Montreal, Wednesday, August 12, 2009.
The Public Bike System Company (PBSC) is pleased to announce it has been awarded two major contracts for its BIXI^tm Public Bike System^tm, putting it at the forefront of the development of new bike share systems throughout the world.  

The mayor of London early today announced the granting of a new contract by Transport of London (TfL) to the Serco Group plc (Serco), the international business services company, in association with BIXI, to create, set up and operate the London Cycle Hire Scheme (LCHS). Montreal's BIXI system will be adapted to the specific needs of the city of London and will boast 6,000 bikes, 400 stations and 10,000 docking points.

As well, BIXI has been granted the mandate to set up and operate a BIXI system in central Boston by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) as well as the right to negotiate to expand the system to neighbouring municipalities in collaboration with the MAPC. Central Boston will be served by a network that includes 2,500 bikes, 290 stations and 3,750 docking points, with the potential to expand to a 5,000-bike system.

"Being awarded contracts of this scope by two such major international cities vindicates our belief that BIXI is the finest public bike system in the world," said Roger Plamondon, chairman of the board of the Public Bike System Company. "It also positions PBSC as a true leader in the field of active transport for urban areas and BIXI as the new international reference for public bike systems. We knew from the beginning we wanted to develop a unique and superior product. That's why we developed a plan for the commercialisation of our system for local as well as international markets, which is bearing its first fruits today. The fact that our unique system can be adapted, as is the case for London, to the diverse realities and needs of other cities is another advantage for us," concluded Mr. Plamondon.

It is worth noting that the BIXI system, recipient of numerous international awards including an International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) and ranked 19th in TIME magazine's 50 Best Inventions of 2008, was started from scratch and up and running in less than 18 months. Since being put into service in Montreal, BIXI has accumulated more than 447,000 trips and 3,000,000 kilometres traveled.