{"id":7948,"date":"2010-09-08T07:11:36","date_gmt":"2010-09-08T12:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=7948"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:54:28","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:54:28","slug":"the-bixi-gap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2010\/09\/08\/the-bixi-gap\/","title":{"rendered":"The BIXI Gap"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

While<\/span> our home-grown BIXI’s<\/span> have <\/span>taken off in London England<\/a> and beyond, they have yet to hit the streets in many parts of Montreal, including my ‘hood of NDG.<\/p>\n

When guests come to visit or when a show lasts beyond the last metro, it occurs to me just how practical it would be to to tap this service that so many of my fellow Montrealers<\/span> rave about. Last year we heard that BIXI would hit CDN-NDG in 2010, but the most populated borough in the city is still serviced by a mere 10 stations, all in the area adjacent to Outremont<\/span>, at least 4 kilometres<\/span> from where I live.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I asked the borough when we could expect BIXIs<\/span>, I was told that the Public Bike System Company, the division of Stationnement<\/span> Montr\u00e9al<\/span> that manages BIXI, had only installed stations in the area adjacent to Outremont<\/span> because they insisted that the bike docks to be a maximum of 300 m apart. However, BIXI stations were launched<\/a> in Saint-Laurent, LaSalle<\/span>, Lachine<\/span><\/span> Verdun and Ahuntsic<\/span> this summer, proving that there’s more than a little<\/span> wiggle<\/span>-room in the 300-meter rule<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was excited to learn that a neighbour, James Maclean, was circulating a petition to bring BIXI to NDG,<\/a> and I agreed to accompany him to the borough council meeting to present his collection of over 1000 signatures and get to the bottom of the issue.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Although the petition was well-received, borough mayor Michael Appelbaum<\/span> refused to give any concrete answer about when we could expect BIXI in NDG. He reiterated the 300-metre rule<\/span> and insisted that the borough had to wait for Stationnement<\/span> Montr\u00e9al<\/span> to expand the network at their discretion. Yet<\/span> when I had contacted the Public Bike System Company, I was told that decisions about expanding the bike-sharing network come down to the city and boroughs:<\/span><\/p>\n

“La d\u00e9cision<\/span> de<\/span> prolonger<\/span> le<\/span> r\u00e9seau<\/span> BIXI dans<\/span> d\u2019autres<\/span> secteurs<\/span> revient<\/span> aux arrondissements<\/span> et<\/span> \u00e0 la Ville<\/span>, vu<\/span> les<\/span> impacts financiers sur<\/span> les<\/span> op\u00e9rations<\/span> de<\/span> la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9<\/span> de<\/span> v\u00e9lo<\/span> en libre<\/span>-service,<\/span><\/em>” wrote their customer service representative.<\/p>\n

Appelbaum<\/span> also emphasized that the pilot projects that launched in far-flung neighbourhoods were intended for local trips only and were not part of the core BIXI network. However, the Public Bike System Company in LaSalle<\/span> assured me that their bikes were part of the central network:<\/span><\/p>\n

“Les nouveaux<\/span> projets<\/span>–pilote<\/span> font partie<\/span> du<\/span> r\u00e9seau<\/span> central, et<\/span> sont<\/span> donc<\/span> compatibles<\/span> avec<\/span> les<\/span> v\u00e9los<\/span> du<\/span> centre-ville<\/span>,<\/span><\/em>” wrote their customer service representative.<\/p>\n

Even if we were adamant about the 300-metre rule, there’s an obvious flaw in this logic: The borough is a continuous territory and we’ve already got BIXI stations in the north-eastern part of the borough. Therefore, it should be possible to expand the network throughout CDN and NDG by placing stations every 300 meters.<\/p>\n

The real insight came when councillor Helen Fotopulos<\/span> asked Maclean<\/span> whether he had thought of passing the petition around in Westmount. In June, the mayor of Westmount<\/span> said he was <\/span>in no rush <\/a>to bring BIXI to the town, which would leave a 2-km wide<\/span> BIXI-black-hole<\/span> between NDG and Atwater<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

“That has been a stumbling block,” Fotopulos<\/span> said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Symptomatic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s no easy task for citizens to untangle<\/span> a decision-making structure split between the boroughs and city, where responsibilities are regularly handed over to the private or institutional sectors. Based on the contradicting responses I received, it would seem even those directly involved in the decision-making don’t know whose court the ball is in. Do we really need to get a whole<\/span> other city involved, or approach the elusive metropolitan level of government simply to receive a service that other parts of the city already enjoy?<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m tempted to start waving around my broom but honestly, a 2 kilometer gap can be cycled in under 30 minutes easy. Let’s get on with it already.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While our home-grown BIXI’s have taken off in London England and beyond, they have yet to hit the streets in many parts of Montreal, including my ‘hood of NDG. 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