Bixi fails to deliver, again
Latest victim is the successful system in Washington, D.C.
Bixi has left another foreign bikesharing system in the lurch and has delayed disclosing how its 2012 season shaped up in Montreal.
Bixi and its U.S. partner, Alta Bicycle Share, have been unable to deliver all the 54 bike stations that were promised to Washington this fall, The Washington Post reported this week.
“I think we deserve at least some deference to make sure they are supplying us according to what they promised,” Mary M. Cheh, chair of Washington’s transportation committee, told the Post.
Washington has said its system — known as Capital Bikeshare, launched in September 2010 — has been a big success, with 18,000 annual members and almost 3 million rides taken so far.
The Public Bike System Co., the city of Montreal-controlled company behind Bixi, will not discuss the cause of the delay in Washington, a spokesman, Michel Philibert, told The Gazette.
Alta Bicycle Share, the PBSC’s U.S. partner, did not respond to a Gazette interview request. Alta, based in Portland, Ore., has never responded to a request for comment from The Gazette.
The Washington difficulties follow an embarrassing delay in the rollout of New York City’s Bixi system this summer because of a glitch in new software developed by the PBSC.
Launches of PBSC/Alta systems have also been delayed in Chicago and San Francisco.
An internal New York City department of transportation email obtained by The Gazette indicates the software continued to pose problems in October. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported the software “has been rife with glitches” in testing.
Despite the problems, New York said Friday its 5,500-bike system will launch in May, three months after its previous target date. The delay was caused by hurricane Sandy damage to parts of the system that were in storage.
In Montreal, Bixi closed for the winter on Nov. 15.
Last year, three days after its winter closure, the PBSC published a summary of its Montreal season, providing an update on bike usage, membership and its deficit, and disclosing how much had been repaid of the $37-million loan it received from the city of Montreal. At season’s end, the PBSC also makes an executive available to the media to discuss Bixi and its international operations.
This year, the PBSC did not pro- vide a year-end update. Philibert said he did not know when one will be issued.
Montreal has said the PBSC will sell off most of its international operations.
The sale would not include sys- tems in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa or London, England.
The PBSC has not provided an update on the sale.