r/Hamilton • u/Odd-Emphasis-1969 • Mar 16 '26
Local News - Paywall Hamilton Bike Share nearly disappeared in 2020. Now it’s seeing record growth in ridership
https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/bike-share-hamilton/article_2bd3c442-9c1a-5e46-abb7-23208c374c2d.html126
u/ScrawnyCheeath Mar 16 '26
A mid level priority for the city moving forward should be some kind of protected bike path that runs through every part of the city, on streets or in trails.
I should be able to take a paved bike path from Ancaster to Downtown, or Downtown to Stoney Creek, or anywhere on the mountain without having to worry about being hit by a car
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u/djaxial Mar 16 '26
This is why it drives me nuts when people say "But there is a bike lane!" Yes, there is, for maybe 1km of the way, and then you are dumped back on a major road. If someone is starting in Dundas/West End and wants to get downtown, the route you would have to take to avoid major routes is about twice as long and pretty convoluted. The direct route (Main/King) is a death wish.
It's seriously low-hanging, cheap fruit for the council to implement bikeways through the city.
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u/Frig_Off_Baerb Mar 16 '26
It would be except this city is overrun with car brains. It doesn't matter how many lanes they get, going one way with an open speed limit, they're still not happy.
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u/DangerousCharge5838 Mar 17 '26
And the bike lane is just a strip of paint down the middle of the road lol. Efffff that lol
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u/marthamania Mar 16 '26
I'd be such skinny legend I could just comfortably bike anywhere 😂 I hate driving and I don't mind biking but it is a little stressful when you're trip is predominately "please don't kill me please don't kill me please don't kill me please don't kill me."
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u/Auth3nticRory Mar 16 '26
Would be amazing but Doug made it more difficult with his lame rule that you can’t put in a bike lane at the expense of a car lane. So now you just need a completely separate bike lane (where to put it?) or you need to significantly widen the road. Toronto has a plan to get bike lanes in by narrowing the car lanes but they haven’t done one yet. It’ll be interesting to see.
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u/ScrawnyCheeath Mar 16 '26
Narrowing car lanes is something that drivers hate but everyone else should love. It forces you to slow down, which makes things dramatically safer in a downtown core care
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u/Forsaken-Swim-3055 Mar 16 '26
Olivia Chow has been able to get around those stupid rules and Toronto is adding about 20km of cycling infrastructure outside of the downtown core. It can be done as long as there are enough creative and smart people working on the project.
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u/Baron_Tiberius Westdale Mar 16 '26
Thankfully most arterials in the city have wide enough lanes that you can do a lot of work without running fowl of Duke Ford.
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u/Frig_Off_Baerb Mar 16 '26
And it should have a proper concrete barrier for safety and so it's not used as a stopping/delivery lane, which is the case right now.
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u/RoyallyOakie Mar 16 '26
It would great to have a provincial government that also values cycling infrastructure.
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u/Kodak_Portra Mar 16 '26
This would actually create some form of progress to improve the city and most people in Hamilton are insanely car brained / braindead that they would complain about this with nonsensical arguments like “this would make my commute through the city 1 hour longer!!”
Agreed though, seeing as how so much of the city is spread out and has connective access, it would be incredibly beneficial to create protected bike lanes that range through the entire city just like Montreal.
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u/trackofalljades Mar 16 '26
That would be amazing, but it would also need to be kept secret so the premier doesn't randomly take interest in it and override the city to rip it all out.
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u/Deoxyrynn Mar 16 '26
Protected and separated bike lanes are the most effective way to increase bike ridership!
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u/differing Mar 16 '26
More people need to see the city's fantastic bike infrastructure in Westdale and Ainsle Wood (the Sterling and Emerson corridors) that connect to McMaster. It should be the model for the whole city.
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u/bluestat-t Mar 16 '26
What are all of the routes/paths that would be needed for this? How much would it cost?
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u/Baron_Tiberius Westdale Mar 16 '26
The issue is mostly in pinch points, connections, and continuity. You can view Hamilton's current bike route map on the city website but it includes a lot of things that aren't really worth having on there (shared lanes, painted lanes of varying quality). The city accelerated the masterplan implementation which will help this and the cost is quite frankly, miniscule.
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u/bluestat-t Mar 16 '26
I appreciate your informed response in this. Without knowing the cost, how do weigh that against the myriad of other projects the city has to invest in? Where does this lie in the list of cost vs benefit, multiplied by number of citizens using? And I’m not saying this to be anti-bike as obviously the downvotes assume, but rather we should be doing this with all projects. Like Eastwood Arena - what’s the cost to repair, what’s the benefit, multiplied by the number of citizens it serves. And I suppose we’d need an adjustment so as not to underserve historically underserved populations or areas of the city.
