TTC rejects match with Bixi bikes
It looked like a match made in heaven when TTC chair Karen Stintz publicly flirted with the idea in May of marrying the city’s transit system to its struggling Bixi bike-sharing program?
But transit staff isn’t in a hurry to walk down the aisle.
A report before the Toronto Transit Commission on Wednesday suggests that the TTC hasn’t got the staff, the cash or the space to accommodate Bixi.
Already forced to cut capital transit projects and customer service improvements because of a lack of funding, “There is no business case to support the TTC taking on additional expenses to support a non-transit initiative,” says the report.
Toronto’s year-old Bixi program is carrying a $3.9 million debt and is struggling to cover its operating costs.
To take over the bike program, the TTC would need to hire more staff — at least one other person — and probably more if Bixi were expanded as has been suggested.
Finally, the TTC doesn’t have the space at most of its subway stations for regular bike parking, much less Bixi stands, says the report.
While transit staff will continue to help in any way possible with proposals for Bixi stations on TTC property, “these opportunities are very limited,” is said.