Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Divvy

Eyes on the Street: Divvy Bikes Popping Up Like Daisies

By Steven Vance | Jun 17, 2013 | 38 Comments

I went on a 25-mile bike ride yesterday to check up on livable streets projects around the city (final destination: Lao Beijing for dried chili chicken). On the trip I got a good look at the restriped bike lanes on King Drive in Bronzeville, the conversion of the Garfield Green Line station to a Green/Red/shuttle […]

In 15 Days, Divvy Bike-Share Sold 1,300 Annual Memberships

By Steven Vance | Jun 14, 2013 | 25 Comments

Two of the major topics of the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Council meeting on Wednesday were bike-share and the Dearborn Street bike lane. Divvy bike-share was supposed to launch with 40 stations today during the Bike To Work Day Rally, but on Tuesday, the company announced that the system would launch on June 28 with 75 […]

Hilkevitch Plays Dumb With an Anti-Divvy “Exposé”

By John Greenfield | May 30, 2013 | 34 Comments

I’ve long considered the Chicago Tribune’s Jon Hilkevitch to be one of Chicago’s best transportation writers. He works fast, gets his numbers straight and often gets the scoop on important stories, usually writing from a pro-walking, biking and transit perspective. For example, I always enjoy re-reading a brilliant article he wrote back in 2005, skewering […]

Squire Drops Bike-Share Beef, Divvy NIMBYs Grumble

By John Greenfield | May 29, 2013 | 8 Comments

Yesterday’s article about Divvy bike-share in Crain’s touched on a couple of interesting aspects of Chicago’s road to launching the Divvy bike-share system, which should lead to a huge spike in ridership and safer conditions for cycling. I was pleased to read that Josh Squire, owner of the rental company Bike Chicago (a Streetsblog Chicago […]

Divvy Bike-Share Registration Opens at Noon, Station Map Released

By Steven Vance | May 29, 2013 | 37 Comments

Large, green icons represent the 75 stations in Phase 1. View in a larger map. Chicagoans can sign up for “founding” Divvy bike sharing memberships at two levels starting today at noon. Only 4,000 founding level memberships will be available. The “Pedal” founding membership, for $75, includes a limited edition “Founding Member” black key (regular members’ keys will be […]

The Long, Hot Summer of Transportation Initiatives

By John Greenfield | May 28, 2013 | 21 Comments

[This piece also ran in Checkerboard City, John Greenfield’s transportation column in Newcity magazine, which hits the street in print on Wednesday evenings.] Trust me, my friends, this is the year sustainable transportation blows up in Chicago. Say what you want about Rahm Emanuel’s record on education, crime and privatization. But since he took office […]

Divvy Bike-Share Bicycles Make Public Debut at Bike The Drive

By Steven Vance | May 27, 2013 | 29 Comments

Divvy bike-share bicycles were on display at yesterday’s Bike the Drive post-ride festival in Grant Park, giving the public its first peek at the blue bikes which just arrived in town on Saturday. I took a spin around the block with Scott Kubly, deputy commissioner at the Chicago Department of Transportation. This was my first […]

Are Helmets Still Necessary for Bike Commuting in Chicago?

By John Greenfield | May 13, 2013 | 52 Comments

[This article also ran in Checkerboard City, John Greenfield’s weekly column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.] Last summer when I visited Copenhagen, I hung out with with Mikael Colville-Andersen, one of the world’s most influential and controversial bicycle advocates, in his lush back yard while his kids practiced soccer and […]

Where Will Bike-Share Stations Go? System Map Begins to Take Shape

By Steven Vance | Apr 26, 2013 | 7 Comments

Chicago’s bike-share system, which will go by the name of Divvy, is on track to launch by the Bike To Work Day Rally on June 14. Divvy will start out with 75 stations in downtown and River North before growing to about 400 stations in an area roughly bounded by Lake Michigan, Devon, California and 63rd. […]

Chicago Gets Ready to “Divvy” Up the Rewards of Large-Scale Bike-Share

By John Greenfield | Apr 25, 2013 | 37 Comments

When I interviewed Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein at the June 2012 Bike to Work Rally, shortly after it was announced that bike-share would probably not launch that year, he promised, “We’ll be launching bike-share in the next six to twelve months.” It now appears that the Chicago Department of Transportation and Alta Bike Share, the […]