Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Bixi
There was no shortage of Bixi bikes at this 2012 conference, but there is now. Photo: Dylan Passmore/Flickr

Despite continually growing ridership, Alta Bicycle Share-operated bike-share systems across America will probably not be adding bikes or docks this year. The bankruptcy of Montreal-based Public Bike Share Company, known as Bixi, which developed and manufactured the equipment that Alta's systems use, has disrupted the supply chain that numerous cities were pinning their expansion plans on.

"New bikes probably won’t arrive until 2015," reports Dan Weissmann at American Public Media's Marketplace. Alta Bicycle Share's founder and vice president Mia Birk told Weissman that the last time Alta received new bikes from Bixi "must have been pre-bankruptcy."

That puts expansion plans for cities including Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, DC on hold. Just those three cities had previously announced fully-funded plans to add 264 bike-share stations in 2014. New York and Boston are also looking to expand their Alta-run systems. Other bike-share systems that purchase equipment from Bixi, like Nice Ride Minnesota, have had no luck buying new kit this year.

The shortage of equipment also means that cities that had signed up with Alta to launch new bike-share systems -- notably Baltimore, Portland, and Vancouver -- won't launch until 2015 at the earliest. Ironically, new launches that were planned later, like Seattle's Pronto system, will proceed sooner, as they were designed with equipment not sourced through Bixi.

The good news is that the troubled supply chain for Alta's bike-share systems looks like it will be rebooted thanks to an infusion of capital. REQX Ventures, a company from New York City that had bid on Bixi, has been in talks to purchase a majority stake in Alta Bicycle Share, according to a report in Capital New York. This should inject new resources, allowing the bike-share operator to upgrade buggy software and overcome the hurdles imposed by Bixi's bankruptcy in time for 2015's equipment orders.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

There’s Good Science Behind the Human Craving for Livable Streets

It's time to understanding the science of pedestrian-friendly cities. Or, why streets should be designed like gardens.

September 23, 2025

How Trump’s Latest Multimodal Clawbacks Are Different — And How They Could Devastate Communities

The latest attack on multimodal transportation is more brazen and destructive than ever before — and the Trump administration is no longer hiding its disdain for walking and biking projects.

September 22, 2025

Zohran Mamdani On E-Bike Safety: Regulate App Algorithms, Not Workers

The presumptive mayor is joining the war against e-bikes ... on the side of the e-bikes.

September 22, 2025

Monday’s Headlines Wheel and Deal

Why pay $950,000 for a bus when you could pay $450,000?

September 22, 2025

Friday Video: How Car Culture and the Internet Attention Economy Waste Your Time

Our favorite YouTuber breaks down what happens when car culture, hyper-consumerism, and internet brain rot collide — and how to claw our way out.

September 19, 2025

Friday’s Headlines Run Out the Clock

Thousands of unawarded federal transportation grants have been frozen, from reducing truck emissions to reconnecting communities divided by freeways.

September 19, 2025
See all posts