April 21, 2012 (Montreal, QC) – Bixi, the much acclaimed made-in-Quebec public bicycle sharing system, might soon be sold to a company based in London, England reports QMI. The potential sale is reportedly worth some $40 million. No motive was given for the possible sale, but Montreal Executive Committee Chairman Michael Applebaum recently told Pedal that his city will have to lay off 1,000 of its 8,000 employees as part of austerity efforts to trim $250 million from its $4.7 billion budget.

“We believe that it is imperative to keep all Bixi operations in Montréal and in the province of Québec,” wrote nine environmental and social groups to Municipal Affairs Minister, Laurent Lessard. These groups, including Velo Quebec, refer to Bixi as “the flower of Quebec ingenuity,” and claim some 450 jobs are dependent on the public bicycle system.  They also mention jobs linked to bicycle assembly at the Cycles Devinci plant in Chicoutimi, near Lac-Saint-Jean.

Since first introduced in Montreal in 2009, Bixi has been showered with accolades and the system is now used in 22 locations around the world, including Toronto, Ottawa, New York City, Washington DC, and other cities from England to Australia. But the Bixi system has also been dogged with controversy and the project’s lack of a clear business plan has invoked sharp criticism from Montreal’s auditor general. Municipal opposition parties have also condemned certain aspects of the Bixi program.

Meanwhile, a Montreal businessman, Jack Kowalski, is criticizing the Bixi program for not providing bike helmets to users in Montreal reports The Gazette. Kowalski, who has spent decades promoting safe tourism in Montreal with his Lachine Rapid [boat] Tours, invokes the possibility of tourists suffering serious injury on a Bixi. He has begun offering bike helmet loans, free of charge, from his boat tour office at 47 de la Commune St.

QMI article (in French) HERE.
Free helmet loans for Bixi users (in English) HERE.
Bixi use around the world HERE.