High-tech, solar powered Bixi bike sharing system for Montreal

Montreal has come up with such a brilliant idea that I would pat the guy who came up with this one if I was there. It seems the city spent around $13 million developing a new bike-sharing system. For people who are clueless, this is a community bike sharing system where you can take a bike from a base station (which will be computer-chip based, solar-powered and Wi-Fi enabled), pay at an automated pay station and then drop the bike off at any pay station in the network. It is like a public transport system that incorporates new technology into the traditional ways of exercise and past time of cycling while also keeping the environment clean from the pollution that comes out of a vehicle. Michel Dallaire, the industrial designer whose firm developed both the bicycles and the base stations, chose solar power primarily for logistical, rather than environmental, reasons because the base stations do not need any electrical connections, they can be dropped anywhere without any preparatory work.

The service is starting out with 3,000 of the specially designed bicycles distributed among 300 closely-spaced stations in its downtown core. This system is by the way called Bixi system. It was initially inspired by Vélib, the service that started in Lyon, France, before moving to Paris, Bixi. The rates go like this – an annual subscription for 78 Canadian dollars buys a chip-encoded plastic fob. Day users can pay 5 Canadian dollars (a little over $4) by credit card at the base station for a day pass. Like a rental car company, the base station puts a 250 Canadian dollar security hold (roughly $216) on day users’ credit cards. The fees charged after that, are intended to encourage rapid turnover. The first half hour is free. The second half hour is 1.50 Canadian dollars ($1.30). After two hours, the 30-minute rate soars to 6.00 Canadian dollars ($5.18).
[NYTimes]