Bixi users demonstrated their appreciation for Montreal’s embattled bike sharing service Saturday in hopes of persuading the city to let the two-wheelers roll once again next year.
Mayor Denis Coderre has given no guarantees that the sometimes-troubled service will come back for its seventh year in 2015 but noted that its chances might improve if people show their love for it.
Fabrice Veinard, who organized the meet-up, urged Montrealers to lobby Coderre through Twitter and by asking questions as council meetings.
Veinard, who has been one of the top five Bixi users for the past five years, said that using the Bixi service is convenient and fun.
“For me it’s freedom and it allows me to see my city in a different without the troubles of having ot maintain and secure my own bike,” he told CTV Montreal Saturday.
Norman Belisle is another user who said that he was hooked from the first time he started rolling on a Bixi so many foot-propelled kilometres ago.
“I thought this was so magic as urban transportation. Pick up a bike, leave it somewhere else, 24 hours a day, low cost, it’s really a nice way to travel around Montreal,” said Belisle.
“We’re the inventors for that kind of bike in North America and it’s a huge improvement in urban movement. The bus is nice, the metro is nice but this is another way to travel around the city, no gas, no electricity and on top of that it gives you exercise,” he said.
He said that any past mismanagement should be forgiven.
“There’s a cost to improving the quality of the environment. It’s not an expense, it’s an investment,” he said.
