text: Bikesharing is a fabulous idea that is huge in Europe and only slowly making its way across the pond Washington DC was the first North American city to start up a pilot program see SmartBike but Montreals Bixi was the first fullsized citywide system on the continent By there will be a few more in other citiesnnFor a day or year you get use of thousands of bikes stationed around the central city They are heavy bikes built for street riding but you are not racing them in the Tour so who cares You can return a bike to any station in the system not just the one you got it from so it is a great way to get from Point A to Point B especially given the per ride transit fare in Montreal The bikes are especially easy to use because Montreal has such fabulous bike lanes all over the city often segregated from carsnnThe one drawback is that since the bikes are intended to be used for short distance trips you are charged an extra fee if you have one out for longer than hour This is not a big problem because you can always park the bike you have at a station after minutes and then rent out a new one for no additional cost but it can be a little inconvenient