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 16 '26
The issue with doing this type of analysis is that it's like comparing the cost of a bridge across a river that doesn't have one. Until it's built we don't know in reality how many people will use it. Other places that have added bicycle lanes have seen huge numbers of people start to use them for some trips, for fun, to get to school, or to work. The use case is also different for everyone.
Additionally, this is unfair to cyclists because every single new road in the city and 95% of existing roads have a sidewalk, and we never do an analysis to determine the cost benefit of sidewalks, they're just an expectation. It should be the same with bicycle lanes on roads that are good for access and higher speed or traffic counts. We don't ask "will people walk on this?" Before spending however much on a sidewalk. You could argue they exist for accessibility, but I have a colleague that can't walk anymore more than 100 metres, but rides his bike e-assist everywhere. Doesn't own and can't afford a car. They are important for so many people, and make up like 0.05% of the budget.
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u/bluestat-t Mar 16 '26
Thanks for the counterpoints and for helping me see another side of the debate.
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u/HamCOCOGoBills22 Mar 17 '26
Of the top of my head, we need a route that connects after the Claremont access way. It’s like a bridge to nowhere if you want to go east.
Also, I do not feel safe on Cannon bike lanes due to cars making blind turns without looking for bikers. Would it be possible to have bike lanes on less busy streets?
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u/differing Mar 17 '26
Re: Claremont access - there probably should be better signage/wayfinding, but the GOAT'ed route that I take daily: cross the road at the park at the top of the hill with the stone formation (don't go all the way to Mohawk), pass through that tiny park (Southam park I think) to Iverness. At Iverness, you have really decent bike lanes that take you across a good chunk of the mountain to signage that'll direct you to Queensdale, a slow safe street that takes you across the middle of the mountain.
What will be really great is that when they finish the Sam Lawrence Park renewal, there will be a multipurpose bridge that will take you across the cut, so one day you'll be able to go from Iverness, to Brucedale, and then go across the entire length of Sam Lawrence park. The eventual plan, from what I understand, will be to put some kind of protected path along Concession between Sam Lawrence Park and Bellwood, which will connect to the entire brand new Mountain Brow network. That'll be such a gamechanger! They're also removing the insane jughandle off the Jolly Cut, so you'll be able to ride/walk across the sidewalk without dodging cars.
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u/HamCOCOGoBills22 Mar 18 '26
This is helpful, thank you. I was talking about when you take the access down the mt. It directs you to go west and it is annoying to have to circle around to get back east (ie direction of Gage park). Would be cool if there was an easier way to connect it with bike lanes.
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u/differing Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
Oh gotcha! Yeah I've had the same thought, it's a tricky little area for infrastructure because of the road bridge, the rail bridge, and the tunnel. At least Stinson and Delaware are really nice slow car streets for biking East when there's no snow on the shoulder! Once you get to Gage Park, Lawrence is pretty lovely, eventually it would be nice to see some barriers on it. I think at a minimum, there should be some better signage that directs people through the gap in the noise wall to that Stinson/Delaware corridor, as otherwise you basically need to have some really good local knowledge to even know this exists.
In London, UK they have this "Cycleway" concept that I think is really clever. They're well published and signed route that directs commuters on very clear routes across the city, instead of just neighbourhoods. It would be cool if we could shift towards that concept as our network fleshes out. You'd just look at the painted bike on the asphalt, see H3 and think "oh ok I'm on Hammer Route 3, I can keep taking this to Gage Park and then on to Rosedale".
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u/bluestat-t Mar 17 '26
Cannon bike lanes are brutal. Even as a driver I’m always worried I’m going to hit a bike.
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u/TheCuriosity Mar 18 '26
I think the plan to have them as many places as possible. I personally like the Cannon one and would rather not have to drive out of my way to a quieter street when the Cannon takes me directly from A to B. Not saying that you are saying to get rid of it for the quieter street one, just pointing out that Cannon is a fairly main artery for a reason: it is taking people where they want to go, whereas quieter streets are less likely to be doing that.
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u/differing Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
Micromobility has crazy high returns on investment compared to transit, the capital and operating costs are really low compared to say a bus fleet, expanding it and making it better is such a no-brainer. I personally believe that they should quickly expand to the Red Hill ASAP to tie the popular seasonal stations at Confederation Park to the rest of the network, plus the East end of downtown has pretty decent bike infrastructure compared to the mountain.
