Image: Fagstein
Vancouver’s bicycle revolution continues as it was announced yesterday that the City of Vancouver will finally get it’s very own Bixi (bicycle + taxi = bixi) system. The Bixi system, modeled after the awesome program in Montreal, is a city-wide public bike-sharing program, which allows a person to pick up a bike at any one of the stations around the city, ride around and drop them off at another station when they are done. To be part of the program requires a $78 fee, plus fees for trips lasting more than a half hour. The program will be available all over the city with around 200 stations planned in the following nieghbourhoods: Mt. Pleasant, Kits, Fairview, UBC, Commercial Drive and downtown.

The estimated cost to set up a Bixi system is $15 million and once fully under way should be self financing. Furthermore, the city is looking at the option of corporate sponsors, and maybe even the much dreaded P3 (private-public partnerships) that have become popular in infrastructure projects, thanks to the provincial Liberals.

Let’s see how this revolution pans out. I think the Bixi program was long overdue and for a city such as Vancouver, which prides itself in being “green” I am surprised we didn’t have this in place sooner.

Update: The city will be making an announcement soon on their new bike share program.