Bixi (bicycle share system)

Bixi (sometimes stylized as BIXI) is a public bicycle sharing system serving the metropolitan area of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Launched in May 2009 by Public Bike System Company (PBSC), it is North America's first large-scale bike sharing system and the original Bixi brand of systems. PBSC filed for bankruptcy at the beginning of 2014 after the company started experiencing financial difficulties in late 2013. The City of Montreal then bought PBSC's assets for $11.9 million in February 2014 and created Bixi Montréal, a non-profit entity, to run the bike sharing operations.
In 2023, Bixi was the second-most used bicycle sharing system in the U.S. and Canada, behind only the Citi Bikes of New York City, which are modelled after Bixi.
Bixi is a portmanteau of "bicyclette" (French for "bicycle") and "taxi", underlining the concept of being able to hail a bicycle just like a taxi. The name was coined by Michel Gourdeau, who won a public competition to find the best name for the service when it was first introduced in Montreal. The prize for the winner was a Bixi pass for life.
A complete station is made up of a pay station, bikes, and bike docks (where the bikes are kept), which are fitted into modular platforms powered by solar panels. These platforms are the base and electronic ports for pay stations and bike docks. Bike stations can be created, expanded, configured, and removed in about half an hour, monitored by a real-time management system. Excavation or preparatory work is not required, allowing the installation of a bike station as an addition to on-street parking.
Bike docks are used to store and lock bikes. These modular docking stations are formed by a combination of groups of four docks. The bike dock's modularity allows a pay station to be used in the place of a single dock. Maintenance and repair of the system is simple because of a removable module present in every docking station, which contains the locking system and all necessary parts that allow the system to function. In case of repairs, this module can be replaced with an identical one immediately, reducing the downtime of the system. The locking system is based on an energy-efficient motor used in the medical sector. The principal inventor of these systems is Charles Khairallah, president of Robotics Design, with co-inventor Michel Dallaire, president of Michel Dallaire Industrial Design.
The bicycles are utility bicycles with unisex step-through frames and three gears. The one-piece aluminum frame and handlebars hide cables in an effort to protect them from tampering and harsh weather conditions. The heavy-duty tires are designed to be puncture-resistant and are filled with nitrogen gas to maintain proper pressure for longer. Twin LED rear lights are found inside the frame, and the sturdy frame weighs approximately 18 kg (40 lb). White LED lights are found in the front of the bike. The bikes are built in Saguenay, Quebec, by Cycles Devinci. Blue electric bicycles were added to the Bixi fleet in 2019.
Users can rent a bike using a subscriber key (a "Bixi key") obtained through a long-term (30-day or annual) online subscription or an access code provided by the pay station (24-hour or 72-hour access) or by downloading and using the Bixi App and scanning the QR code located on the bike. The App also contains a network map with locations of other bike stands and the number of bikes or spaces available per station. Pay stations are touchscreen-operated and only accept credit cards. A button is used to notify Bixi mechanics of bicycles requiring servicing.
In order to use the system, users need to take out a subscription, which allows the subscriber an unlimited number of rentals under 30 minutes for one- and three-day subscriptions, and 45 minutes for one-month and one-year subscriptions. A trip that lasts longer than this no-charge period is subject to additional charges on an increasing scale. This increasing price scale is meant to keep the bikes in circulation.
The project was included in the transportation plan for the City of Montreal, which aimed at encouraging active modes of transportation, such as bicycle. The program is run by the city's parking authority, Stationnement de Montréal.
The location of a Bixi bike station is determined by several parameters, including population density, points of interest and activities (e.g., universities), bike paths, other transportation networks, and data on travel patterns of the general public. In 2009, 5,000 bikes were deployed in Montreal through a network of pay stations located mainly in the boroughs of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, the Plateau-Mont-Royal, and Ville-Marie, spilling over into parts of Outremont and the South West. As of 2024, the Bixi fleet has expanded to more than 11,000 bikes, about 2,600 of which are electric, in more than 900 stations. The network has spread outside of Montreal Island, with stations located in the suburban cities of Laval, Longueuil, Boucherville, Terrebonne and Sainte-Julie.
Montreal's Bixi system experienced some initial difficulties less than two months after its introduction in 2009, with damage and vandalism to some of the bikes. La Presse reported on July 5, 2009, that one in five bikes had been damaged and 15% of bike racks had become defective. Stationnement de Montréal communications director Michel Philibert said that the organization planned to reinforce racks and was testing prototype designs. Designer Michel Dallaire said it never occurred to him that people would try to break the stations to steal bikes. Since then, there has been no significant damage or vandalism issues reported in any of the Bixi installations.
The program experienced several serious setbacks and obstacles during its lifetime, including mismanagement, breach-of-contract litigation, and the surmounting of debt, most notably when the City of Montreal was forced to sell the lucrative international division, eliminating the only part of the program that turned a profit. Eventually, this contributed to the company's filing for bankruptcy in January 2014. The international division was renamed PBSC Urban Solutions and continued to extend its activities in several countries, including United States, Canada, and Mexico.