While Edmonton wrestles with how – or when! – to expand the city’s cycling system, other Canadian cities are moving ahead with innovative and ingenious ways to improve active transportation options. The best example anywhere in Canada of outside-the-box thinking is found in Montreal, where the city’s BIXI public bike system is changing the way people get around.

The system was established last year and became operational this spring with more than 2,400 bikes at 300 stations. By August, the fleet had expanded to more than 5,000 bikes spread out over 400 stations.

Participants borrow bikes from any station, and return them to that station or to any other station. They pay a membership fee of $70 per year, $28 per month, or $5 for a single day.

"You grab it, you ride it, you bring it back," is how Montreal's mayor Gerald Tremblay puts it. “It will become an emblem for Montreal.”

The name BIXI, a combination of the words 'bicycle' and 'taxi,' was chosen for the system out of a citywide contest in which residents voted on nearly 9,000 different names. Getting the system up and running cost $15 million, paid by Stationnement de Montreal, a company that manages the city's on-street parking. The organization hopes that membership fees will cover the cost of operating the venture.

The concept was an immediate hit and, in its first six weeks, riders took 175,000 trips, equaling more than one million cumulative kilometres travelled. But there were some snags with theft and vandalism, and those have largely been addressed.

Montréal’s La Presse newspaper did a survey and visited 30 out of 300 BIXI stations, and found many stations and bikes had been vandalized in the system's early days. It estimated that 20% of the bicycles had sustained damage.

Those hiccups along the way don’t diminish the innovation of the idea, which had its genesis in Europe, where Paris, Barcelona and Lyon have shown how it can be done effectively. It’s fitting that Montreal was the first North American city to embrace the initiative, considering that it has long been considered this continent’s most European city.

The idea may be transplanted but the execution was all the pride of Quebec, and designed to go gently on the planet. The bikes were made locally using recycled aluminum and parking stations run on solar power.

Earlier this year, Toronto announced it is also looking to provide a self-serve bike rental operation, similar to BIXI, and is aiming to have it up and running next spring. The city is evaluating the feasibility of spending $11 million to buy 3,000 bicycles, stands and software from Montréal.

Now, BIXI is going international, and has signed contracts to establish similar programs in London, England, and Boston. The city of Montréal said it will also submit a bid when New York City issues a call this fall for tenders for its bike rental system.

For London, BIXI will set up a network of 6,000 bikes, 400 docking stations and 10,000 docking points. The system is to be in operation next year. The Boston plan calls for 2,500 bikes, 290 stations, and 3,750 docking points, with the potential to expand to 5,000 bikes.

“Two projects of this scope show why all Montrealers have every reason to be proud,” says Mayor Tremblay . “BIXI contributes to raising Montreal's stature as a UNESCO 'city of design,' as a city of invention and creativity, as a centre of excellence in technologies and innovations and ... a green city going forward with concrete projects."

This summer, the Public Bike System Company received a Bronze International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) for the design of the BIXI bike. The award recognized Michel Dallaire, the internationally renowned industrial designer who created the component of the BIXI bike.

Roger Plamondon, chair of the board of the Public Bike System Company, says it’s gratifying that the design has been recognized, especially considering how crucial it is to the success of the concept. “From the very beginning, design was an extremely important consideration for this project, since we realized the bike would become an integral part of Montréal's urban landscape.”

Might we see a public bike system like BIXI in Edmonton anytime soon? Ruth Grenville, communications officer for the city’s transportation planning department says the city is familiar with BIXI, “but we are not looking to set up a similar program here in the short term.”

The oft-heard argument against an enhanced bike infrastructure is our northern climate. But Montreal’s winters are at least as cold as Edmonton’s, with significantly more snow. The innovative thinking that has made BIXI a reality shows that, if the determination and political will is present , a public bike system can be part of the transportation solutions of the 21st century.