Montrealers are trying Uber's new bikeshare program, but it hasn't got the jump on Bixi

After a month on Montreal's streets, unofficial data suggests people are ridingUber'sred Jump bikes on a regular basis, although in numbers that are dwarfed by the Bixi rideshare system.

Also, someone rode oneto Beaconsfield.

McGill geography professor Grant McKenzie has been scraping publicly available data since Jump's launch at the end of June. Using that information, he's produced estimates ofwhere and how often the bikes are being ridden.

One highlight: usage peaks during evening rush-hour, which is expected, but not in morning rush-hour.

"[Riders] may be choosing to test out the Jump bike system to get from work to home, but they're not willing to make that sort of investment to get from home to work," McKenzie said.

McKenzie's data recorded 27,812 total trips;an averageof 927 per day. Wednesdays and Thursdays were the most popular days to use the bike.

Peopletravelled anaverage distance of2.5 kilometres. (McKenzie uses an algorithm to guess the routes people take;many riders may not take the most direct path.)

Though his calculations indicated theaverage trip duration was 21 minutes,McKenzie believes the figure is closer to 15 minutes. People are likely taking time tofigure out the systemand get familiar with the bike's electric motor, he said.

No impact on Bixi'snumbers

McKenzie's data also suggests there are some riders who are spending a lot longer on the bikes than expected.

A few seemingly adventurous riders seemto have travelled to the north end of the island, as well as Beaconsfield and Montreal East well beyond the designated service area.

(Jump charges riders $25 if they lock up a bikeoutside the designated zone, a geographical blob that incorporates central Montreal, runs from Verdun to Hochelaga-Maisonneuveand extends to Villeray and Rosemont.)

With only a few hundred bikes, Jump is not, at this point, a threat to Bixi, which is a non-profit corporation.

IfMcKenzie's data is accurate,Jump's nearly 28,000 rides in its first month are tiny compared with Bixi, which had a record 1.1 million rides in July.

Jump's numbers are too small to statistically determinewhether the Uber off-shoot has had an impact on Bixi. Weather and construction,McKenzie said, are"much bigger factors that contribute to Bixi's usage."

Bixi Montreal's general manager, Christian Vermette, agreed, saying the non-profit hasn't seen any impact from Jump.

"We increased the equipment by 13 per cent and ridership by 15 per cent [this year]," he said.

"It's hard to do better. We're confident that we have the best product."