Montreal Gazette

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Montreal’s Bixi bike-sharing service was the victim of an elaborate hoax on Monday.

Someone created a website (Bixipoesie.ca) and Twitter feed that purported to be sanctioned by Bixi. An official-sounding press release declared that advertisements on the back of Bixis would be replaced with… poetry.

Across the city, stickers featuring bits of poems and songs were plastered over the Bixi ads.

Bixi poésie made the rounds of Twitter, with many Montrealers welcoming the change.

Only problem is it was a hoax.

On Bixi’s Facebook page, many members said they quite like the stickers.

But Michel Philibert, a spokesperson for Bixi, said the stickers will be removed.

– UPDATE:

Here’s the reaction from Alain Ayotte, Bixi’s president:

“I found it cute, but out of respect for our sponsors, we’re going to remove the stickers. Like them or not, advertisements bring in 30 per cent of our revenue in Montreal. That’s money that users don’t have to pay.”

The sponsors who paid to place their logos on the back of the bikes will pay Bixi $2.1 million in 2012.  That’s about one-third of the $7.4 million in revenue that Bixi expects to collect in Montreal this year. (Bixi’s budget is online in this Powerpoint presentation).

I took photos of a few of the stickers at the Bixi stand at Stanley St. and de Maisonneuve Blvd.

Here they are

- Andy Riga

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