City launches first Canadian program to offer car-centric residents a different set of wheels

Ingrid Peritz

Paris has Vélib, Barcelona has Bicing, and as of today, Montreal will start to showcase its own European-style bike-sharing program with a fetching name: Bixi.

The city better known for Grand Prix racing and automobile worship rolled out a green, two-wheeled alternative that civic officials hope will help re-brand Montreal into one of North America's most bicycle-friendly cities.

Bixi - a contraction of bicycle and taxi - offers up a straightforward formula: Use a membership-acquired "smart" key or credit card to unlock a bike at a docking station. Ride. Return the bike to a station at any location.

"It's the most revolutionary bicycle on the planet," Mayor Gérald Tremblay said after pedalling to yesterday's launch on the recyclable aluminum bike. "We're very proud, because we believe this self-service bicycle will be an icon for Montreal."

The sleek-but-sturdy bikes are the emblems of a growing international movement to promote bicycle-sharing in a day of greenhouse-gas consciousness and rising fuel prices. About 100 cities worldwide, most in Europe, have embraced high-tech bike-sharing programs, and a number of Canadian cities, including Toronto, are examining the idea.

Many have found inspiration in Paris's wildly successful Vélib program; its 20,600 bikes have already been used on 27 million rides. Washington, D.C., became the first city in North America to unveil its own program with 120 bikes this summer. Those familiar with American schemes say Montreal's is the most ambitious.

"It's probably going to be the largest bike-sharing program in North America," said Paul DeMaio, a bike-sharing consultant in the Washington, D.C., area who writes The Bike-Sharing Blog. "I think Montreal's is going to be one of the best."

Montreal's program - 40 bikes will be on demonstration for free for the next six weeks - will get its official rollout in the spring, with 2,400 bicycles available at 300 stations across the city.

The current generation of self-service bikes has come a long way since Amsterdam launched its white-bike program in the mid-sixties. Users could borrow bikes on the honour system and leave them unlocked for the next user. Before long, all the bikes were stolen.

High-tech and vandalism-resistant, Montreal's bikes feature comfy seats, three speeds and raised handlebars, and will be stationed at solar-powered docking stations that can be moved according to demand. The first half-hour will be free, the next half hour $1.50, and successive half-hours get pricier; the objective is to use the bikes for short hauls.

"It's personalized mass transit," said Alain Ayotte of Stationnement Montreal, the city parking authority that developed the program.

The parking authority invested $15-million into Bixi, but says it expects to break even; 80 per cent of costs are expected to be defrayed through memberships, which would cost $78 a year or $28 a month.

The city hopes to draw students and tourists on to the bikes, as well as suit-and stiletto-wearing commuters who might hop on a bike after heading downtown by métro.

A city with up to five months of snow and a reputation for hot-tempered drivers may not seem like the most logical place to launch a bike-sharing scheme. But Montreal in recent years has been reshaping its road-warrior image and its dependence on the car. This summer, it shut several blocks of high-profile Ste. Catherine Street and turned it into a pedestrian mall. It also opened a median-separated bike path through the heart of downtown, and promises to double the total length of its bike paths in coming years.

Mayor Tremblay says car use has grown over the decades, but Bixi (the name was chosen through an online vote) fits into Montreal's attempt to promote alternative modes of urban transit.

"It's a change of culture," he said in an interview. "People want to cycle more, they want to walk more, they want to feel safe." He added that the car still has its place, but must learn to share it with other forms of transportation.

Civic officials are acknowledging that even eco-conscious cyclists might not be ready to tackle winter pedalling. Bixi will operate from mid-April to mid-November only.

COMMENTS
I am currently on a Business trip in Barcelona Spain and one of my co-workers gave me access to his Bicing Card. This program should be an absolute no brainer for any big city. The bikes are sturdy, convenient and a fun way to get around the city !
Viva Espagna...wake up Canada
Bob Gibson Toronto

What is the average duration of really riding the bike during that half hour allowance when the time spent for taking and parking it deducted ? Do you exceed the free time limit if you happen to eat one hotdog en route ? I suggest to think twice before paying that 78 bucks for 7 months (which probably will be less than 6 for the majority when the out-of-town periods are considered) if you will end up with paying an additional 1.5 bucks each day. Is the free time limit for each bike or is that a limit per person per day? In other words, if you are not allowed to park the one you rode for 25 minutes at 1 p.m. and to take another at 3 p.m. for free, you will always pay to return. If you are allowed, you can indefinitely change the bikes and have a full day free allowance. Is there a website of the company explaining these details ?
Ghetto Dude, Istanbul, Turkey

Here in Edmonton we have something called The People's Pedal, which features red bikes of various makes and models scattered throughout the downtown area only. It's a good idea, but people still steal the bikes, and it's still a bit silly to have them available only in the inner city, which also happens to be the only part of the city with reliable bus and train routes operating 20 hours a day. There's simply no need for bikes in this one area. I'd love to see more publicly available bicycles near the parks and the bike trails all over the city. As it is, I've had to buy my own bike just to ride around in the river valley, and I mostly use my feet or my bus pass to get to where I really have to be.
... But it's a fantastic idea. I hope Montreal gets it right, and I hope the bikes aren't all stolen within the first week and sold on CraigsList.
I believe that, unlike Amsterdam's honour system, this is a computer and credit card/membership-controlled system. In other words the system logs when you take a bike out and logs when you put it back. Presumably, if you don't put it back your credit card is billed for the value of the bike.
John Deriso from Edmonton

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