3 Compelling Reasons For a Bike-Share Program in Your City

3 Compelling Reasons For a Bike-Share Program in Your City

This spring the City of Montreal rolled out its bike-share program. There are 271 Bixi stations located throughout Montreal. You simply take a bike at your starting point and drop it off at a station that is closest to your destination. You can find all rates and membership fees posted on the Bixi site.

Although there have been more than a few reports of problems with broken lock mechanisms at bike stations and thefts, the program has been extremely successful.

Effective July 22, 2009, the Bixi system had 7,671 members and 63,403 occasional users who had cycled enough kilometres to go around the world 57 times.

Because of Bixi's resounding success, the system has implemented Phase II ahead of schedule, expanding into Montreal's neighbouring boroughs. To give you a better idea of the success of the Bixi and its impact on the environment, take a look at these three stats that are continually updated on the website under the Bixi Effect:

To date, effective August 2, 2009,

The total reduction in green house gas emissions: 762,710 kg (1,681,486 lbs)
This stat is calculated using Transport Canada's April 2008 Urban Transportation Emissions Calculator. The primary input is the distance travelled in kilometres.

The total savings in terms of litres of gas: 212,184 litres (56,053 US gallons)
This is calculated according to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy norms for tourist vehicles based on an average gas consumption of 8.5 litres /100 km.

The total distance travelled (km) using the Bixi in Montreal: 3,031,199 km (1,883,500 miles)
This is calculated using an average speed of 12 km/h (Source: Vélo Québec).

These are three compelling reasons that you might use in proposing a bike-share program in your city. I will give an update of these three vital statistics later in the cycling season.

Sources:
Transport Canada
Environment Canada
Bixi

Related posts:
City Cycling: Why Renting Beats Owning
A Review of Montreal's Bixi Rental Bike