Quebec City's bike-sharing system thrives with 1200% fleet size growth in 4 years

Of all North America’s bike-sharing success stories in recent years, from Montreal’s BIXI system to similarly popular networks in Toronto, New York, and Mexico City, one of the most impressive is Quebec City.

With a vibrant population of 550,000 inhabitants, the growth of the city’s bike-sharing program, àVélo, has been nothing short of remarkable. In just four years, its fleet size has expanded by 1,200%, an eye-popping feat for a metro area that had no centralized public bike or e-bike system in place before 2021.

Let’s dive into àVélo’s substantial growth achievements from its inception, to a record-breaking 2024. As the program strives to sustain this surge in popularity, let’s explore its promising future prospects for 2025 and beyond.

Quebec City’s Bike-Sharing History: A Remarkable Story of Rapid Expansion

Quebec City’s àVélo bike-sharing system is an excellent example of how a small fleet can explode into a major network if managed properly.

àVélo launched in 2021 with an all-electric vehicle fleet. Composed of our E-FIT e-bike models and powered by smart charging stations at various locations in and around the metro area, the system is helping locals and tourists alike arrive safely at their destination. The latter segment is an essential bike-share demographic, with over 4 million visitors enjoying the sights and sounds of the city each year. 

Here’s a closer look at àVélo’s growth trajectory since its humble beginnings:

• 2021: The program started on a limited scale, rolling out 100 e-bikes and 10 smart charging stations in strategic locations.
• 2022: Due to its immense popularity out of the gate, the fleet quadrupled its size to 400 e-bikes and 40 stations.
• 2023: In just its third year, Quebec City’s total e-bike infrastructure ballooned to 780 vehicles and 74 stations.

As impressive as those numbers are, they pale in comparison to how well àVélo performed in 2024.

àVélo’s 2024 Was a Record-Setting Year for Quebec City 

It’s not every day that an e-bike system has to raise an already-high bar in the middle of a calendar year, but that’s what happened in Quebec City in 2024.

Initially, the fleet was supposed to expand to 1,000 bikes and 100 stations—growth numbers that are already strong compared to similar-sized North American cities. But the demand was so great that city officials decided to deploy even more vehicles, ending the year with 1,300 e-bikes and 115 stations powering their network. That unprecedented growth means that, in just four years, the system’s fleet size surged by 1,200% overall. 

Operated by Capital Mobilité and integrated in the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC), performance statistics during peak summer riding months are nothing short of exceptional. From May 1 to October 31, 2024, the system registered: 

• 1.28 million completed trips, surpassing the pre-season objective of 1.1 million trips
• 35,000 unique clients taking part in the bike-sharing system’s expanding fleet
• 17,224 recurring users who’ve become proud àVélo members  
• A 96% customer satisfaction rate from both unique and recurring users

In July 2024 alone, the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC) reported an average of 6.7 trips per bike per day across its entire system.

Quebec City’s success aligns with similarly explosive growth numbers elsewhere in North America. According to NACTO’s 2023 shared micromobility report, e-bike trips went from 20 million in 2022 to 28 million in 2023,  a trend that solidified further in 2024.

What’s Next for Quebec City’s àVélo Program in 2025 and Beyond

With so much momentum behind it, Quebec City’s àVélo program plans to expand even further for the rest of the decade. 

In 2025, the system has set ambitious growth KPIs, aiming for a total of 1,800 e-bikes and 165 stations across its network. Sustaining these growth levels will go a long way in helping them hit the ultimate goal of 3,300 e-bikes and 330 stations by 2028.

Four years ago, after starting with only 100 bikes in their fleet, some would’ve looked at those 2028 figures as a pure pipe dream. But, with program growth as impressive as àVélo’s, those metrics don’t seem impossible. 

Instead, it feels like it’s only a matter of time until we’re talking about Quebec City as one of the world’s premier cycling destinations.