BiXi Launched
The moment has finally come! After many months in the making, the much-talked-about Montreal public bike rental system, Bixi, has launched. Over the past few weeks the city has installed a number of automated
bike rental stations
and launched a web site allowing users to see availabilities in real
time (both the number of available bikes and available docking slots).
Although the system is geared mainly towards residents of the city, tourists can take advantage of it as well, with monthly and even daily tariffs available.
* * *
Montreal mayor
Gérald Tremblay (standing)
poses for pictures with the mayor of
Paris,
Bertrand Delanoë (sitting on the bike).
Delanoë
can rightfully take credit for promoting public
bike rental systems in cities.
(Image: BiXi)
Once you have your membership, the first 30 minutes of bike use are
free and the counter starts ticking increasingly fast afterwards.
The system is designed to encourage short trips and discourage
bike hoarding.
As of the time of this writing (May 2009), the membership costs are as follows:
- 1 year: $78
- 30 days: $28
- 24 hours: $5
