One hundred new rentable Bixi bikes will be rolling around the Ottawa-Gatineau region this summer.
It is an alternative mode of transportation to encourage people to park the car and look towards a more sustainable mode of transportation.
"This is different," said Marie Lemay of the National Capital Commission. "It's really giving people an alternative to move from one place to the other instead of taking their car."
So far the focus is on the downtown core. The setup of 10 central stations is meant to target downtown workers and tourists.
People with memberships will be sent a key to access the bikes from their stations. A day or 72-hour pass can be purchased at each station.
There are a variety of subscription packages to choose from:
- Monthly subscription - $28
- Yearly subscription - $78
- 72-hour pass - $12
- 24-hour pass - $5
Eventually, the plan is to grow the Bixi bike system from 10 stations to 50. But there is concern about its viability.
Montreal's city council just agreed to a $108 million bailout package for the bike sharing program.
Both the company and NCC insist it won't be the case here.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Karen Soloman
