Share these wheels

McGill management students hope their Citybikes program meets the same success here as it has across the world

by IRENE CASELLI

Montreal may be one step closer to becoming a bicycle-friendly city thanks to the end-of-the-year project of three McGill students.

Leslie Feldman, Laura Kaylor and Tamara Mimran put together a simple but comprehensive plan to implement a bike-sharing program in Montreal. If their plan, called the Citybikes program, arouses interest among city officials and is implemented, it would give Montrealers easier access to communal bikes in the downtown area between Pine and Notre-Dame, Atwater and St-Laurent.

The students calculated that those willing to use the bikes would need to buy a seasonal pass, which would cost only $30 for the six-month period between April and September. The program contemplates the possibility of obtaining a pass at no cost by helping with the maintenance.

By swiping the pass through an electronic reader installed on each bike, passholders have access to bikes located at various hubs throughout the area for a maximum of 48 hours.

“The project is small enough to be feasible, but big enough to be beneficial,” says Feldman. The three students were asked to design the plan as part of a management class called the Social Context of Business, which focuses on sustainable projects with a social impact.

They first became interested in the subject when Mimran received an e-mail from a friend visiting Copenhagen. When she read that people there could rent bikes cheaply from electronic racks located around the city, she thought it was possible only in Scandinavia.

After initial research on the Internet, the three students found out that similar programs were being implemented in a number of cities across the world, including Toronto, and on many campuses around North America.

They thought that a bike-sharing program would fit perfectly in downtown Montreal, a relatively compact area with excess traffic congestion and a high concentration of young people. They are convinced that a similar program can help reduce pollution, while promoting a quicker means of transportation and a healthier way of living.

The project, which is designed to be run by the city as a non-profit venture, would support itself by providing advertisement space on the bikes and the racks. Bikes could be bought at a cheap price at police auction and online, and volunteers would take care of refurbishing them.

So far the students have received support from small businesses and a tire company that promised to provide its products at a cheaper price, but city officials have shown little interest.

“It’s still a work-in-progress, but we hope it will awake interest,” says Kaylor.

The girls are in fact willing to dedicate themselves to the project until it becomes a reality.

They hope that as more bikers take to the streets in the spring, their program will receive more support from the community.

“If enough people are interested, city officials will have to listen,” they say together.

They have set up an e-mail account to receive suggestions and support. If you’re interested in the Citybikes program, you can reach the students at citybikes179@yahoo.ca.