Montreal’s bike-sharing service, Bixi, has launched a new initiative. In certain locations, bikes will be repaired near a docking station to decrease the amount of time it takes to put them back in circulation after they break.
On Wednesday, Bixi inaugurated its first Carrefour Bixi, a bike repair shop connected to a larger docking station.
It is located at La Fontaine Park, a popular spot for those who use the service, who say there is a need for more infrastructure.
“Either it’s full bikes, or no bikes, so it’s hard to park sometimes,” says Myles Mattatall, a Bixi user.
The city manages, repairs and dispatches 11,000 bikes around Montreal. Up until Wednesday, they could only be repaired at Bixi’s head office.
The workload and the transportation of bikes to and from the main repair shop slowed down the process significantly.
The Carrefour Bixi is an answer to the issue. By 2027, Bixi wants to build six more remote repair shops in the boroughs, where they are most popular.
Bikes that need minor repairs, such as tune-ups and tire refills, will be fixed there and be put back on the roads much more quickly. More serious repairs will still be addressed at the head office, which will deal with a much lighter workload.
Pierre-Luc Marier, Bixi’s integrated marketing and communications director, says “users will see an increase in the quality of the bikes.”
He adds that this initiative is “a new concept, never seen in North America in the bike-sharing industry.”
While Bixi will continue with its plans to offer its services through the year, the Carrefour Bixi will be closed during the winter due to lower demand.