Laval rolls out electric bike-sharing pilot program
Montreal can keep its Bixis.
Laval has a brand-new bike-sharing program, and those bikes have electric pedal assist.
The city unveiled a pilot project on Thursday to provide 40 electric bicycles, stationed at the Montmorency, Cartier and De La Concorde métro stations, as well as the Carrefour Laval bus terminal.
“This is a great way for our loyal users to enjoy the summer weather, be active and enjoy a bike ride,” said David De Cotis, the president of the Société de transport de Laval.
He said if the pilot project is a success, the city envisions having 100 bikes next year and more docking stations.
Paying users can take a bike from each of those stations and return it to the dock of their choice. It is up to Bewegen — the Beauce-based company that is supplying the bicycles — to move the bikes around the city in order to ensure there are enough vacant docks and free bicycles. However, an advantage over Bixi is that the Bewegen technology allows the creation of a virtual dock so users can leave their bikes in the vicinity of the docks if they are all being used.
The bikes must be pedalled for the electricity to power them, and can reach a speed of about 20 km/h. Bikes can charge fully in an hour and can then last about 100 kilometres. The bikes all have chain locks attached to their front baskets so users can make a stop and lock their bikes at the same time. However, they can only be used within the city of Laval and in some of the areas outside the city near the river. If users tread further out of that area, they will be called by the system’s dispatcher and told they are outside of the coverage zone.
The program will cost $115,000 in public money, with half coming from the federal government, 40 per cent from the province and the city of Laval covering 10 per cent. Citizens who want to rent a bike can pay $2 for a single trip, $20 for a month or $40 for the season, which finishes at the end of October.
In all cases, rides that last longer than 45 minutes are charged at $2 per half-hour.
Users can sign up for the program at the website laval.bewegen.com, at the docks or with the Bewegen Laval mobile application on their phones.