Montreal City Weblog

Kate 08:03 on 2019-07-16 Permalink Reply  

• Mr.Chinaski 09:37 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  There are some times where it is actually cheaper to rent a Car-2-go than a Uber Jump. Those prices are crazy high, you can ride a Bixi for a year compared to taking a Jump twice a day in a single week.

• walkerp 10:36 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  How can you find out how much it costs?

• Blork 10:50 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  The article say it’s 30 cents per minute.

• walkerp 11:41 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  So 2 rides at 20 minutes each = $12.00 a day x 5 = $60 a week.

  Yes, that adds up. Mr. Chinaski does not exaggerate. I will continue to use pedal power to get up the hill.

• DeWolf 12:04 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  I would love to see some information on who is using these bikes. My own completely unscientific observations suggest that there isn’t as much overlap between Jump and Bixi users as you might expect. I was in a restaurant the other day when a woman came in and told her friend, “I wanted to get an Uber bike to come here but there weren’t any around, so I had to drive.”

• Blork 12:52 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  @DeWolf: I can tell you this much: AFAIK anyone who already uses the Uber app (and that’s just about everone under 40) is already signed up for Jump. And you only pay when you ride.

  Contrast that with Bixi, where you either need to go through a Byzantine sign-up process and pay an annual fee, or you go through a Byzantine pay-as-you-go process.

  So Jump is essentially instantly available to just about everyone, whereas Bixi is only available to those who have sat down and contemplated the blah blah blah of Bixi and have gone through the signup process (i.e., the “true believers” and whatnot).

  The key factor is ease of use for casual users. Jump nails it. Bixi does not.

  (BTW, I stand to be corrected on Bixi; this is based on me trying to use a Bixi once several years ago and giving up because it was too complicated, and then looking into a Bixi membership and giving up because I had to pay whether I was using it or not plus the variety of options and integrations left me with a massive WTF headache.)

• Blork 13:04 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  A bit more on that: With Jump, your options are basically “do you want to ride this Jump bike? Yes or No.”

  With Bixi your options are along the lines of “Do you want a Bixi membership? Do you qualify for one of the group memberships on this long list? Do you want it for 30 days or a year? Do you want it integrated with your Opus card? (Opening a can of worms regarding how TF this might affect your Opus card…) Do you want it integrated with Communauto? If so, which flavour of Communauto? (Opening a can of worms regarding how this might affect your Communauto membership.) Do you want it integrated with both your Opus card and your Communauto membership? OK, here are a whole lot of fields to fill out, including your phone number (spam calls?) and your gender (why?). Oh wait, you just want to do this one-off trip without a membership? Here is an incomprehensible list of signup options and a whole lot of seemingly arbitrary rules about when it is and isn’t valid…”

  I don’t mean to knock Bixi, but the difference is pretty clear in terms of usability for casual users.

• dwgs 13:11 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  Further to Blork’s questions, my son and a friend used Bixis to get home last month when they missed the last metro. He doesn’t have a credit card so he put them on his debit card. Bixi took $200 from his account (100 for each bike) which they held for 10 business days as security even though the bikes were placed properly in a station near us after a 25 minute ride.

• Chris 13:30 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  Blork, presumably there was lots of blah blah to sign up for uber tho.

• Ant6n 13:41 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  You can rent bixis using transit app, including sign up and paying for everything from single to annual pass.

• walkerp 14:04 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  The annual Bixi account is pretty easy and the most economical and efficient option if you use it regularly. $94 bucks for the year, get a key add it to your keychain and you are good to go.

  Hardly byzantine.

  I’ve done 130 trips so far at an average of 14 minutes per trip (and that includes a month out of town). So that would have cost me $364 with Jump.

• Blork 14:33 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  Chris: probably less, and with fewer options, and the main thing is that once you’re signed up that’s it, you’re done. And Uber sign-up already has “deep penetration” to use the marketing term, meaning there are already thousands of people signed up in Montreal. So for them, it’s a no-brainer to use Jump.

• Blork 14:35 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  Ant6n, I knew you could find Bixis with the Transit app, but I didn’t know you could do the sign-up or pay-per-ride with it. Thanks for the tip; maybe I’ll finally ride a Bixi soon!

• Blork 14:39 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  walkerp: yes, exactly: if you use it regularly. For people who just want to try it, or might use it for ten minutes a month, or don’t want to commit to a membership, it’s not so easy.

  I’m not saying Jump is better than Bixi. I’m only saying that there are no barriers to entry with Jump and there are with Bixi. I’m only talking about getting to that first ride.

  If I lived in a Bixi zone and didn’t have my own bike I would definitely be a Bixi user. But as it stands there are maybe two or three times a year where I think it would be handy. If I were already an Uber user, then I’d jump on a Jump because I’m already signed up.

• Mr.Chinaski 15:07 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  Bixi isn’t byzantine anymore, it’s been like that for at least 2-3 years now. For a single ride, it takes about 5 seconds in the app to get a bike. You then get a 5-digit code, with a 30 seconds timer to input on any bike lock. It’s really as easy as 1-2-3

• Blork 17:22 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  OK, that does make it simpler. But you need to have the app, which means you need to have thought about it and downloaded the app and have intentions to be a Bixi user. My WHOLE POINT is that the Uber app is practically a DEFAULT app for anybody under 40 — they all have it already — so there is no extra effort or even thought that needs to go into using a Jump.

• Max 18:34 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  Blork: The Transit app also supports Bixi, and from what I’ve seen a *lot* of people use that app. Most STM users, I’d reckon. The integration is really smooth too. Of course you have to log in with your Bixi account credentials, but it’s one time only. When you want a bike it’s simply a matter of tapping on the station, tap ‘Get ride code’, beep-beep-beep-beep-boop on the bike stand, and off you go. You don’t even need to tote the key around anymore.

  For sure the UI at the ‘borne’ for occasional users could stand some improvement. I see a lot of tourists scratching their heads around those things. But if you have a Bixi account, they’ve made it a real breeze to use.

• ant6n 20:43 on 2019-07-16 Permalink

  Transit App is the largest third party transit app in North America (i.e. only Google/Apple Maps are bigger). And u don’t need to sign in, just pay for whatever pass/ticket in the app.

• Meezly 09:52 on 2019-07-18 Permalink

  I agree with Blork. BIXI is not user friendly for the occasional user. 2 years ago, if you were a Mtl resident, you could use your BIXI key for 24 hr membership for $5. But they removed that option and the BIXI key is only good for 30-day or more membership. I tried using my OPUS card but for whatever reason, you must de-activate your key in order to use your credit card. So annoying. This year, I sucked it up and got an annual membership, which is what BIXI is trying to encourage, but I feel like I’ve forced into it. Really, what’s missing for me the ability to use my BIXI key in a pay as you go manner.