Should public transit services operate BIXI?

When Stephen MacDonald asked us if public transit services should operate the city's Bixi program, we started by taking the question to our Twitter followers.

So how likely is it that local public transit services can operate Bixi? Well, not all that likely.

The National Capital Commission is the sole investor of the bike share service in Ottawa, and NCC communications officer Jasmine Leduc explains Capital Bixi’s raison d’être.

“The NCC strongly believes in developing sustainable modes of transportation and the role this plays in creating a more vibrant capital,” she says. “This initiative is also key to offering an alternative active transportation option to downtown workers, residents and visitors to the capital.”

There’s no precise mention of Capital Bixi as an extension of the public transit system, and when asked if the NCC envisions Capital Bixi in this light, Leduc politely declines to comment. The NCC doesn’t have anything to do with OCTranspo or STO, which are operated by their respective cities. And the cities don’t have anything to do with Capital Bixi. Leduc refers to the cities of Ottawa and Gatineau as partners, but notes that the NCC is fully responsible, financially, for Capital Bixi. It owns the equipment, and will continue to own it for the duration of the current five-year contract.

So what role do the cities play in Capital Bixi, and to what extent is official integration between the bike-share system and existent transit system possible? The short answers to these questions are the same: none.

The City of Ottawa believes that Bixi bikes can be incorporated into a daily commute, in addition to OCTranspo routes, if only incidentally. City spokesperson Jocelyn Turner suggests the means for this.

“Commuters can begin their trip by cycling to the transit station to access the rapid transit lines (90 series of buses),” she writes in an email to OpenFile, “and then complete their commute after their bus ride by either walking to their destination or using the public bike service (Bixi).”

Turner was also careful to note that the city isn’t the proprietor of Capital Bixi. The City of Ottawa’s role, then, is to improve infrastructure for all cyclists, Turner says. The city recently put money into improving existing downtown cycling projects, including a segregated bike line on Laurier Avenue—which Bixi riders can take advantage of when it opens.

Peter Raaymakers, Executive Director of Public Transit in Ottawa, isn’t sure that it’s possible for the two systems to work together, even when looking beyond bureaucratic roadblocks of who owns what.

“Currently, the Bixi system isn’t likely expansive enough to really complement the OC Transpo system,” he says. “With only 10 stations, it’s restricted to mostly the odd transit-related trip, but I’d wager it’s mostly tourist-driven patronage so far.”

Any infrastructure the city builds adds to what Raaymakers refers to as “last-mile” service: the distance from the bus station to the final destination or starting point. He notes that “a bike-rental system with strategically placed parking hubs can go a long way in helping get people to and from transit hubs.”

Turner is confident that the city works to improve last-mile service.

“The city continuously looks at opportunities to install appropriate cycling facilities to connect to transit stations where technically and financially feasible,” she writes.

So instead of official integration, citizens of Ottawa get cooperation. Capital Bixi users can take advantage of the cycling infrastructure in a city that Turner describes as the “envy of the country.” But the city isn’t planning to take over the Bixi project, even if it gets involved financially down the road.

“The city will not be taking over the system if it does decide to be involved,” writes Turner, “but instead will be contracting with the existing private operator.”

The NCC is hoping to expand the project to include 50 stations and 500 bicycles, but this expansion, Leduc points out, will depend on subsequent investments from other interested parties. She mentions that service contracts with Public Works and Government Services Canada, as well as Environment Canada, are in the works to install Bixi stations on the federal departments’ campuses—a framework that is likely to dictate the future extension of Bixi across the NCR.

Raaymakers insists that cooperative planning and direct involvement from OC Transpo are the keys to long-term success of Capital Bixi.

“For a larger Bixi project to be successful,” he says, “they'll have to work hand-in-glove with OC Transpo.”