Bixis begin lining Montreal streets as 2022 season kicks off with more e-bikes

Spring has sprung, and Bixi Montreal is rolling out its bikes just in time for the Easter long weekend. 

The 2022 season officially launched at 10 a.m. Wednesday — two days earlier than planned — with the addition of 490 electric bikes, 31 new stations and 765 additional docking points to help meet the growing needs in Montreal. 

Bixi says electric bikes contributed significantly to an increase in new users in 2021, up 326 per cent compared to the previous year and 195 per cent compared to the record-smashing year of 2019. For the first time last year, Bixi recorded more than 1 million electric bike trips.

The company is therefore adding some 30 new electric stations this year, notably near the Université de Montréal and HEC Montréal, at the Olympic Village and the Atwater market. Bixi says it's also planning to enhance its service in Montreal's parks. 

New this year is also a hike in pricing. For non-membership riders, the fee to unlock a bicycle is up from 50 cents to $1. The price per minute in 2021 was 10 cents for a regular bike and 25 cents for an electric one, but now those prices are 15 cents and 30 cents, respectively. 

The price per minute has also increased for riders with a membership.

Pierre-Luc Marier, director of marketing and sales at Bixi Montreal, says the company strives to keep prices low each year, but sometimes, it's just not possible. 

"We are in a labour shortage context and supply cost has increased dramatically," said Marier. 

He suggests potential riders take advantage of the pre-season membership rate — "The best price you can get for the season."

Currently, the price for a season pass is $83 before taxes — a 10 per cent discount on the regular pass, which is available until next Friday.

Inequitable distribution of stations

Residents in the western part of Montreal's Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood are speaking out about the lack of Bixi stations along Fielding Street, an issue they say they've been highlighting for years.

In a post on an NDG group Facebook page, residents are calling for more equitable distribution of Bixi stations.

Marier says the company has a team that plans the network, and it looks at people's demands and where people go with the bikes.

"It's a fairly complex formula, we have a page on our website where people can ask [for] a station," he said. 

"I know that some areas have less stations than others, so every year we make changes."

Bixi reports that since Montreal became the first city in North America to launch a large-scale bike-sharing service in 2009, 50 million trips have been made in the metropolitan area.