At the dawn of a 15e Bixi season, the City of Montreal has announced that a pilot project will make it possible to offer self-service bicycles year-round in seven boroughs starting next fall.
For years, Bixi users have lamented the disappearance of bicycles in November. The City announced on Wednesday morning that it would extend this Bixi season as part of a pilot project.
Some 150 stations – out of the 850 existing stations – and about a thousand bikes will be deployed during the winter season and modifications will be made to the equipment to adapt them to the weather conditions. The bikes will be equipped with studded tires and more grippy toe clips, said the chairman of the board of directors of Bixi, Alexandre Taillefer. However, electric bikes will not be available.
“Bixi will clear snow from the prototype stations that are in development. But you have to remember that it snows about ten days a year. This is not something that will prevent traffic,” indicated Mr. Taillefer, who mentioned the possibility of equipping the stations with heated slabs and roofs to protect them from the weather.
The majority of the stations will not be installed on the roadway, for her part specified the person in charge of transport and mobility on the executive committee, Sophie Mauzerolle. Thus, Bixi’s winter activities should not interfere with snow removal operations.
“We will start with a smaller territory. We are going to target the metro stations and the surroundings of the REVs [Réseaux Express Vélo]. […] It’s important for us to test the evolution of the equipment,” said Mr. Taillefer. “We are convinced that afterwards, we will be able to expand the territory. »
Bixi Montreal expects 4000 people per day to use Bixi during the winter season. Other cities like Chicago and Toronto already offer bike-sharing in the winter, but their weather conditions are generally milder, it was reported. “It’s a project that we are doing with caution, both in terms of equipment and from a financial point of view,” said Mr. Taillefer.
Alexandre Taillefer maintains that the costs of the pilot project will be marginal for Bixi, whose financial health is “excellent”.
Season launched
The 15e Bixi season also began on Wednesday noon with 2,000 bikes put into service. The entire fleet should be accessible by the end of April.
Bixi Montréal took advantage of the launch of the new season to announce a new partnership with Loto Québec. The terms of the agreement with the state corporation, however, have not been disclosed. “The important thing for us is to help ensure that Bixi is available 12 months a year for as many people as possible,” commented Benoit Lefrançois, Corporate Vice-President at Loto-Québec.
Bixi’s rates have increased this year, between 7% and 8%, but Alexandre Taillefer recalled that subscribers could benefit from discounts by May 15. “Today, we remain much less expensive than any other self-service bicycle system elsewhere in the world. The cost per kilometer [en fait] by far the most affordable moving service a Montrealer can use. »
In 2022, Bixi had reached a traffic record with just over 60,000 users in one day.