City’s bike-share plan at risk as Canadian firm files for bankruptcy
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- Published on Friday, 07 February 2014 11:26
- Written by GR Staff
The Canadian company given the task of setting up Guadalajara’s public bicycle hire program filed for bankruptcy in Montreal last month, citing huge debts.
Bixi established the not-for-profit public bicycle sharing system in Montreal in 2007 before expanding to cities around the world, including London, Boston, Chicago, New York and Melbourne.
According to Jalisco government officials, Bixi plans to provide 1,162 bicycles at 160 docking stations in both the Guadalajara and Zapopan municipalities – less than one-tenth of the size of the New York system.
The company that owns Bixi — the Public Bike System Company, known in French as the Société de vélos en libre-service (SVLS) — owes up 50 million dollars to various creditors, including the City of Montreal.