Mayor defends deficit for popular àVélo bike rental program

Peter Black, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

peterblack@qctonline.com

Quebec City’s àVélo bike rental program may be wildly popular, but it’s also distinctly unprofitable.

According to data the Opposition Québec d’abord party (QCDAB) obtained through an access-to-information request, the program was in the red by $2.3 million in 2023, the third year of the service’s operation.

The party’s interest in the financing of the bike-sharing service follows the city administration’s recent unveiling of a massive expansion of the program over the next four years, to a total of 3,300 bikes and 330 stations throughout the city.

QCDAB Leader Coun. Claude Villeneuve released the figures before the July 2 city council meeting, showing àVélo had revenues of $1.07 million versus expenses of $3.36 million.

To finance this expansion, the city needs to borrow $24 million to buy the bikes and station infrastructure. The loan came up for a vote at the council meeting, with QCDAB members and the two Équipe Priorité Québec members voting against.

Villeneuve said the city needs to be more forthcoming about the financing of àVélo, which is managed by Capitale Mobilité, an agency of the Réseau du transport de la Capitale (RTC).

QCDAB Coun. Alicia Despins said in a statement to the QCT that her party “believes it is irresponsible to authorize over $24 million for the àVélo project without having access to the financial records of Capitale Mobilité. … We are very concerned by the lack of transparency from the Marchand administration regarding the funding.

“I’m a regular user of àVélo. So to be clear, Québec d’abord is not against the àVélo project, which was implemented by the [former mayor Régis] Labeaume administration,” Despins said. “We simply request factual elements to properly manage public funds.”

Mayor Bruno Marchand dismissed opposition concerns about the bike service deficit, saying no form of public transportation operates without a deficit.

“It’s surprising to see such a great success being brushed aside by the opposition. This is what they have been doing since the beginning,” the mayor said.

He said, “Each bicycle trip is a gain for the population since it saves other costs linked to the environment, in particular. We are approaching 500,000 trips. We will exceed a million this year. Now imagine when in four years we will have 3,300 bicycles spread across the city!”