Bixi reports record-setting year as bike-sharing season comes to a close
Rain or shine (or snow), bike-sharing service shuts down on Nov. 15
As the Bixi season comes to a close, the ride-sharing service is reporting a record-high number of trips in 2017.
More than 258,000 used Bixis this year, for a grand total of 4.8 million trips. Those figures represent a 10 per cent jump over last year's totals, the non-profit organization said Wednesday. Free rides on Sundays helped contribute to that total.
"The 2017 Bixi season was exceptional, as more people than ever have been able to take advantage of the service," Marie Elaine Farley, the president of Bixi, said in a statement.
Bixi officially shuts down for the season at midnight.
Removing the stations takes a few weeks and the bike-sharing service shuts down every year on Nov. 15 in order to avoid scrambling to deal with an early snowfall.
Bixi expanded this year, with 1,000 more bikes and 80 more docking stations. The number of new Bixi users was up 35 per cent as of June 2017, compared to the same date one year ago.
The City of Montreal announced a $10 million commitment to Bixi in 2016, some of which went toward buying additional bikes and upgrading the docking stations in order to accept the STM's OPUS card.