The BIXI bike-sharing program is expanding, with 50 new stations set to be installed this spring in several boroughs around the city.
The project, which will up the total stations to 450 from 400 will cost $2.4 million, at a time when questions continue about the financial viability of the project.
In its fifth season, this is the third expansion for the bike-sharing project that was designed in Montreal, with the new stations set to be installed in the boroughs of Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension, Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Cote-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de Grace, Verdun, Nun's Island, as well as in the South-West, Outremont and Ahuntsic-Cartierville.
The project that was launched with a lot of optimism and has been embraced by many Montrealers.
Part of the promise was that the BIXI concept would be exported to other cities – and so far has been brought to New York, Boston and Melbourne - and be a moneymaker for the city.
Though several cities have jumped on the BIXI bandwagon, but the money hasn't been rolling in: BIXI posted a loss in 2012 and received a $71 million loan from the city the year before.
While most generally agree that the BIXI bikes are good for the city and the environment and they are very popular, Mayor Michael Applebaum and Michel Philibert, head of the Public Bike System Company, that owns BIXI, were asked again Tuesday what the financial status of BIXI is, and the answers were vague.
“The financial statement of BIXI will be available in a few weeks but in this operation we are expecting more revenue that expenses,” he said.
Philibert added that the goal of BIXI is to be a self-financing program.
