We wanted to salute the efforts of Bixi — our beloved bikesharing system in Montreal — to deliver a steady flow of tweaks to the user experience of their mobile app, months after the release of the revamped version.

They recently added a new feature which allows you to rent a bike through the app itself.

How does it work?

Well, you don’t need the Bixi key anymore, you just tap the nearby station on your mobile app and press Rent Bike.

The first time you do this, you’ll be asked to choose a unique keycode acting as a layer of security to unlock bikes.

You are then prompted to enter your keycode (Apple users can use Touch ID), in order to get the code to unlock a Bixi. Pretty straightforward.

Finally, pick your ride and unlock it!

Why is this feature a step in the good direction ?

Pros:

• They are heading towards a seamless experience, and a wallet/key free life.
• If you are an occasional user of the service, you won’t have to deal with those oudated physical terminals (technology evolves rapidly), instead the mobile app will do a wonderful job.
  
• A critical service without a decent mobile app would hinder the experience. By the way, that’s why I find Car2Go more appealing than Communauto’s Auto-mobile.

Cons:

• Despite the awesomeness of this addition, it’s not a game changer for heavy users since using the key is still easier than launching the app.
  
• Users without a data plan on their cellphones cannot benefit from this new feature, so this may be difficult for tourists to use this feature.

This new feature is a good reason to try the Bixi mobile app and start using the service.