 | |
| Company type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1996 |
| Founders | Jean-Sébastien Bettez and Isabelle Bettez |
| Fate | Merged with Motivate LLC |
| Headquarters | |
Number of locations | 11 |
| Products | Bicycle-sharing system, Automated parking management systems |
| Website | https://www.8d.com/ |
8D Technologies was a Canadian company that developed bicycle-sharing systems and automated parking management systems. [1] It merged with Motivate in 2017.
8D Technologies was founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1996, [2] [3] by CTO Jean-Sébastien Bettez. [4] Initially a professional services firm, the company shifted its focus towards the product market in 2000 when Jean-Sébastien's sister, Isabelle Bettez, joined 8D and became its CEO. [4] [5]
In 2002, 8D Technologies, along with partner Cale Systems, was selected by Société en commandite Stationnement de Montréal (SCSM), Montreal's parking authority, to provide an automated parking management system for the city. [4] [6] [7] 8D provided the technological platform (terminal computers, network technology, software platform) [8] while Cale manufactured the terminals. [4] The new pay by space system would replace Montreal's thousands of aging mechanical parking meters. [9] The new system, consisting of solar-powered payment terminals that wirelessly process payments in real-time, [8] was programmed in Java on a Linux platform. [10] [11] [12] After successfully testing the platform in 2003, [6] [7] notably with regards to Montreal's cold winters, [8] SCSM started to deploy terminals on the streets of Montreal in 2004. [12] [13]
When the city of Montreal decided to implement a bicycle sharing system in 2007, [14] it mandated SCSM to carry out the project. [15] SCSM created the not-for-profit organization Société de vélo en libre-service (SVLS) to operate the BIXI bike share system. Building on the success of the wireless payment solution that equipped SCSM's automated parking system, 8D Technologies provided the technological platform for the BIXI program, including the wireless solar-powered bike station terminals, the RFID bike dock technology and all software systems. [16] [17] [18] [19] Over the next 2 years, BIXI would rapidly expand by selling the 8D-powered bike share system to cities around the world: Melbourne in May 2010 (Melbourne Bike Share), Minneapolis in June 2010 (Nice Ride Minnesota), London in July 2010 (Barclays Cycle Hire), Washington, D.C. in August 2010 (Capital Bikeshare) and Boston in July 2011 (Hubway). [20] [21] [22]
In January 2012, SVLS informed 8D Technologies that it would stop using the 8D platform, accusing 8D of overbilling for its technology. [23] According to a Radio-Canada report, the decision to unilaterally cut ties with 8D Technologies was taken more than six months earlier, in June 2011, by the SLVS board of directors. [24] Instead of using the 8D software, SVLS would develop its own platform through American firm Personica Intelligence. [23] [25] The decision would effectively prevent 8D from participating in future Bixi installations, such as the planned expansions in Chattanooga and New York City. 8D would however continue to be the technology supplier for the existing BIXI-based systems. [26] [27] In April of the same year, 8D Technologies filed a lawsuit, seeking $26 million in damages from SVLS. [26] [28] [29] SVLS in turn sued 8D for $2 million shortly after. [25] [30] [31]
The software developed by SVLS to replace the 8D system experienced problems early on in Chattanooga, Chicago, and New York. [32] [33] On July 20, 2012, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg declared that delays in the launch of New York's bike-share program were caused by software problems. [34] The Citi Bike program finally launched 10 months later, in May 2013, but still experienced technical difficulties. [35] As a result, New York and Chicago withheld payments to SVLS. [36] Mired in financial problems, SVLS sought protection under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act on January 20, 2014. [37] [38] [39]
Less than a month after BIXI declared bankruptcy, 8D Technologies formed a partnership with Alta Bicycle Share (now Motivate), the company that operated most of the bike share programs running systems sold by BIXI. [40] This newly formed alliance between two former SVLS partners was selected by Seattle to replace the bankrupt entity as the supplier for the planned bike share program in the city. [41] [42] Seattle's Pronto Cycle Share was eventually launched in October 2014, becoming the first deployment of 8D Technologies' BSSv4 bike share system, for which 8D manufactured the entire solution (docking stations and terminals), in addition to providing the software platform. [40] [43] [44] December 2014 marked 8D's first foray into Asia, with the launch of ADBC Bikeshare in Abu Dhabi. [45] [46]
Prior to the Seattle system launch in Fall 2014, 8D's BSSv4 system was initially tested in Brooklyn, New York, for the Citi Bike program. [47] These tests paved the way for the replacement of SVLS' buggy software for Citi Bike by the 8D system, [48] which took place in March 2015. [49] 8D Technologies also replaced docking technology [50] and bike station embedded systems. It was also announced that Citi Bike would add 92 new BSSv4 bike stations. [51] This first expansion for the two-year-old program took place in August 2015. [52]
On February 9, 2017, 8D Technologies announced that it was merging with Motivate, with Jay Walder serving as the CEO of the combined companies. [53] [54] [55]
These are bike share systems that are currently operating using the 8D Technologies platform.
