Montreal on two wheels

Gridlock. Even if we haven’t experienced it firsthand, we’ve all seen the pictures – downtown arteries clogged with cars and trucks inching along or not moving at all. It’s a major aspect of urban life and it’s inefficient, frustrating and, what’s more, hard on the environment.

But the city of Montreal may be well on the way to solving that problem with its Public Bike System™. The idea is to provide, at a reasonable cost, rental bicycles as a part of its public transportation system.

It works like this: a rider rents a bike at a Public Bike System™ station using a credit card, debit card or system pass card, uses it to run some errands or travel from point A to point B then returns it to the original station or one closest to the rider’s destination. The cost for the first half hour will be fairly inexpensive, but will rise after that to encourage short, utilitarian trips rather than long, sightseeing tours, and a website will show the location of each station and the availability of bikes.

The green aspect of the Public Bike System™ doesn’t stop with human power. The technology used to rent, return and track the bikes will run on solar power and wireless communications.

And because the stations don’t require wiring, they have been designed to be completely portable. Consequently there are no foundations and no footprint once they’ve been moved. Each station is equipped with six bikes and six bike docks and can be rapidly relocated to where it is needed, or can be added to others if demand at a specific location warrants.

The purpose-designed bikes are made of aluminum – light weight, sturdy and rust resistant – with cables, sprockets and derailleurs covered for added safety. Each bike comes equipped with a front-mounted carrier for packages.

The Public Bike System™ will be tested this fall, initially with 40 bikes. If all goes well, 2,400 bikes will be available by the spring of 2009.

The only problem, if the system proves successful, will be avoiding bicycle gridlock in downtown Montreal. Gridlock or no, though, it will still be environmentally friendly.