Veni, vidi, Bixi (LGRAB #5)

I was hoping to space out the LGRAB activities a bit more over the two weeks, but it seems that I am maintaining my long-standing tradition of getting everything done at the last second.

The Bixi bike-share program works this way: there are a number of bike stations with bikes and free docks. You pay $5/day (or buy a 3-, 30-day, or yearly subscription) and you can take an unlimited number of trips within that period. The first 30 minutes are free. It gets really expensive after that, but the idea is that you bike someplace within 30 minutes, dock the bike, do whatever you need to do, then take another bike out for 30 minutes, etc., all for only $5. It's quite a bargain.

While I have always thought that it was a great idea, I was originally not going to subscribe. Why should I? I already have a bike. But then, Matt Galloway on CBC's Metro Morning gave some reasons why it would be useful to have a subscription. Say I don't bike in to work in the morning for some reason, but want to bike home in the evening. Or, I want to bike downtown to meet up with friends, who do not have bikes. I don't want to be encumbered by mine, especially if we decide to move around a bit. I was sold. At $95/year, it's a great deal. I'd only need to use it 20 days out of the year to make it worth while. No sweat.

Except that the Bixis have been in Toronto for a few months now, and I haven't used them yet.

The main difficulty is that I live outside the very small service area. Which means I have to bike to a bike station to pick up a bike. Which is silly. So, despite at least five occasions in the past few months when it would have been really convenient to use a Bixi, I haven't. I am hoping they expand the service area soon, otherwise I fear they may find their subscription rates falling. I certainly won't be renewing mine if I can't use it.

Another complaint I have is that the website is pretty awful. The map of Bixi stations (which cheerfully bounce up and down when they are near the place you want to be) is, as you can see, constantly obscured by a floating search bar which you cannot get rid of or move. If the station you are interested in is under the bar? You have to move the map. The search engine is another level of awfulness, which is weird, because it seems to be powered by Google and I don't run into these problems on Google Maps. Asking for directions from Bellview Square (the closest station to me) to the bus terminal? Plotted a route to Sherway Gardens. In Etobicoke. For reals. Also, it hasn't heard of Sugar Beach or Sherbourne Common yet.

Updated: It has now heard of Sherbourne Common. It still hasn't heard of Sugar Beach yet. Which is dumb, because there's a Bixi dock there.

I mention these because my original idea of going to the Distillery on a Bixi won't work because, you guessed it, the Distillery, tourist mecca if ever there was one in Toronto, does not have a Bixi station!

Look: I really want to like Bixi, but they're making a bit challenging. And I haven't even unlocked the bike yet.

Anyway. I noticed, at the end of the Round the City ride, that Sugar Beach had a Bixi dock, and since I knew I wanted to revisit both it and Sherbourne Common across the street, I decided that these would be the end goals of my Bixi test ride. That was the plan when I set out, anyway.

I think some Scottish poet said something about plans, once.

I finally decided to do it this morning, since I am leaving for the beach tonight and the Games are over on Monday. I biked to the nearest Bixi dock location, and that? was the hardest part of the trip. It's remarkably straight-forward to use. With my subscription I get a hard key. You plug it into the dock, wait until the light turns green, pull up and out really hard to get the bike out, remember to adjust the seat, and you're good to go!

First impression? Pretty good. The saddle is wide and comfortable, and I have always liked the upright posture. The Bixis only have three gears, so I find them a bit slow. I occasionally found myself trying to switch to a higher gear only to find that I was already at the top. The brakes are a bit soft, but of course I'm used to my disk brakes. And the Bixi hums! I suspect because of the dynamo lights. It was a bit odd to hear that at first. I also think they should come with a timer to let us know how much time we've used so far. However, they are okay bikes to ride, even though my skirt seemed to catch a bit more wind than usual.

The Bellevue-Dennison dock is so placed because it is right next to Kensington Market. That lets you out onto Spadina, which is not exactly the best street to get to Queen's Quay from, what with all the cars trying to get to and from the Gardiner. I also realized I wasn't going to make it to Sugar Beach in under 30 minutes. So much for that plan*. I decided to head to Harbourfront instead. The question was: where were the Bixi docks?

Here's where a smartphone would have been useful. Actually, the paper map they sent me with my key would have been useful -- and maybe I should just laminate a card with the stations printed on it. No worries. I managed to get myself onto Fort York Blvd, which goes between the CN Tower and the Roundhouse, where I had been the night before and where, I knew, there was a docking station. Each station has a handy map on it. I saw that there was a station at Queen's Quay (the other ones that look nearby have actually been plunked down on Lakeshore -- under the Gardiner. Somebody didn't really stop to think like a pedestrian here), so off I went. Fortunately there were some free spaces at Queen's Quay.

To dock the bike, you have to push it in quite hard and hold it until the light turns green, then off.

Harbourfront is very different on a weekday morning than on a weekend afternoon. It's a lot easier to move around, for one. But also, nothing is really open. I had thought I might go see the exhibition at the Power Plant, but alas I was way too early.

So I had a smoothie and chocolate croissant at William's Coffee Pub. It is right next to the wave deck. Which is very funky and when I first went into the coffee shop was covered with children.

There were some issues with safety, of course, so they've put yellow dots along the edges to warn people of the impending danger.

I think this sign says "Do the electric boogaloo."

I could have stayed for a while watching the boats, but I had to get back, so I went back to the dock and grabbed another bike. I'm sure pulling the bikes out gets easier with practice. On Queen's Quay West, my purse slide sideways out of the... I'm not sure what to call that rack on the front. It's more than a rack but not quite a basket. Anyway, the nice guy behind me who picked up my purse told me I could wrap the elastics around the side, which I hadn't noticed before. Thank heavens that didn't happen on Spadina!

When I got back to the Bellevue-Dennison dock, I had a bit of difficulty docking the bike because the ground wasn't level. As I was battling with it, a nice gentleman came along and asked me how it worked. I hope he tries it out someday; the more people using it, the more likely they will expand it to make it useful to me. Because it's all about me. Naturally.

So there you go. I've rented a bike and tested out a new kind of bike. Cross two more items off the list.

Unfortunately, it looks like I may have to leave that last item unfinished, unless a miracle occurs and the book comes in on Monday. Somehow I doubt it.

*I could have docked my first bike at Harbourfront, waited a bit, then picked up another bike and biked on to Sugar Beach. I did consider it, but I still had quite a bit to do at home before I left for Inverhuron, so I cut this trip short. I will visit Sugar Beach this summer; possibly on a Bixi.