Montreal RFID-enabled Bike Project Picks Up Speed

The 8D software not only allows parking authority employees to view the activities of each station, and to know who has which bicycle, it can also transmit alerts, such as when a bicycle has not been returned, or when a station will need more (or has too many) bicycles. If a bike is not returned or is brought back late, the user is subject to a late fee or replacement charge. The city has that user's identification, either through the three-digit number associated with a credit card number or the prepaid pass ID number, and can send a bill to that person's home address.

According to Ayotte, the initial phase in September will enable the public to sample the system, and to offer input. "We want to make sure the citizens can provide their input before we go into final production," he says. The spring 2009 deployment will take place in Montreal's city center, and the city hopes to expand to outlying neighborhoods later this year, with as many as 3,500 to 4,000 bicycles in use by the end of 2009.

The bicycle stations will have a dual purpose, Bettez says, because they can also be utilized for parking cars. While the existing 350 parking terminals are simply used for car-parking purposes, the bicycle stations will be able to transmit and receive bicycle data, as well as information about car parking. Parking spaces throughout the city have unique numbers.

If an individual parks a vehicle in the vicinity of a modular bike station, that person can make use a credit card to pay for parking in that space, indicating the specific parking space number. That information, like the bicycle data, is transmitted via GPRS to the city's server. Car-parking payments can be made at any station; therefore, if a driver chooses to increase parking time at a space, he or she can do so from any station throughout Montreal.

Ayotte declines to specify the system's cost, but says it will be fully funded by user fees, as well as by corporate sponsorship. He says he foresees users purchasing annual memberships at a price yet to be determined, enabling them to ride an unlimited number of bicycles per year. "Everybody who is involved in this project is excited," Ayotte says. "It's not a mercantile project—it's a social project." He adds that he has received calls from other cities around the world asking about the system.