Montreal plays Bixi

Montreal began rolling out its Bixi bike sharing program today. At full steam it will have 2,300 bicycles available across 300 access points throughout the downtown core. Access is through a credit card secured user pass and will cost a flat fee of $80 for 7 months (the other months being generally covered in snow).

A key feature of the system is its 30 minute rule. Once you take a bike out, you have 30 minutes to return it to any other station. This forces people to think of the bike they have as a "point-to-point" public transit system and not as a personal afternoon bike rental. The bikes thereby remain in constant circulation and can be used more efficiently.

Testifying as a "hardcore" urban cyclist (80% of my trips are by bike, with 15% being subway and 5% being cabs), the vast majority of my one-way trips downtown are less than 15 minutes in any one direction. Once you know the roads, getting around on a bike is much faster than a car and certainly much easier to "park".

The key to the success of Bixi will be having the critical mass of bicycles so as will make the system dependable. If people can't trust that there will be a bike waiting for them when they get out of the grocery store they will stop using the system.

September 22nd, 2008 / 0 Comments / Tags: bikes, transit, Bixi