BIXI is coming to Vancouver

Vancouver will join cities such as Montreal, Toronto, New York, London and Paris in having a public bicycle-sharing program. City council learned Wednesday that Alta Bicycle Share of Portland, Oregon will install 1500 bikes at 125 self-serve stations around downtown and the Broadway corridor next year. The bikes will be from Quebec’s BIXI company.

Jerry Dobrovolny, Vancouver director of transportation, explained that the program, which offers various-length memberships and charges according to time of use, “is to provide another transit option within the city”. The city examined both municipal-owned and run systems like Washington, D.C. and Barcelona’s and private-sector run systems like Toronto, Minneapolis, New York and Paris’s before deciding on Alta’s services.

As with all other cities that play host to bike-sharing programs, Vancouver will see its taxpayers subsidize the initiative, in this case to the tune of $1.9 million. A portion of the cost will be paid for by parking-meter revenues.

Dobrovolny revealed that, although charges haven’t been finalized, they will be comparable to Toronto’s program, where annual memberships are $95, with $40 monthly and $5 daily subscriptions as well. Members then pay $1.50 for the first hour and $4 for up to 90 minutes of usage. Provisions must be made to provide helmets for the riders, due to British Columbia’s laws.

The system will have a “soft launch” in the spring of 2013 and a full-on launch that summer.