I have a confession to make: before preparing to write this blog post, I had never ridden a bicycle in Toronto, apart from renting a bike on the Toronto Islands.
It’s partly that I don’t own a bike here (my bike is still at my parents’ house in Ottawa). But even when I did have easy access to a bike, I rarely used it. I would occasionally go riding with my family on the paths next to the Ottawa River, but I hardly ever used my bike to get from point A to point B.
It’s partly that I’m not particularly steady on a bike, so I’m not comfortable riding on busy roads. It also always felt like too much effort to get my bike out of the garage then lock it up at my destination. Because of that, I would rather walk and have it take longer or take public transit for longer trips.
However, I did enjoy riding next to the Ottawa River. This whole time that I’ve lived in Toronto, I’ve noticed the Bike Share Toronto stations around the city. Whenever I see people riding the bright orange bikes, I think, “That looks nice!”
I told myself that this summer, I would try using Bike Share Toronto. There were a few barriers to getting started—I needed to get a bike helmet and research how the system works—but I finally tried renting a bike a couple weeks ago.
What are the benefits of biking?
Biking has multiple benefits for your body, the planet and your wallet. It’s good exercise and an easy way to fit fitness into your day. Regular biking strengthens your muscles and improves the functioning of your heart and lungs. It can also reduce the risk of certain diseases, like diabetes and cancer, as well as mental health conditions like stress and anxiety. Learn more about the health benefits of biking here.
Biking is also good for the planet. After a bicycle is produced, it generates zero emissions. Biking keeps cars off the road, which means less traffic, air pollution and noise pollution. If you choose a bike over a car just once a day, that will reduce your carbon emissions from transportation by around 67%. Did you know that 40% of daily trips by car are less than three kilometres long? A lot of those trips could be made by bike!
The bonus to biking is that it’s also cheaper than most other forms of transportation (particularly if you own your own bike). According to Queensland Government, the cost of buying and maintaining a bike is only about 1% of the cost of buying and maintaining a car.
What is a bike share system?
A bike share system is a network of bicycles, and sometimes electric bicycles, available for short-term rentals. The bikes are typically housed at stations around the city, and you can pick up a bike in one place and return it somewhere else. This can be convenient for everyday trips and errands, as well as for visitors to a city, plus you don’t need to worry about maintaining the bike.
In most cases, you can either take out a membership or pay per ride. Bike share systems started out in the 1960s in Europe, and they’ve grown increasingly popular around the world.
As of August 2021, there were nearly 10 million shared bikes and 3,000 bike sharing systems around the world. In 2022, Canadians took 17 million trips on shared bikes and e-scooters. You can view a map of bike share systems around the world here.
How does Bike Share Toronto work?
It’s simple to get riding with Bike Share Toronto! Here’s all you need to do:
- Buy a pass or membership from a station kiosk, using the Bike Share Toronto app or by visiting the Bike Share Toronto website on your cell phone.
- Unlock a bike using a five-digit code.
- When you’re finished, return the bike to any station. For most types of passes and memberships, you need to return the bike within a time limit to avoid overage fees.
There are a few options for pricing: pay as you go (no time limit), day pass (unlimited 90-minute rides for 24 hours) and annual memberships. For the memberships, you can go for unlimited bike rides of a certain duration (either 30 minutes or 45 minutes) for a flat rate per year. Bike Share Toronto does offer e-bikes as well for a higher price.
There are more than 9,000 bikes and 700 stations available throughout Toronto. You can view a map here of all the stations.
Visit their FAQs for more about how the program works. This information is accurate as of the time of publishing, but be sure to check the Bike Share Toronto website for the latest information!
My experience using Bike Share Toronto
To try using Bike Share Toronto, I decided to go somewhere flat with very few cars, specifically Tommy Thompson Park (AKA the Leslie Street Spit). It took me a minute to figure out how to unlock a bike and adjust the seat, but it was fine once I got going. Though it had been a couple years since I’d ridden, I quickly got into the rhythm. The expression “It’s like riding a bike” is accurate—you really don’t forget!
The experience reminded me that I do enjoy biking, particularly on a nice sunny day by the water. It was a holiday Monday, and there were lots of people out biking. That day, the sky was blue, the grass and other plants were bright green, and there were skeins of Canada geese passing overhead. I made it farther than I’d ever gone on foot at the park—over the pedestrian bridge and to the lighthouse at the far end of the park.
Overall, it was a good experience, and I plan to try using Bike Share Toronto more this summer. I’ve checked locations for stations near me, and a few places that I might try riding are the library, the farmers’ market and the boardwalk next to Lake Ontario.
I want to know: Do you like to bike? Is there a bike share system where you live?
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