

Joshua Freeman, CP24.com





TTC Chair Karen Stintz will ask city staff to look at whether it would be viable for the TTC to take over the financially troubled BIXI Toronto bike sharing program.

“I absolutely see BIXI as being an integral part of public transit in the city,” Stintz said in an interview Sunday evening. “We’re having a discussion next week about the future of BIXI and I intend to move a motion to request a review of whether the TTC could actually take over the BIXI portfolio.”

Stintz said doing so might allow more BIXI bike share stations to be added at TTC stations to complement the existing transit system.

A staff report presented to the city’s executive committee last month said the two-year-old bike sharing program is having difficulty covering its operating costs and suggested that the city explore options for restructuring its relationship with the company.

The program launched in 2011 with a $4.8-million loan guarantee from the city. However it has only been able to repay $900,000 of that loan so far.

Still, the report noted that with 4,630 paid subscribers, the program has been a success from an “operational perspective.”

City council is set to meet Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

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