Raise the Hammer

Public Transit costs the taxpayer. Water, sewers, garbage dumps, police, schools, hospitals and roads also cost the taxpayer. So since those don't come in at a net-zero cost, according to your logic, we should just get rid of them. Sounds good.

Bike Share is a form of Transit. It's a first and last mile solution designed to give people more options to get around. And if you'd do any research, you'd find that the "mathematical nonsense" you talk about, and the small sample size claim you make, could not be further from the truth. By the end of 2014, there will be more than 37,000 bike share bikes on the ground in North America alone. Around the world, that number is closer to 800,000. The number of bike share systems across North America is exploding in cities because cities recognize the value in taking cars off the road for short trips (50% of car trips are 5 km or less). In Ontario, about 1/3 of people commute less than 5 km to their work every day - that's a lot of extra stress on our roads, a public expenditure that absolutely dwarfs the amount we're spending on Bike Share or on building and maintaining cycling infrastructure. So if you want to talk about economic benefit and trying to do more with fewer taxpayer dollars spent, you'd be hard pressed to make a case AGAINST promoting cycling. But I'd love to hear you try.

And the reason why you always see bikes at the Bixi Station is because that's how the system SHOULD work. It's not Bike Rental - you don't take the bike, ride it around all day then return it. You take it for short trips, from one place to another. The system is designed so that there are always lots of bikes in the racks, so that they're always available where people need them.

As for why Bixi needed a bailout in Toronto, read my article about the difference between Bixi (Toronto) and Bixi (The parent company) posted earlier this week. Bixi Toronto didn't need a bailout - what it needed was for the City to take ownership over the physical infrastructure of the system (the bikes, stations etc), and that's exactly what happened, and what is happening here. So yes, it might cost some money to set it up, but it's also creating several jobs in the city, has the potential to increase transit ridership and reduce congestion, and, if other bike share systems are any indication, will create significant economic benefits to the local economy: http://mobilitylab.org/2012/06/18/2011-c...

If you want to argue economics with regards to cycling and bike share, I'm happy to engage. I look forward to you showing me evidence where promoting cycling and investing in active transportation infrastructure didn't pay off.