BIXI: Bike Sharing Across Three Continents
Alex Aylett, 10 Feb 10
Bixi – Montreal's innovative approach to bike sharing – just keeps expanding.
The system began in Montreal in 2009. Plans to bring it to Toronto, Ottawa, New York, Chicago, London were reported last Fall.
But it seems that Melbourne and Minneapolis have beaten at least some of them to the punch. Both cities concluded negotiations with the Montreal based non-profit that manages Bixi earlier this month. Bikes are scheduled to be rolling in Melbourne in May and in Minneaplis by June.
There are also plans to allow Bixi users from one city to use bikes in other Bixi cities. What a great idea.
The systems is based on a network of solar powered bike rental nodes that can be easily installed and moved depending on usage. The nodes also update bike availability info in realtime allowing users to check bike availability online from home, iPhones, or other mobile devices. This combination of easy installation and internet integration made Bixi instantly popular. Combined with other forms of public transportation, Bixi can be a useful component in an overal multi-modal transport strategy.
Another contributor to Bixi's hometown success is the fact that since 2000 Montreal has also added 700km of commuter friendly bikepaths.
This piece originally appeared on OpenAlex
Just so everyone knows, Minneapolis is starting, well, what looks to be really late compared to Melbourne but we're really just waiting for the snow to melt ;)
Posted by: C. on 11 Feb 10
Good lord, I was giddy the whole time I was in Montreal. These things are everywhere, and it's so bloody convenient! $5 unlimited for the day, so long as you check in every 30 minutes (which is easy as pastry-simpler-than-pie). I would kill to see them in Toronto.
Didn't know that a non-profit ran it though. Cool stuff.
Posted by: Pat Connolly on 11 Feb 10
I try a similar bike in UK last month and it was really amazing to ride ! I try it, just do it ! belote en ligne
Posted by: Koaline on 19 Sep 10
Please note that comments will remain open for only 14 days after the article is posted. While previous comments will remain visible, attempts to post new comments after this period will fail. This helps stop comment spam, so your forebearance is appreciated.
The Worldchanging comments are meant to be used for further exploration and evaluation of the ideas covered in our posts. Please note that, while constructive disagreement is fine, insults and abuse are not, and will result in the comment being deleted and a likely ban from commenting. We will also delete at will and without warning comments we believe are designed to disrupt a conversation rather than contribute to it. In short, we'll kill troll posts.
Finally, please note that comments which simply repost copyrighted works or commercial messages will be summarily deleted.