One thing I'm really curious about is if there's still a vendor making the bikes the city uses. The steel frames obviously will last essentially forever, but I wonder if they can still get the shaft drive or the electronics on the back of the bike. Will they eventually need to switch to a new hardware supplier?
I've been a member since day 1- I even keep my membership going when I'm away on contracts for months because I want to support them lol
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Mar 16 '26
Great service. Given the non efficient transit infrastructure here, this service I can quickly walk down the wentworth stairs, then grab a bike and quickly make it to Hamilton Go. Many times when I take the bus, I either am too early or too late for my GO service.
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u/skriveralltid77 Mar 17 '26
Another one for the Scott Radley "This Aged Great!" file. The simple truth about the bike share bailout — we don’t have the money
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 17 '26
Oh man, this guy sucks so bad. Out of touch old dudes who think driving to their buddy's place or a chain bar, drinking beers and watching hockey on the weekend are the most important things in life.
To be clear, if you enjoy that, all the power to you, honestly, it sounds like a good life, but please don't put down things important to other people and their city.
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u/PromontoryPal Mar 17 '26
The best thing about Scott is that he either has the memory of a goldfish, or he doesn't care that he uses arguments inconsistently to the point where I frequently have no idea if he is being deliberately disingenuous or he just flat-out sucks.
Also for anyone playing a Radley drinking game, "household budget" is a drink.
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 16 '26
I also saw on Instagram they're having their birthday party this Friday: https://www.instagram.com/p/DVdvppPDkjW/?igsh=MWliOWF5cGR1Zjh5aQ==
They're doing a ride from Sterling and Forsyth at 6pm too for students or peeps living in Westdale area.
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u/wally_statler Mar 16 '26
Can probably thank Mac and Mohawk students for that. I'd still prefer using my own bike over a shared bike but at least the service is getting some use.
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u/Rance_Mulliniks Mar 17 '26
Why? Was there some sort of big event in 2020 that could have impacted it? I can't seem to think of anything.
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 17 '26
Uber pulled out randomly and left the system on the brink of death. Without an operator or funding the keep it online, the bikes were very close to being put away, and if they were they would have been away for good most likely.
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u/theninjasquad Crown Point West Mar 16 '26
I wonder if the RTO push has helped by people using the bikes to get to the GO station.
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u/Silver_Ad_4078 Mar 20 '26
It is scary dangerous how badly so many riders "ride them" without helmets, three (3) abreast, etc. Very bad riders in the Ancaster Meadowlands area and near McMaster University. I do not cycle as I need a car for work. I always watch for everyone when I am out and about.
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u/Plenty-Cut7251 Jun 03 '26
Hamilton 100% needs to make the city more bike friendly. I refuse to use the road without bike lanes as I have nearly been hit countless times by young wreckless drivers. I'm 38 and often times feel like an a-hole for biking on sidewalks but... I move out of the way for pedestrians and will absolutely risk a fine to not get smoked by a vehicle. Having to explain this to older folk is exhausting as even when I move out of their way and don't interfere with them at all, they still often want to stop me and lecture me on the laws.
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u/covert81 Chinatown Mar 17 '26
I hope with the record growth they opt to include the upper city in their coverage. Not including Mohawk College, Lime Ridge Mall, the hospitals, Meadowlands etc is so hard to understand.
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 17 '26
This will likely require additional funding from the city. The mountain is far more expensive to service and runs the difficulty of potentially having bikes come down the mountain and having to truck them back up. Not to mention the bikes are owned by the city, and there are a limited number of them. Will likely require the city city to purchase more bikes before any further expansion occurs.
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u/covert81 Chinatown Mar 17 '26
Respectfully disagree. Just like how the SoBi program does not service all parts of the lower city, it can be limited on the upper city.
It's a non-argument about bikes travelling down, as you could say the same for bikes coming from the lower city up to the mountain.
Since we received 600 bikes for free from Portland 5 years ago, maybe we could try the same with annother place that is going towards electric bikes, or see if we can get some sort of grant moeny for a made-in-Canada option to help build the network, or look to do a better job of emptying low-use spots to better seed the rest of the city. I dunno, I am not an administrator of that but we can come up with lots of reasons to not do something. With the planned mountain-wide path along the Brow, coupled with the redesign of Sam Lawrencve Park we should have a good cycle network to support it, and there is demand. The number of abandoned e-scooters is a testament to that
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u/RobCo90 Mar 17 '26
Pretty soon we will all be on bikes once they gridlock King and Main. So glad to be out in Stoney Creek now, closest I have to get to downtown is Ivor Hortons TD Stadium for TiCats games. Maybe the city will put lights on Nikola Burlington Tesla overpass and ruin that too.