| City | Program | Operation period | Launch date | Stations | Bikes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Montreal, Canada | BIXI | Seasonal | May 2009 [56] | 460 [56] | 5200 [56] |
 Minneapolis, Minnesota | Nice Ride Minnesota | Seasonal | June 2010 [57] | 190 [57] | 1700 [57] |
 London | Santander Cycle Hire | Year-round | July 2010 [58] | 785 [58] | 11500 [58] |
| Pullman, Washington (Washington State University) | WSU Green Bike | Year-round | August 2010 [59] - June 2018 [60] | 11 [61] | 100 [61] |
| Washington, D.C. | Capital Bikeshare | Year-round | September 2010 [62] | 370 [63] | 3100 [63] |
| Boston, Massachusetts | Blue Bikes | Year-round | July 2011 [64] | 160 [65] | 1600 [65] |
 Abu Dhabi | ADBC Bikeshare | Year-round | December 2014 [45] | 11 [45] | 75 [45] |
| New York City, New York | Citi Bike | Year-round | March 2015 [66] (Initial launch May 2013) [67] | 706 [68] | 12000 [68] |
| Jersey City, New Jersey | Citi Bike Jersey City Archived 2016-09-21 at the Wayback Machine | Year-round | September 2015 [69] | 35 [69] | 350 [69] |
| San Francisco Bay Area (California) | Ford GoBike / Bay Wheels | Year-round | June 2017 (initial launch 2013) [70] | 550 | 7000 [71] |
| Chicago, Illinois | Divvy | Year-round | June 2017 [72] (initial launch June 2013) | 608 [73] | 5800 [73] |
| City | Program | Using 8D Software |
|---|---|---|
| Toronto, Canada | Bike Share Toronto | 2011-2016 [74] |
| Ottawa, Canada | Capital Bixi | 2009-2014 [75] |
| Seattle, Washington | Pronto Cycle Share | October 2014 - March 2017 [76] |
 Melbourne, Australia | Melbourne Bike Share | May 2010 [77] - November 2019 [78] |
| City | Program | Launch date | Stations | Parking spaces |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montreal, Canada | Stationnement de Montréal | 2002 [4] | 1515 [79] | 22214 [79] |
Cloud9 is a Java-based operating environment introduced by 8D in 2001. It was presented at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2002. [80] This proprietary platform equips embedded units in parking and bike share terminals produced by 8D. [81] [82] [83]
The ECO device is a Linux-based embedded system unit that is the core of 8D's terminals. It is an integrated unit developed by 8D to provide secure wireless communications, real-time electronic payment management, components control and power management to point-of-sales terminals. [11] [84] [85] [86] The ECO module also allows remote control of terminals. [7] It was initially deployed in 2003 on the first automated parking management terminals installed in Montreal. [87] ECO stands for electronic commerce. [85]
In 2014, 8D Technologies developed the world's first bike key dispensing terminal, which was installed for the program Nice Ride Minnesota in September of that year. [88] The bike key dispenser enables users to purchase a bike key directly at a terminal instead of receiving it in the mail. 8D bike key dispensers have since been installed in every North American city bike share program powered by 8D, as well as in Abu Dhabi [89]
A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost.
