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.
Read the rest of: "BiXi Launched"»
A bewildered American tourist who vacationed in
Montreal
this summer recently wrote a letter to the Gazette, the
local anglophone daily, wondering why announcements
on the métro are delivered only in French.
The newspaper's response and the quotes it extracted
from various officials highlighted an interesting
contrast in policies between Montreal and Paris
public transportation services. While in
Paris,
announcements
are routinely delivered in three languages (French,
English and a rotating third major language), Montreal
metro will only play a pre-recorded bilingual
tape in an emergency situation ("fire! get out!").
"Routine" messages such as announcements of delays
are delivered only in French as a matter of policy...
Read the rest of: "Montreal Métro Passengers Lost With No Translation"»
The voting process for the name of Montreal's citywide bike rental program is over and the winner is chosen. The system is going to be called "BIXI".
Over the next month, demo bikes will be wheeled around the city and public demonstrations will be held. According to the city's mayor,
Gérald Tremblay, by next spring Montreal will count 2,400 bikes at more than 300 solar-powered stations...
Read the rest of: "BIXI: Bike, Taxi, Montreal"»
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...
Read the rest of: "Montreal Bike Rental System Looking For Name"»
Many tourists (not to mention the residents) find the lack of direct
transport links between
Downtown and
Old Montreal inconvenient. Sure,
the métro is there, but because of the U-shaped configuration of its
lines, a traveler who wants to go from centrally located Peel Street to
no less central
Old Montreal would have to travel a few stops west (or east) on the green line, switch to the orange
line, then essentially come back to the geographic center of the city
albeit 10-15 blocks south. Annoying.
Fortunately, the city is aware of that - in fact, many recent proposals
for building a tramway line cited this very inconvenience as the major
reason for building it. Well, the tramway, if it's ever built, is still years
away, but something much more feasible is already coming, the Gazette
reported:
Old Montreal and
Downtown Montreal are to be
linked by a new bus route...
Read the rest of: "Downtown, Old Port To Be Linked By New Bus Route"»