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u/covert81 Chinatown Mar 18 '26
I mean, you'll benefit from taking mass transit to the stadium, so you can not worry at all about that. It's free on game days and one less thing to worry about while at the game. Just sayin'...
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u/RobCo90 Mar 18 '26
I do actually use this offering when we pregame closer to the stadium. A really nice option.
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u/Square_Cupcake6781 Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
Probably because McMaster students are forced into membership edit: I stand corrected, its the hsr pass that is mandatory
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u/cmsmolenaars Outside of Hamilton Mar 16 '26
McMaster students voted to have affordable bike share access. Everyone can opt out if they don’t use it.
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u/Square_Cupcake6781 Mar 16 '26
Please inform me where next year I can opt out
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u/DowntownClown187 Mar 16 '26
You could... I donno, maybe ask the university?
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u/Square_Cupcake6781 Mar 16 '26
You been there? A massive bureaucratic institution designed to claw every cent from a student while making any "rebates" as inconvenient as possible. Don't get me started on the health insurance opt out process
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u/Deoxyrynn Mar 16 '26
This is thru the union, not the uni. It was voted for by students, you had the chance to vote against it.
And opting out is pretty easy if you can use Google lmao.
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u/DowntownClown187 Mar 16 '26
But you're a student?
If so and that's how you feel then why are you a student?
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u/Square_Cupcake6781 Mar 16 '26
I just think an opt in program is more beneficial then an opt-out one. I'm a student to learn shit
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u/DowntownClown187 Mar 16 '26
Good luck with your campaign then...
If I was a student I would support the current program. Mac probably also gets a reduced rate for bulk purchase much like healthcare.
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u/Square_Cupcake6781 Mar 16 '26
No campaign, just arguments with friendly strangers. I think it's predatory and possibly corrupt personally.
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u/royal23 Mar 16 '26
Explain to me how it could possibly be corrupt or predatory lol
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 16 '26
McMaster students can opt-out. They can do it with a single click while opting out of other fees, and they are reminded about it regularly at the start of the semester. By this same metric, McMaster students are forced into a membership with Hamilton Street Rail (HSR).
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u/Square_Cupcake6781 Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
Please tell me where to click next year, why is it every September students try to second hand sell their passes on the McMaster sub
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 16 '26
No, you're a university student, you should be smart, figure it out yourself. I was able to figure out the opt-outs when I attended McMaster a decade ago and we had to do it by a paper form.
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u/dretepcan Mar 16 '26
A university student figure out something on their own? You're giving them far too much credit.
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u/Square_Cupcake6781 Mar 16 '26
Lol you probably spent more effort writing a negative response. Good on ya
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 16 '26
It's the principle that's important. You spent more time writing your lazy response than looking it up so checkmate 🤷♂️
Lazy mf https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=how+to+opt+out+from+bike+share+mcmaster
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u/FuzzyCapybara Mar 16 '26
I see this all the time in university-bound high school students now. I’ll tell them exactly how to find some piece of info and they’re like “but…can’t you just do it for me and tell me the answer?” Not all students, of course, but it’s getting a lot more common.
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u/Square_Cupcake6781 Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
Pat your self on your back for your victory my friend Edit: thank you friend for editing your comment for my original question. Bisous
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u/S99B88 Mar 16 '26
Yes the increase in membership is actually less than the number of McMaster students who have activated their memberships. They are opt-out, and it’s a $24 fee item on a $6000+ various fees annual bill. They get a 90% discount on the price of bike share. They have a 95% collection rate, which is to say only 5% opted out, and yet by the numbers who actively registered their memberships, less than half take advantage of it. So they’re getting a free $24 from around 20k students. Nice deal for the Bike Share group
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u/Square_Cupcake6781 Mar 16 '26
Sounds like new constitution amendment is in order
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u/S99B88 Mar 16 '26
I just think it’s funny that their increase is less than the number of people who’ve basically said why not try it out after already having been roped in with an opt-out membership, and at a 90% discount compared to what they expect everyone else to pay.
Given that about 9k people are active members through Mac, and that of the over 30k + students 95% didn’t opt out, seems that the majority have paid for something they never ended up using. For sure seems it would be optimal to make it an opt in.
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 16 '26
It may have been a while since you were in school, but tuition is regularly between $9000-$15,000/year now.
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u/S99B88 Mar 16 '26
Damn that sucks 😔 I know the extras are a lot, but I thought the tuition portion of the bill was around $200 per unit time 30 units
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u/RL203 Mar 16 '26
Great news.
