Bike Share Toronto is bringing back “Free Ride Wednesdays” for the month of June after seeing a significant uptick in membership sales in the wake of last year’s promotion.
‘Free Ride Wednesdays’ was introduced for the first time last July thanks to federal funding awarded in conjunction with Canada 150 celebrations.
The program allowed new and current users of the service to check out a bike for increments of up to 30 minutes free of charge.
The program ran for four Wednesdays in July and was widely used with an estimated 10,000 trips completed on each day, compared to an average of 6,000 on any other day.
“Free Ride Wednesdays” also resulted in a 133 per cent increase in membership sales on each Thursday following the promotion, something that Mayor John Tory cited in explaining his desire to bring back the program for the month of June.
“It is meant to be a bit of a prospecting exercise so if people use it that one time for free for 30 minutes they may become members,” Tory said at a press conference held beside a Bikeshare Toronto station near the Distillery District. “The fact that more people are signing up for memberships the next day is proof that it is serving its purpose.”
The Toronto Parking Authority took over Bike Share Toronto after its previous owner declared bankruptcy five years ago.
Since then the service has grown considerably and now includes 2,750 bikes spread across 270 stations.
Though Tory conceded that the service does receive a “small subsidy” to continue operating, he said that is a small price to pay for something that has been proven to “take cars off the road” while giving people a more active way to get a round.
He said that his next goal for the service will be expanding it into the suburbs. Currently, Bike Share Toronto stations are only located in an area bounded by Park Lawn Road in the west, Victoria Park Avenue in the east, St. Clair Avenue in the north and Lake Ontario in the south.
“Not everybody wants to come downtown or be downtown but there are lots of people that live in other parts of the city and they deserve an opportunity to have Bike Share Toronto near them and they will,” Tory promised.
“Free Ride Wednesdays’ will be supported through a sponsorship agreement with CAA this year.
The promotion is scheduled for June 6, 13, 20 and 27.
While free rides are limited to 30 minute intervals, Tory said that users can return their bike to a Bike Share Toronto station and immediately check it out again should they want to continue riding.
“We are committed to improving how people get around this community and that includes a continued commitment to this program,” Tory said of Bike Share Toronto.
