Bixi: a stroke of genius, but in need of some fixes

It’s time for Montreal, which took Paris’s Vélib’ bicycle-sharing setup and turned it into its own innovative and wildly successful Bixi program, to do something sensible with its struggling and indebted stroke of genius.

Convincing the Montreal transit authority to take it over could prove a practical solution to Bixi’s long-running problems.

There is, as Bixi spokesperson Michel Philibert said, “a certain logic” to the Société de transport de Montréal running the program. The STM could take on the job of integrating bicycle traffic into the city’s overall transit strategy – for example, by making changes to the bike-path network, which has been criti- cized as being incomplete and with haphazard lead-ins to the paths.

Montrealers might prefer the STM’S to Bixi’s current management, if only because what is in place now – a hybrid composed of the city of Montreal’s and Bixi’s private, non-profit owner – has not inspired a great deal of confidence.

Last summer, Montreal’s auditor-general blasted city hall for having missed a number of critical steps from the very beginning of Bixi. They included conducting risk and costbenefit analyses, and establishing a margin for financial overruns. These errors caught up with the city a year ago, when city council found itself having to approve a $108-million bailout package for Bixi, including $37 million to cover the program’s deficit, and $71 million in loan guarantees to export and develop the program abroad.

Montreal had expected to be able to recoup its losses as Bixi spread around the world, to Toronto, Ottawa, London and New York. But last year the provincial government ordered Bixi to sell off its international operations, saying the city lacked legal authority to sell and develop the bike-share concept.

Waiting in the wings to buy Bixi’s international operations, according to news reports, is a British company, Serco Group, that operates Barclays Cycle Hire in London. Anyone going to London this summer for the Olympic Games won’t be able to miss that program’s distinctive blue bikes as the service expands to the Games venues.

Montrealers might regret the international sale of one of their city’s most brilliant ideas, but they should take comfort in the fact that the concept that was developed and marketed here is spreading around the world, adopted by enthusiastic and soon-tobe fitter people in many cities. They should also be relieved that they will no longer be hemorrhaging money.

Bixi in Montreal, which now boasts 5,000 bikes and 400 stations, is well on its way to achieving some of its original aims: getting more people out of their cars and onto bicycles, reducing traffic congestion, and improving air quality.

Still to be achieved to help the program survive and expand is the design of a coherent and safe network of bicycle paths. More people will use Bixi if they feel safe. If the STM thinks it can take on this necessary work, it should step up to the challenge.

The Bixi program needs to be encouraged and nurtured if it is to continue to help Montrealers on their way to good health and enjoyment of their city.