Increasingly widespread in Europe -- public bikes are a hit in Paris, Barcelona and Lyon -- Montreal's BIXI bike service is fully operational as of May 12, 2009 with 3,000 bicycles available for self-service at 300 stations across three boroughs: Ville-Marie, Plateau Mont-Royal and Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie. There will also be some stations on the edge of Outremont, Villeray-St. Michel and Southwest. Here's a link to a map of the 300 BIXI stations, complete with real-time bike availability information for each station.
Payment & Price
Significantly more affordable than driving a car if used for short trips, BIXI payments are made by credit card. Yearly and monthly passes are available online. All other passes are payable by credit card at docking stations.
Prices for 2009 are currently set at:
- $78 for a yearly pass (online subscription only, approved after confirming $287.50 credit card fund verification)
- $28 for a monthly pass (online subscription only, approved after confirming $287.50 credit card fund verification)
- $5 for a 24-hour day pass (paid at docking station, approved after confirming $287.50 credit card fund verification)
- free for the first 30 minutes
- $1.50 for the second 30 minutes
- $3 for the third 30 minutes (which equals $4.50 for 60 to 90 minutes of use)
- $6 for the fourth and subsequent 30 minutes (which equals $10.50 for 90 to 120 minutes of use or more)
Drop by a self-service station. Pay with Mastercard or VISA at the automated pay station (or, if subscribed to a yearly or monthly service plan, use the BIXI-key sent in the mail to unlock a bike). The self-service kiosk will print an access number for 24-hour day pass users. Choose a bike at the docking station. Enter the access number. The bicycle is then released from the bike dock. Use the bike. When finished, return the bicycle to any BIXI bike station in the city.
