The system really works best if you have a monthly, or better yet, yearly pass. There’s no fumbling with credit cards, getting pre-authorized payments on your credit card or otherwise standing at the station trying to figure the thing out. You just put in your key, take the bike and go.

It’s works great in high density residential neighbourhoods like Rosemont and the Plateau, and for people who already rely on public transit. I suppose it’s a premium on my STM pass but at 78$ (tax incl.) for a yearly pass, it’s worth it for many reasons. I don’t have to lug my bike up and down stairs at my apartment. I can bike to my destination and the take public transit back if I’m feeling lazy. I’m not stuck on my bike when the weather turns bad.I never have to worry about my bike being stolen. I can bike home from a friend’s house late at night instead of spending money on a cab. I am free to choose my mode of transportation (metro, bus, or bike) at any time. I’m biking more and getting in better shape.

I’m not the type to give accolades at every turn, but really, BIXI is a great service.

As for having bixis at métro stops: I’m not so sure… if you’re already taking the métro, you won’t take a bike — where would you park it? If you live in Le Plateau and work out by L’Assomption métro, what happens when you arrive and there are no spots left? Peddle madly to the next métro stop, fingers crossed, I suppose, then take the métro back, rather defeating the joys of Bixi. Having lots of stations close together makes the ebb and flow of bikes and spaces possible… otherwise, you get full or empty stations, and ticked off Bixi riders arriving late for work.

That said, I could see a nice big station at, say, Atwater or Jean Talon Markets, since they’re popular destinations and close enough to get to within the 1/2 hour free time.

– X

http://www.flickr.com/photos/xbourque/3579739775/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xbourque/3579739525/

– X

Tristou – who said it was linguistic? Projecting much?
Some of us live in the Phase 1 zone and bike to work in an unserved area, I guess you don’t. I think tying Bixi in to the metro would do a lot more service to people across Montreal than the current plan, which seems to be providing a touristy service to high traffic areas.

One bike or different ones? :-)

>>”I also think that Bixi would be a lot more convenient if it was tied in to the metro system ”

I dunno… looking at the map, seems that there is a Bixi station planned next to every Metro within the boundaries of Phase I.

Do you wish that they put Bixi stations next to *every* Metro from the get go?

-X

Paying under $30 for a half day bike rental (usually tourists don’t rent bikes for more than a couple hours) is a good deal. I think this is just a matter of your perception of what you’d pay rather than a reflection of the current bike rental market.

As Mark mentioned, Bixi is meant to be affordable to commuters for short trips that are usually under 30 minutes. Tourists are usually willing to pay more, and do. Most bike trips can be made within 30 minutes – up to 8 km at a time.

The point is that you’re not supposed to keep the bike for 2 hours and a half.

I absolutely love Montreal, but I so wish that the we’re-so-discriminated-against mantra on both sides of the linguistic line would just go away.

And on bixi.com, they have a nice little thank you to all of us who have had problems during the set-up period and offering an extra month on our subscription, now isn’t that nice of them?

Plus, they say that if you arrive and the station is full, you can type your bixi key number or swipe your credit card and get an extra 15 minutes free to find a new station; I did it for the fun of it last Friday, even though I had only used 20 minutes, and it did indeed give me an extra 15 minutes. But they also say “Check the pay station to find out in real time the number of free bike docks at neighbouring stations” which I couldn’t figure out at all.

I understand the argument of Bixi’s convenience, but I also think that Bixi would be a lot more convenient if it was tied in to the metro system – of course the boroughs (especially Westmount’s bike unfriendliness) stand in the way of west end integration, but metro property should be more accessible to this kind of city-wide plan, one would think, regardless of larger integration into the boroughs. That said, there’s certainly no reason not to have Bixi stations around Saint Henri, with the proximity of the Lachine bike path, the Atwater market,a alrge student population, et cetera.

Further, it’s obvious that yes, not everywhere in the island will be part of the initial or even phase 2 rollout – but it is also very obvious that the placmeents favour east and north much more than west and south, and one can only speculate why that might be.

Like riding Bixi from work to Happy Hour then riding the metro or a cab home. You can’t do that with your own bicycle.

Or riding downtown to one end of Ste-Cath… walk and shop all the way to the other end, then pick a new Bixi there and ride home.

I gave a bunch of other examples in the other recent Bixi entry on this blog.

Also, I dare anyone to use a Canadian Tire bike as a regular commuter bike for 5 years. Good luck with that.

I got a cheap K-Mart bicycle in Australia to commute to work for 6 months and after six months the brakes were completely dead, the gears were slipping, the derailleur was marginal and I had 2 flat tires.

-X

Modern Canadian Tire bicycles are utter crap.

Certainly hope it will be extended to the west end, and elsewhere.

Remember how restricted CommunAuto was at first, it has a far greater geographical reach now. The system is rather similar.

One of the keys to success of such a program is having many stations close by, so that people can actually find and park the bikes. So instead of covering more area but with infrequent stations, they had to choose somehow, and I’d say they chose well, and not just because I have one at the corner of my street. Le Plateau, Le Village, Old Montreal, and downtown have good and consistent density, but also boast many points of interest that can attract people from outside these areas. Don’t get me wrong, I actually love St-Henri and would love it if Bixi went all the way to Atwater Market, for example. But for now, oh well.

As for the psychology of closely-spaced stations encouraging use: until Bixi came along, I was happily walking to work, 15 blocks or so. Last Friday, I was a little ticked off at having to walk all of 4 blocks to find a bike; when I want my Bixi, I want it now! Completely irrational, but there you go. However, imagine if the next station were 7 or 10 blocks away… only to be full or empty as well. Would I use Bixi? I doubt it.

Cool free Bixi iPhone map app gets takedown notice by Stationnement de Montreal: http://snurl.com/iw6p9

http://bixifan.wetpaint.com

It’s quite hack right now, but I’ve been pretty obsessed with Bixi ever since it started and hope this wet paint page will become a forum of sorts where people can find all things Bixi. I’ve already uncovered some cool Bixi mapping apps people have made, etc. Anyone can join and add to it. It’s really just a Bixi Wiki. Hope you enjoy it.