Montreal’s Bixi bike share program is now all-year long
Previously only available from spring to fall
Photo by:
Bixi Montreal
The old joke about that you know spring has arrived in Montreal because the Bixi bikes are back is no longer true. The bike share program is entering its 15th year, but this time, things are changing. No longer will the city remove the bikes in the winter. Now, parts of the program will be available all-year long.
WOOHOO! #Bixi is back, it's SPRING! @BIXImontreal stations being installed in #Montreal today. I missed these bikes 🙂 #mtlmoments pic.twitter.com/VgnfWmtsbk
— Lex Albrecht (@Lex_Albrecht) March 29, 2017
According to the CBC, the change is part of a pilot project that will involve all seven boroughs, roughly 100 square kilometres.
“We know that in the month of November, when the Bixis leave, there are still plenty of nice weather days to bike and people are disappointed,” Sophie Mauzerolle, the executive committee member responsible for transportation and mobility, said.
The chair of the board of Bixi Montreal, said that 150 of the 850 bike share stations will be used in the plot project. Also, he said that snow will be cleared from the stations so that cyclists can access them.
“We will manage issues related to snow but we have to remember that it only snows heavily about 10 days per year,” Taillefer said.
The projections for usage are around 4,000 users every day during the winter, which is about 10 per cent of is used during the summer. “That’s not nothing,” Taillefer said. “And that’s with a lot fewer bikes and a lot fewer stations. So we think that it will stir up a lot of enthusiasm.”
