Toronto mayorhas announced that the city will be adding 105 new stations and 1,250 new bikes to the bike share Toronto project.

“We’re proud to support the continuing expansion of Bike Share Toronto so that residents and visitors will have a way to cycle around our city that is convenient. We will continue to push for the expansion of Bike Share to new neighbourhoods because we know it leads to increased ridership and membership for this important service,” said Mayor John Tory.

$7.5 million will be spent on the program this year to buy additional equipment.

According to bikesharetoronto.com, Toronto is one of the best cities in the world to live in, and with the help of bikes, residents can explore or move around the city without any hassle.

The system was launched back in 2011, with only 1000 bikes and 80 stations. But due to the rapid increase in users and high demand, the authorities have had to expand their network.

Usage has grown to more than 2 million rides per year. This is a 251% growth in the average usage between 2011 and 2015. There were over 85,000 trips taken from June 30, 2019, to July 6, 2019, alone. This is the highest traffic that Bike Share has seen in a 7-day period.

The recent addition of new bikes to the fleet made a total 5,000 bikes supported by 465 station and 8,550 docking positions.

Mayor Tory said that bike share made a new record of 2.1 million rides in the last 12 months alone.

Cycling has countless positive effects on human health as described by betterhealth.vic, like good muscle workout, high physical skills, protection from diseases,fewer chances of strokes, long lifetime, etc. Moreover, the usage of bikes is time and cost efficient in the larger cities, and one can reach their destination like school, shops, etc. easily. Also, it saves the hassle of public transport, long waiting time, and is safer in contrast to motorbikes.

Medium.com has also shared an article discussing12 reasonswhy you should get the Bike Share Torontomembership.

Further speaking on the bike share project, the mayor added that more Bike Share Toronto locations will be added near public transport stations like subways, etc. to encourage people to use public transport rather than their own cars.

The new location of Bike Share will include Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue towards the far North, Victoria Park and Kingston Road towards the far East, and Junction and High Park Neighborhood towards the West.

The system is owned and maintained by Toronto Parking Authority and was pleased to announce the expansion. The staff of the TPA is also hopeful that the increase in the bike usage will cover the losses of the last years and will bring in significant revenue.

This is a welcome development for the city, as bike riding not only keeps the body healthy but also decreases the traffic of large cities and reduces pollution, transport costs, etc.