After a difficult record last year and a sharp drop in trips in spring 2020, BIXI Montreal is having a better time. The organization announced Monday an increase in ridership of 74% compared to last year, for a total of 5.8 million routes.
“There is really a movement towards cycling. And I think that we have not finished measuring the impact, as long as the city center has not substantially returned to what it was ”, explained the CEO of BIXI, Christian Vermette, in interview with Press Monday.
He claims that “improved and more flexible pricing” – the monthly rate has notably been reduced – has also contributed to this “popularity”. Especially since the season started a week earlier this year, when the bikes were available from April 9 to November 15.
BIXI says it has reached an “historic” record for new users, with a jump of 326% compared to 2020 and 195% compared to 2019. The number of new members has also jumped by 70%, compared to the year latest.
“The fall was phenomenal,” Mr. Vermette also summed up, citing “historic ridership records” in September and October, in particular. “People have changed their travel habits. We see a lot of local movements, and that counts a lot in these new customers, ”he insists.
These successes he also attributes to the addition of 725 electric bikes, bringing the total to 1905, in addition to 7,270 “regular” bikes. There are just over 150 BIXI electric anchor stations at present, of which 83 were added this year. The total number of stations is close to 765.
For the organization, this is a wind of change which, it is hoped, will continue. It should be noted that last year, the news was indeed much worse, when there was a drop in ridership of more than 70% in April compared to the same period the previous year, before ending place at 40% “the following months”. A situation which was “largely linked to confinement and teleworking”.
Remember that a quarter of BIXI Montreal’s revenues come from a recurring contribution from the City of Montreal, under the municipal budget.