Latest news with #BIXIMontréal
CTV News
04-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Bixi bike-sharing platform expands to Sherbrooke, more launches planned later this year
Montreal's popular bike-sharing service BIXI launched in Sherbrooke, Que. on Friday. BIXI is the region's first bike-sharing platform, launching with 255 bikes, with the vast majority of them (80 per cent) being electric. Stations were launched at key locations, including transportation hubs, educational institutions like the Université de Sherbrooke, as well as parks and other commercial areas. 'This service enhances our sustainable transportation options and makes our downtown even more attractive by facilitating access to businesses, contributing to the local economy,' said Sherbrooke Mayor Évelyne Beaudin in a news release. BIXI Montr-al-BIXI launches bike-sharing service in Sherbrooke From left: Sylvia Morin, Chair of the Board of Directors at BIXI Montréal; Laure Letarte-Lavoie, City Councillor and Évelyne Beaudoin, Mayor of Sherbrooke. (Source: CNW Group/BIXI Montréal) 'With electric bikes, even our hilly terrain becomes more welcoming! And this is just the beginning, with our cycling network constantly improving to make Sherbrooke even more welcoming for cyclists, both local and from elsewhere.' The Quebec government provided $1.1 million in funding for the launch through the Financial Assistance Program for the Development of Self-Service Bike Sharing. BIXI expanding to more cities this year The Sherbrooke launch comes ahead of a BIXI expansion to more cities in Quebec later this year, including Saint-Eustache and Deux-Montagnes on Montreal's North Shore. The bike-sharing service will also launch in Saint-Lambert on the South Shore. The 2025 expansion will bring the total number of partner cities to 13, the number of bikes in service to 12,600, and the number of stations to more than 1,000. BIXI currently operates in Montreal, Westmount, Mount-Royal, Montreal East, Longueuil, Laval, Boucherville, Terrebonne, and Sainte-Julie. During the Montreal public transit strike last month, users set a new record after making more than 80,000 trips per day during seven of the nine strike days. On June 11, the bike-sharing company recorded more than 95,000 trips. Each of those seven days surpassed the busiest day in 2024, when more than 79,000 trips were a record at the time.
Hamilton Spectator
12-06-2025
- Climate
- Hamilton Spectator
Montreal transit strike leads to extra traffic on some bike paths
MONTREAL - The head of a cycling advocacy group says Montreal's public transit strike has spurred record numbers on the city's bike paths. Jean-François Rheault, CEO of Vélo Québec, says devices installed by the city to count the number of passing bicycles are showing record or near-record levels since the strike began Monday. 'Nobody wanted this strike,' he said. 'But that being said, what we see is that cycling is a solution which is used by Montrealers to get around.' The strike by 2,400 transit maintenance workers has limited bus and metro service to morning and afternoon rush hours and late at night. Partial daylong service will resume Thursday, with some level of service disruptions expected until June 17, with the exception of the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix weekend. Rheault says one bicycle counter on the corner of St-Denis and Rachel streets in the Plateau-Mont-Royal district recorded more than 11,000 trips on Tuesday for the first time since it was installed in 2020, despite a day that included rain and a severe thunderstorm warning. He says some bicycle paths are so crowded that riders are having to wait for more than one traffic light cycle to cross the street. 'We've had several reports from people saying that there were a lot of people on the paths, and it's not necessarily very comfortable,' he said. 'We're reaching situations of overcrowding, which actually translates to the fact that not all cyclists are able to cross at a light.' Information from several dozen bicycle counters around the city recorded 92,871 trips in total on Monday, compared to 80,961 the week before. Tuesday, with rainy weather, recorded fewer rides than the previous week. Although there were no citywide records broken, the data appeared to show spikes in traffic at a few key spots in the city. In addition to the 11,044 trips at Rachel street on Tuesday, the St-Denis/Des Carrières intersection saw 10,228 trips and the Berri/Banq counter reported 7,421. Christian Vermette, the chief executive officer of BIXI Montréal, a service that offers bike rentals and docking stations for short trips, says it added extra capacity to meet the demand just in time for the 'busiest day in its history' on Tuesday. 