Things aren’t looking good for Bixi, Montreal’s public bike sharing service.
The interim head of the company Michel Philibert has been laid off, along with 11 other employees.
Of the twelve jobs lost, ten were temporary and two were permanent positions.
The layoffs come two weeks after the city of Montreal forced the company into bankruptcy protection.
Last week, Bixi was under fire for doling out $232,000 in bonuses to 39 of its employees, even though the company owes various creditors about $50 million.
Philibert was among those that had received a bonus, his amounted to $14,000.
The acting CEO defended the bonuses, claiming they were written into employee contracts and approved by the company’s board of directors.
The public bike sharing service is the company that runs Bixi, and it currently owes the city of Montreal $31 million.
This was Mayor Denis Coderre’s reasoning for forcing Bixi into bankruptcy protection. He said that despite the layoffs and financial woes, Bixi won’t be off of the streets come this summer season.
But, Projet Montreal leader Richard Bergeron isn’t so sure. He believes that a city councilor should sit on Bixi’s board of directors for the sake of transparency.
Coderre, on the other hand, doesn’t think such is necessary. The mayor is expected to have more news on the company’s restructuring in coming weeks.
