Easy-to-use bicycle service proposed for Toronto

Toronto is considering the purchase a fleet of 3,000 bicycles to provide a pay-as-you-go public bicycle service to start next spring. Users can pick up a bicycle at one of many kiosks located around the city, and drop it off at another.

The plan calls for an hourly rate paid for by credit card, which would also serve to unlock the bicycles. The key feature would be to have bicycles available within 300 metres, so that taking a bicycle would become as easy or easier than taking a cab.

Similar systems are in place in cities like Montreal, Paris and Berlin.

Yvonne Bambrick of the Toronto Cyclists Union calls it a good first step.

"I think people — once they see it working and once they've had a chance to try it — communities are going to start saying 'Hey! What about us?'"