$95 a year with a 30 minute cap per use is a terrible business plan IMHO. I was really excited about this until I started learning the particulars.
$95/year isn't bad, that works out to about $8/month which is nothing. For short trips it's fine. Free for the first 30min, $1.50 if you take it for an hour, $5.50 if you take it for an hour and a half. But then it starts to get pricey--$8 per 30min after that? Really??? That adds up fast.
I was hoping it would be a service where I could rent out a bike for an afternoon and get some exercise, maybe cycle along the waterfront with a friend, then return the bikes later in the day, but that winds up being $32/hour for two bikes for most of the afternoon. At those rates it's pretty quickly a better idea just to buy your own bicycle, or make a better rental deal with a bike shop.
It does seem to be cost effective if you just want to get from A to B and there's a Bixi station near both ends. Maybe in the summer that's worthwhile.. I'm still kind of interested, but wish that the rate got LOWER the longer you took out a bike, not higher.
The other downside is having to carry a bike helmet around. No way in hell am I riding on the roads in Toronto without a helmet, even if it is legal. It's stupid. So you have to carry the helmet around with you all day which kind of defeats some of the convenience.
Not sure I'm sold but it has the makings of a good idea.