Montreal, Canada has released its new Public Bike System (PBS) on its wacky two-languaged public.   The system is actually quite innovative in its implementation and ease of use.   From the PBS website,

It employs cutting-edge technologies to their best advantage: the entire system is solar-powered and uses wireless communication. All the components are modular. With no need for permanent installations or external energy sources, the technical platforms that constitute the base of the stations can simply be dropped off at any desired location without incurring expensive infrastructure work. No need to excavate or anchor the platforms to the street. And no need to install electrical or communication cables.

You can even go online to find out where bikes are at any given time so you know where to go to pick one up.   And the people behind the system are quite proud of their minimal environmental impact.

Any public bicycle system is designed to encourage people to use an active form of transportation that has less impact on the environment than traditional fuel-powered vehicles. But our system is superior to others in many ways. The fact that the system features modular and mobile units, is solar-powered and uses wireless communication means that there is no need for major excavations, to build permanent infrastructures or to install huge networks of cables, all of which are expensive undertakings and have significant negative effects on the urban environment.

takepart and visit the site to see what the PBS is all about.

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Montreal Canada Launches Public Bike System