'We experienced exceptional ridership this week, with a 35 per cent increase in trips this Monday compared to historical figures and a record 83,897 trips on Tuesday,' Vermette said in an email. While day-to-day numbers can vary due to weather, Rheault said the number of people on Montreal's bicycle paths has been steadily rising in recent years. That growth has been driven by several factors, including a rise in winter cycling and the expansion and popularity of BIXI. Last year, the city's express bicycle path network, called the REV, reported about 1.6 million trips, which was about 100,000 more than the year before, he said. Rheault said the strike is a 'tragedy' for people with limited mobility, but there could be a silver lining. He said events such as the 2019 Paris transit strike and the 2012 flooding of New York's subway system during Hurricane Sandy served as 'turning points' that led to a permanent increase in bike ridership, after people who were forced to turn to cycling out of necessity ended up sticking with it. He said the same thing could happen in Montreal. 'For people getting around on a bike for the first time, I think for them it will be an experience of discovery,' he said. '...Maybe they'll adopt it, maybe they'll adopt it sometimes, maybe they'll never come back, but in any case, these situations where we're forced to review our mobility options don't happen often in life.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.
Cision Canada
04-06-2025
- Business
- Cision Canada
BIXI is now available in all 19 boroughs of the city of Montreal Français
"The expansion of BIXI to all boroughs of the City of Montreal marks a major step forward for territorial equity in mobility. Our administration is proud to have made this citywide rollout possible. We firmly believe that every Montrealer, regardless of their neighborhood, should have access to sustainable transportation options. By expanding access to bike sharing, we are reinforcing our commitment to active, inclusive, and accessible mobility for all," said Sophie Mauzerolle, responsible for transportation and mobility on the City of Montreal's executive committee. ''BIXI is proudly Montrealer and, over the years, the city has become a leader in sustainable mobility in North America for its implementation of bike sharing. It was only natural that even more Montrealers should be able to benefit from this service, which has proven its necessity and impact on the daily lives of the city's population.'', mentions Christian Vermette, General Manager of BIXI Montréal. A thriving network for mobility that is uniquely Montreal This new phase reflects BIXI's commitment to offering a bike-sharing service as a sustainable and active public transportation option. These new stations, strategically located near attractions and transportation hubs, will make it easier for residents to get around on a daily basis, while allowing them to enjoy the iconic landscapes of the western part of the island, such as Cap-Saint-Jacques Nature Park. In addition to this expansion in the west, BIXI continues to strengthen the core of its network. Among the new stations installed: Plage du parc-nature du Cap-Saint-Jacques (De la Plage / Service) Parc du Château de Pierrefonds (De Pierrefonds / Château-Pierrefonds) Mairie d'arrondissement de Pierrefonds-Roxboro (De Pierrefonds / Saint-Léon) Cégep Gérald-Godin (Gouin / Parc-Royal) Visit the BIXI app to discover all the locations and plan your trips. A success that extends beyond Montreal Driven by its desire to be present across Quebec, BIXI's success now extends beyond the city limits of Montreal. This year, the network will be available in 13 cities, with a fleet of 12,600 bikes distributed across more than 1,000 stations. Over the coming months, BIXI will launch its services in Sherbrooke, Saint-Eustache, Deux-Montagnes, and Saint-Lambert, confirming enthusiasm for bike sharing as a means of transportation. About BIXI BIXI Montréal is a non-profit organization responsible for managing bike-sharing services in Montréal, Westmount, Mount-Royal, Montréal-Est, Longueuil, Laval, Boucherville, Terrebonne, Sainte-Julie and, soon, Sherbrooke, Saint-Eustache, Deux-Montagnes and Saint-Lambert. By 2025, the BIXI network will include 12,600 bicycles, including 3,200 electric bikes, at 1,080 stations in 13 cities. Montreal has the largest fleet of electric bikes in Canada, and one of the largest in North America.