Vélib' Métropole is a large-scale public bicycle sharing system in Paris, France. The system encompasses more than 16,000 bikes and 1,400 stations. The name Vélib' is a portmanteau of the French words vélo ("bicycle") and liberté ("freedom").
Montreal has a developed transport infrastructure network, which includes well-developed air, road, rail, and maritime links to the rest of Canada, as well as the United States and the rest of the world. Local public transport includes a metro system, buses, ferry services and cycling infrastructure.
Robotics Design Inc. is a company that designs and builds modular robots, founded and incorporated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1997. The company produces mobile robots, robotic manipulators and manual arms as well as custom solutions using modular robotic technology. The company developed the BIXI bike dock, a public bike system, and the ADC, a deployable structure container for quick deployment of housing, hospitals and other buildings.
Santander Cycles is a public bicycle hire scheme in London in the United Kingdom. The scheme's bicycles are popularly and colloquially known as Boris Bikes, after Boris Johnson who was Mayor of London when the scheme began operating.
Nice Ride Minnesota was a seasonally operated nonprofit bicycle sharing system in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota based on the BIXI brand created by Public Bike System Company and first used in Montreal. Launched on June 10, 2010, it served over 10,000 trips in its first month and reached 100,817 rides in the first season of operation. The bicycles in the system are manufactured by Cycles Devinci. They are painted fluorescent green and include a cargo carrier and headlights. They receive daily maintenance, and are redistributed throughout the system via truck.
Capital Bikeshare is a bicycle-sharing system, which serves Washington, D.C., and certain counties of the larger metropolitan area. As of January 2023, it had 700+ stations and more than 5,400 bicycles. The member jurisdictions own most of the equipment and have sourced operations to contractor Motivate International. Opened in September 2010, the system was the largest bike sharing service in the United States until New York City's Citi Bike began operations in May 2013.
Bluebikes, originally Hubway, is a bicycle sharing system in the Boston metropolitan area. As of July 2021, the system had deployed 393 stations with a fleet of over 3,800 bikes in the 10 municipalities it served. Bluebikes is operated by Motivate and uses technology provided by 8D Technologies and PBSC Urban Solutions for equipment. The bike share program officially launched in Boston as Hubway. From 2012 to 2021, neighboring municipalities of Brookline, Cambridge, Somerville, Everett, Newton, Arlington, Chelsea, Watertown, and Salem joined the system. By 2020, total annual members neared 23,000, and as of 2021, 14 million total rides have been taken.
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Capital Bixi was a public bicycle sharing system serving Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. Launched in June 2009, it was the second BIXI system worldwide after BIXI Montréal. Capital Bixi was run by the National Capital Commission, which sold the bike share program to CycleHop.
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Bay Wheels is a regional public bicycle sharing system in California's San Francisco Bay Area. It is operated by Motivate in a partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Bay Wheels is the first regional and large-scale bicycle sharing system deployed in California and on the West Coast of the United States. It was established as Bay Area Bike Share in August 2013. As of January 2018, the Bay Wheels system had over 2,600 bicycles in 262 stations across San Francisco, East Bay and San Jose.
Bike Share Toronto is a bicycle-sharing system in Toronto, Ontario, operated by the Toronto Parking Authority (TPA). The system consists of over 9,000 bicycles and over 700 stations, and covers over 200 square kilometres in 21 of the 25 wards of the city, with plans to expand to the entire city by 2025.
Pronto Cycle Share, branded as Pronto!, was a public bicycle sharing system in Seattle, Washington, that operated from 2014 to 2017. The system, initially owned by a non-profit and later by the Seattle Department of Transportation, included 54 stations in the city's central neighborhoods and 500 bicycles. Motivate operated the system, and Alaska Airlines was the program's presenting sponsor. On March 31, 2017, Pronto shut down operations, and disassembly of stations began, with the bicycles being offered to other cities that wish to start a similar system.
PBSC Urban Solutions, formerly the Public Bike System Company, is an international bicycle-sharing system equipment vendor with their headquarters based in Longueuil, Quebec. The company develops bicycle-sharing systems, equipment, parts, and software, and sells its products to cities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Brazil and more. The company has sold about 100,000 bikes and 9,000 stations to 45 cities.
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