Gigi On Earth

The Bloomberg CityLab article details the increasing cost to use bike share programs across North America due to the introduction of pay-per-minute pricing and more expensive electric bikes options. This led me to wonder why bike share costs aren’t in line with public transit fares. 

As an anecdote, one of my friends used to be able to bike share for 45 minutes for slightly more than a TTC fare, which was fine since biking was faster than taking transit. With pay-per-minute, it now costs nearly two TTC fares to make the same trip. Due to this, he is less likely to take bike share.

What if your transit card gave you access to your city’s bike share network?

Affordability is pivotal to encourage the use of public transportation. In Toronto, we have implemented two programs to make public transportation more affordable that I continually rave about. In 2018, the Toronto Transit Commission introduced two hour transfers allowing riders to make as many stops as you need under 2 hours even if they are in a different direction. More recently, One Fare allows riders to transfer between Toronto-area transit systems on a single fare.

What if bike share was added to this mix? It would allow for more multi-modal trips to make a trip as short and direct as possible, encourage exercise and help with the first/last mile issue thus reducing the need for a car. It also means if there is a service issue or is too crowded and you’ve already paid your fare, you could hop on a bike share instead at no extra cost. 

The PRESTO card already allows for a seamless use of public transportation across many Ontario municipalities by offering a single payment method for multiple systems. If PRESTO also allowed you to use bike share it could increase bike share membership numbers, thus encouraging municipalities to invest in more bike infrastructure, thereby encouraging more people to cycle. Instead of costly infrastructure upgrades to increase transit capacity, bike infrastructure is a cost-effective way to alleviate strain on existing transit systems by moving people off transit and onto bikes.