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| - Really, the actual bike-getting experience was five stars.
However, like other reviewers have mentioned, BIXI places an outrageous hold on you credit card (or debit card, in my case) for the bikes that you take out for the day. The actual 24-hour rental is $5CAD (about $3.80USD - good deal) and you have unlimited 30-minute trips during that period. When you begin the process of renting a bike, the pricing and trips are explained very clearly on the screen before you input your personal information. BUT the fine print about the crazy money holds are not explained. You'd have to go to their website and read the actual contract you're agreeing to (it's not available on the screen at a bike stand) which I imagine no one is doing.
The only reason I noticed the $200 worth of holds on my bank account was because I logged into my bank's website to check my balance. Lo and behold, I was short $200 and couldn't figure out what that charge was until I googled the weird name on the statement. That googling brought me to BIXI's website and the very wordy contract, which explained that a hold would be placed on any person's account FOR UP TO TEN DAYS when you rent a bike.
What the fuck, BIXI? Again, I love bike sharing. The actual BIXI platform was easy to use, checkout was quick, and stations were readily available. The free app for your phone tells you which stations have how many bikes/empty spaces and they seem to update close to real time. We had no problem finding or returning bikes and Montréal has AMAZING bike lanes so it's super safe to ride around. Montréal is super bikeable and we enjoyed all of the things we saw and the convenience of multiple stations all around so we could park, see some sights, and pick up a bike and go on our way.
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