it rains a lot in london and snows a lot in montreal....if the system don't work there i'm sure they would not bring it here.

Bike sharing faces problems in Montreal, controversy in New York | Better! Cities & Towns Online

"And Alta Bicycle Share, one of the two finalists vying to run the operation, has run into financial problems in Montreal. Government officials there eventually provided $108 million in financing to Alta’s partner, Public Bike System Company, in part to cover losses incurred by Bixi, the city’s bike-share program."

"Roger Plamondon, the board chairman of Public Bike System, said his company had the financial resources to come to New York, despite its issues in Montreal. In 2009, Bixi’s first year, the program lost $5.5 million; last year, it lost $7 million, Mr. Plamondon said."

$108 million in financing to Alta’s partner, Public Bike System Company,

WHAT

Stupid ideas. I like our current bike rental system. Buy a bike from a hobo, ride it to your destination, then ditch it in a back alley for another person to snag. Also, what's to keep these bikes from being stolen or completely destroyed? What is the real point though? So I can bike from downtown to commercial when there's a god damn train that can take me there way faster? And most cyclists in this city stick to their own bicycles. Dumb idea is dumb. Hopefully it flops hardcore so the citizens can look mayor sexington in the eye and tell him that enough is enough. Get over this bicycle nonsense.

Bixi owes the City of Montreal $35 million from the original $37M loan it got when it first started. It will post it's first ever profit of $12M this year. Some of it's money comes from annual membership fees, but the majority of it is from sponsorship.

I think there are ~50,000 annual members.

if they really think this shit is gonna work they should scrap aircare cuz they are gonna get SOOO MANY cars off the road with this brilliant idea! :accepted:

air care is ending in 2014 lol

I forsee all the dial a dope drug couriers getting a new set of wheels for $2....quite a bargain. Let's spend millions of tax dollars on another touchy-feely experiment as we try to social engineer our way to green nirvana. I wonder if the bikes are made in China at another toxic waste factory?

This will make cycling around Stanley park cheaper :)

There seemed to be lots of people using those bikes in Montreal while I was there.

i cant help but have the :fuckthatshit: face when reading..and after the article... :rukidding: ya...

that's gonna put those rental shops out of business lol :ahwow:

It's clear that very few people who have posted in this thread have actually used bike sharing programs in other cities.

Montreal's Bixi is actually a pretty useful system and its bikes are made in Quebec.

It seems they're really trying to reduce the amount of cars on the road in Vancouver. Sitting in traffic really sucks especially in downtown. Using bikes could dramatically reduce congestion.

http://www.ways2gogreen.com/images/b...armuenster.jpg

Ways2GoGreen Blog | Guest Post: Going Green with Scooters

^^People who ride bikes are generally the same people who use public transit. Since public transit runs on a fixed schedule, you won't really see much of a reduction in congestion. A reduction in ridership means more tax dollars and subsidies go toward supporting transit too. Reducing infrastructure by removing one lane of traffic will, however, dramatically increase congestion.

Combined with the ridiculous downtown parking charges, this will destroy small businesses, independent retailers and restaurants in the downtown core. You will start to see a shift toward businesses and chain retailers that belong to large public companies. This will change the culture of the city. No more cool, hip restaurants and more crappy TGIFs, Cactii Club, and Starbucks. Awful.

The fact that they have to offer subsidies to make this work, already tells me that this is a very, very bad idea. Who voted for this hippy mayor anyway? You can't blame him for not having vision, but nobody said the vision wouldn't turn to be a nightmare.

The sad part is that the previous road infrastructure was more than suitable to support the number of bike commuters.

Thinking about renting a bike just to sue when I crash because the bike was not properly maintained. :ilied:

Oh, no doubt. And if a private company wanted to take the risk, gather financing and install the system, I'd say go for it. Maybe they need a little help with some public areas to install the bikes, and Vancouver grants them use of some land to help them out. Fine.

BUT-that's not whats happening.

It will save you a whole heck a lot of work.. especially if they only still those bikes instead of citizens' own private ones?