Capital Bixi was a public

bicycle sharing system A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost. The programmes themselves include bot ...

serving

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

and

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Launched in June 2009, it was the second

BIXI Bixi, or Bi Xi (), is a figure from Chinese mythology. One of the 9 sons of the dragon, 9 sons of the Dragon King, he is depicted as a Chinese dragon, dragon with the shell of a turtle. Stone Chinese sculpture, sculptures of Bixi have been used ...

system worldwide after

BIXI Montréal BIXI Montréal is a public bicycle sharing system serving Montréal, Quebec, Canada. Launched in May 2009 by Public Bike System Company (PBSC), it is North America's first large-scale bike sharing system and the original BIXI brand of systems. PB ...

. Capital Bixi was run by the

National Capital Commission The National Capital Commission (NCC; french: Commission de la capitale nationale, CCN) is the Crown corporation responsible for development, urban planning, and conservation in Canada's Capital Region (Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec), i ...

, which sold the bike share program to

CycleHop CycleHop LLC is a bicycle sharing platform and mobility company that operates bike share systems in fifteen cities in North America, including Vancouver Bike Share in British Columbia. History The company's founder traces its history back to 1 ...

History

From June to September 2009, the system was introduced in a pilot study with 100 bicycles at 10 stations. In 2012 Capital Bixi and its sponsors the

(NCC), the

City of Ottawa The City of Ottawa is the corporate entity of municipal government in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The corporation is responsible for provision of services to the public as well as enforcement of municipal by-laws. It is overseen by the City Manag ...

, the City of Gatineau, the Canadian Museum of Nature,

Environment Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; french: Environnement et Changement climatique Canada),Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment ( ...

, and

Telus Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voi ...

, expanded the bike share system, covered more ground, and offered 15 new stations and 150 new bikes, for a total of 25 stations and 250 bikes. In January 2014, the parent company of BIXI, Public Bike System Company, filed for bankruptcy protection, however, the NCC anticipated that the bike share service would return that year nonetheless. In April 2014, the NCC announced that CycleHop would take over the bike share system in the city.

Cost

There were several different payment options with Capital Bixi. Customers could either become members or pay per use.

The bikes

The bicycles are

utility bicycle A utility bicycle, city bicycle, urban bicycle, European city bike (ECB), Dutch bike, classic bike or simply city-bike, is a bicycle designed for frequent very short, very slow rides through very flat urban areas. It is a form of utility bicycle ...

s with a unisex step-through frame. The one-piece aluminum frame and handlebars conceal cables in an effort to protect them from vandalism and inclement weather. The heavy-duty

tires A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...

are designed to be puncture-resistant and are filled with nitrogen to maintain proper inflation pressure longer. Twin LED rear lights are integrated into the frame, and the robust frame weighs approximately 18 kg. The bikes are designed by

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...

er Michel Dallaire and built in the

Saguenay, Quebec Saguenay ( , , ) is a city in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec, Canada, on the Saguenay River, about north of Quebec City by overland route. It is about upriver and northwest of Tadoussac, located at the confluence with the St. ...

region by Cycles Devinci, with aluminum provided by

Rio Tinto Alcan Rio Tinto Alcan is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, based in Montreal. It was created on 15 November 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto's Canadian subsidiary and Canadian company Alcan. It is the global leader of aluminium mining and ...

References

{{Bixi Community bicycle programs Transport in Gatineau Transport in Ottawa Bicycle sharing in Canada