Montreal Bike Rental System Looking For Name

Montreal will soon get its own city-wide bike-rental system clearly modeled after Paris' Velib. It will work almost exactly the same way as Vélib: you pick up your bike from any of the stations, pay at the station or simply swipe a card, use your bike and return it to any station you deem convenient.

The only (minor) problem is, the system is still to be named. So, the city is asking everyone's opinion. Here are the options: BIXI, Bycik, MontVélo, VélO2 and VillaVélo.

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I am not an expert in branding, but none of these options sound too appealing to me. I guess, if I were forced to make a choice, I would go with MontVélo. The others are too complicated, unpronounceable and/or pretentious.

The voters are registered for a lottery with various bike-friendly prizes. The deadline for stating your preference is September 12th 2008.

www.trouvemonnom.ca