Love+Sprockets | NYC Cycling Info

Springwise reports on a new urban bike sharing service coming to Montreal from Bixi, which is scheduled to launch in April, 2009 with 3,000 bikes in 300 locations across the city.

Bixi follows the standard bike sharing principles: users take a bike from a stand, ride it to where they want to go, and drop it at another stand when they're done. To make the concept even more attractive to users, bikes will be equipped with RFID tags so that users can track availability online; real-time information is beamed to the web from the system's solar-powered bike stands.

Users will pay a membership fee of CDN 78 for one year, CDN 24 for one month or CDN 5 for one day. The first half hour of every trip is free, rising to CDN 12 per hour for extended periods of use. The aim is to encourage short trips, and fees compare favorably with the price of a monthly bus pass (CDN 66.25).

This was on 7th Ave I believe, somewhere in the upper '30's. The city has created these islands in several places in midtown, most noticeably in Times Square.

rack on hoyt and atlantic ave, stolen bike

I've happily made the transition to bike commuting and have been really pleased with the change in lifestyle. Not only do I get more time on the bike every week--a necessity now that I'm working more--but, I also get the benefit of missing that sardine-in-a-can feeling on the rush hour train. Here are a few ideas for bike commuters who need to be fresh at the other end of the ride.