Bixi season launched with app
Users will be able to track availability
Bixi launched a long-awaited smartphone app to coincide with the start of Montreal’s fifth bike-sharing season on Monday morning.
But users will have to wait until July or August before extra bike stations and docks are installed to help solve a common problem — the inability to find available slots in which to return Bixis.
Opening day wents moothly, with the first bike borrowed at 6:09 a.m., said Michel Philibert, chief executive of the Public Bike System Co., the private, city-controlled firm that operates Bixi.
By 1:15 p.m., 2,500 Bixi trips had been taken.
“That’s very good” for a day like Monday, Philibert said, referring to the weather. The forecast high was 13 degrees Celsius.
This year, Bixi is adding 50 bike stations and increasing the number of bike docks at 150 other bike stations.
That will bring the total number of stations to 461, while the number of bike docks — the individual slots used to park bikes — will rise to 9,614, from last year’s 7,864.
The city of Montreal is spending $2.4 million to buy 100 new Bixi bikes (replacements for older ones) and to add the 50 new stations and 1,750 new docks.
The total number of bikes on Montreal streets will remain the same — 5,120.
On Monday, 338 bike stations and 2,559 bikes were available, Philibert said.
By the end of the week, 411 bike stations and 5,120 bikes will be ready, he said.
But it will be late July or early August before the extra stations and bike docks can be put in place, he added.
Tracking Bixi and bikedock availability has long been possible via unofficial smartphone apps such as Spotcycle, Biximo and Mon-Transit.
On Monday, Bixi launched an official app for Android devices, iPhones and iPads.
Also on Monday, New York City began selling memberships to its Bixi-inspired Citi Bike system. That 6,000-bike network is scheduled to launch next month.
New York’s system was originally scheduled to start in July 2012 but was delayed because of bugs in new software developed by Bixi.
Officials say those kinks have been worked out.
New York bikes and docks are almost identical to those in Montreal. The stations, however, have some distinguishing features.
Like Bixi stations, Citi Bike’s stations are powered by solar energy. But while Montreal has flat solar panels, those in New York feature circular solar panels sitting atop poles.
That design allows them to absorb light from different directions, Philibert said.
Another difference: New York stations feature colour screens, while Montreal’s are black and white.