It's the beginning of Bixi season in Montreal

The 2017 Bixi season kicks off on Saturday with the addition of 1,000 more bicycles and 80 additional stations to the bike-sharing service.

• Montreal to ramp up Bixi service with 1,000 new bikes, 80 new docking stations
• Bixi owes $50M, files for bankruptcy protection

This year marks the ninth year of Bixi, and the third season after Bixi filed for bankruptcy protection.

In 2014, the city took over the service and overhauled the management structure. Since then, its popularity has been steadily growing, with the average number of daily trips in 2016 at 21,000, compared to 16,000 in 2014.

Including the new additions, this year there are6,250 bikes in total.

More Bixi spending

Last year, the city announced $10 million in additional spending on Bixi, some of which purchased the new bikes and stations rolling out this year.

It's also converting 540 docking stations into "intelligent" stations where users can pay with OPUS cards.

This year Bixi also plans to move about35 per centof its docking stations away from road worksites around the city, citing safety concerns for cyclists who have to weave through construction zones to access the stations.

Over the next two years, $1.6 million is allocated to add new spaces to existing docking stations.

As well, $3 million is earmarked to replace aging equipment in 2019.