Last week, Montreal’s city council voted to financially back The Public Bike Service Co. (société de vélo libre service), the non-profit organization that manages Bixi, to the tune of $108 million. We asked Spacing Montreal readers how you would have voted on the issue.
208 readers answered the poll over the past 2 days, and the majority (65%) were in favour of backing the Public Bike Service in order to keep Bixi on it’s feet (or wheels!). In fact, the controversial “bailout” got slightly more support among Spacing Montreal readers than it did in council, where the measure was approved by 58%.
As in the municipal council, many of the comments were critical of the lack of transparency in the Bixi books. But at the end of the day, it seems that Bixi has secured a place in our hearts and the most of us are willing to somewhat suspend our disbelief in order to protect what we’ve come to think of as a good thing for our city.
Thanks very much to all those who participated. More polls to come over the summer!