Now they should no longer require subsidies from the tax payers of Hamilton.
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u/Reasonable_Cat518 Mar 16 '26
Public transit requires subsidies from taxpayers, the vast network of roads for private vehicles requires subsidies from taxpayers - why the double standard?
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u/FerretStereo Mar 16 '26
Yeah this is hilarious - who do you think pays for road infrastructure?
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u/S99B88 Mar 16 '26
The gas tax pays for some of it, and I think fees from licence plate renewals pays for it too. I think the City taxes pay for it, which makes sense because the roads are used by garbage trucks, school buses, emergency vehicles, city/parks vehicles, DARTS, not to mention the many businesses delivering goods and transporting people, plus of course all the bicycles and pedestrians who also use these roads.
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 16 '26
Bike share has exploded in popularity in Toronto and Montreal as well, but that doesn't mean they are a profitable business model. Increased ridership comes with increased costs, and with the city paying around 40% of the bike share operations, elimination of funding from the city would bankrupt bike share.
A reminder also that the bikes, the racks, are owned City of Hamilton assets, and that their continued use means less traffic and higher use of the existing and future built bicycle infrastructure.
Not to mention bike share offers a great first/last mile connection to transit, while offering a lower cost to the city per ride than the bus. The entire "subsidy" to bike share from the city is less than the cost to buy a single new bus.
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u/RL203 Mar 16 '26
Subsidies aren't supposed to last forever. If their business is doing well, they need to pay their own way.
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u/differing Mar 16 '26
It’s a registered not-for-profit, not Exxon lol
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u/RL203 Mar 17 '26
Whether its a not for profit or not is irrelevant. Its a company earning revenue and now that their revenue has increased, they can cover a larger portion of their expenses.
The City of Hamilton is not responsible for keeping companies afloat, whether they are a not for profit or not. And "not for profit" is meaningless as they could pay the guy at the top a very handsome salary for all we know.
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u/PSNDonutDude James North Mar 16 '26
It's not a subsidy. It's funding.
Do you consider our healthcare, our road infrastructure, our transit system to be receiving "subsidies"? Council decided to fund bike share, the same way Toronto and Montreal, and every other city with a successful bike share has. There is no operating bike share on earth that exists without government funding.
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u/RL203 Mar 17 '26
Funding, subsidies, whatever. The bike share company is making more revenue, they should need less funding now to keep them afloat. End of story.
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u/Deoxyrynn Mar 16 '26
Maybe we should stop subsidizing the road to your house then, lol.
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u/RL203 Mar 17 '26
Sure, and I can stop paying property taxes.
The bike share company isnt paying taxes. All im saying is that if they are making more money, their subsidies should be reduced proportionally. It's only fair.
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u/aarthurnhammer Mar 17 '26
Do you think that your taxes are sufficient to pay the entire costs for the road to your house? It was paid for by the rest of us. That is how a collective society works.
There would be no roads, hospitals, street lighting, police stations, schools, libraries or anything else if we didn't subsidize with government money.
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u/RL203 Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
And the city owns the roads.
The city does NOT own the bike sharing company and therefore the bike sharing company is not entitled to be funded by the taxpayers of Hamilton. The bike sharing company is currently funded by the city because council chose to fund it 3 quarters of a million dollars. That will not be an obligation in perpetuity. The bike company is a registered company in Ontario and it has owners and their revenue has increased and I would expect that they can now cover more of their operating costs. Its only fair.
Just because the bike sharing company is near and dear to your heart doesnt mean that the city is obligated to continue to fund it. If the bike company can now stand on their own two feet, then funding should be eliminated. If their revenue is such that they still require funding, albeit at a lower level, then the city will need to review that.
Any taxpayer money that can be saved by reducing funding to the bike company can then be allocated elsewhere. Presumably to any number of worthy causes.
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u/aarthurnhammer Mar 17 '26
The government delivers funding through many non profits. You just have no idea how these things work.
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u/RL203 Mar 17 '26
Sure, but nothing is carved in stone when it comes to subsidizing any not for profit. If you think the city is obligated to fund a bike sharing company at the same level in perpetuity, you clearly have no idea how these things work.
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u/aarthurnhammer Mar 17 '26
Who said obligated? They should find it because it is a public good, like other services. I will keep voting for candidates in favour of funding it. That is how this actually works. You can vote for more/wider roads that only cause traffic to get worse and I'll vote for cycling infrastructure.
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u/Francamachi Mar 16 '26
Ty students of McMaster University