Chicago Bike Share Expands Citywide

Chicago’s Divvy bike share program is now available in all 50 of the city’s wards, according to an article by Shanzeh Ahmad in the Chicago Tribune. “The Divvy network expansion has largely focused on neighborhoods not well-served by the network, with almost 75% of growth in recent years taking place on the South and West sides as Chicagoans of color were also found to be the predominant demographic for Divvy last year, Transportation Commissioner Gia Biagi said.”

The expansion, which comes just in time for summer, will continue with up to 250 more stations installed in 2023 and 2024 and almost 3,000 new bikes added to the fleet. “Divvy, the largest bike-share system by area in North America now covering 234 square miles, hit a record of 5.7 million bike trips in 2022, and ridership has also gone up nearly 40% this year compared with last,” according to Biagi.

The city is also building more bike lanes and trails to add to the existing 420-mile bikeway network. Biagi emphasized the need to improve bike infrastructure and bike share availability in neighborhoods, not just on major commuter routes. “Biagi said 10 miles of bikeways are under construction and all current and new bike lanes will be curb-protected, concrete bike lanes by the end of 2023.”