposed to the salt!), I think more will be better. There's a critical mass of bikes and stations that you have to hit before generally people will sign up. I know many people who'd love to use it but only if there were stations outside the Downtown core (read The Beach, High Park, Parkdale etc).
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The Other Neil / November 24, 2011 at 03:08 pm
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I got one closer to me! Just in time for the winter!
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bob / November 24, 2011 at 03:37 pm
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Wouldn't they save more money by bringing all the bike inside away from the snow to reduce bike maintenance cost? I doubt there will be a lot of people riding bixi in the winter anyway.
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Mark / November 24, 2011 at 03:52 pm
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The one going in at Brunswick and Bloor has some problems. First, they cut down about 6 post-and-rings to make room. When they're cut down, they're rendered useless. In essence, the public loses out to a private company. And these post-and-rings were well-used. And there's a city wide shortage of them.
This location is essentially The Brunswick's 'smoke pit' so if you go to pick up a bike there on the mornings of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, expect to find puke on the bikes and/or vandalized.
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Uptown girl / November 24, 2011 at 03:59 pm
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North of Bloor! Bathurst and St Clair, please!
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Levi / November 24, 2011 at 04:20 pm
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YES!!!!!!
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Mark A. / November 24, 2011 at 04:22 pm
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I'm waiting for them to hit Dupont at least. (Convenient for me, but George Brown is here.)

That said, the walk from Bloor isn't so bad. I do it every day and expect to continue to do so through winter.
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Anne replying to a comment from Mark / November 24, 2011 at 05:18 pm
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Agreed on all accounts. That's a terrible choice and the loss of the ring/posts is terrible. Hopefully the city will add more elsewhere?

Expect to see drunken 17 year olds destroying the bikes (and much drunken biking).
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Stephen Allen / November 24, 2011 at 09:43 pm
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Some are in strange locations. I don't think a Bixi stand is going to do well in Regent Park, yet they have a station on the corner of Parliament/Dundas.
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Ben / November 25, 2011 at 12:17 am
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Sigh. The three stations that I use the most, all around my office, are going away (Peter/Queen, Duncan/Queen, Richmond/University). There will still be a couple of stations in the vicinity, but there was already a problem with those stations getting starved. I've had to walk from station to station to get a bike a few times and I expect it will just get worse.
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Ricky / November 25, 2011 at 12:35 pm
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I am in the same boat as you Ben. Locations near my work are being moved so I will be one of the ones negatively impacted by this move.
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Craig / November 26, 2011 at 09:12 am
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With the relocation to Alexander and Church, does this mean there will be no more benches there?? If so then great, it will reduce the amount of junkies/homeless that hangout and harass people....
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