Chicago's Next Bikeshare Investment to Focus on Underserved Neighborhoods

"While the Divvy system serves a large percentage of our city’s square mileage, as well as serving the suburbs of Evanston and Oak Park, it’s currently a lot more useful in some Chicago neighborhoods than others," according to an article by John Greenfield.

After an initial rollout that focused on high density neighborhoods near downtown, the North Lakefront, and the Near Northwest Side, Divvy began to expand its facilities to communities on the South and West side, but in more spaced out allotments. "Lower station density has been a factor in less Divvy use in these newer service areas," explains Greenfield.

The Chicago Department of Transportation is taking additional steps to remedy the gaps in the system, however. Greenfield reports that at a recent Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Council meeting, "CDOT deputy commissioner Luann Hamilton announced that the city will be adding 40 more stations and 400 more bikes to the system." The new bikes and stations will add station density in some of the neighborhoods with a "dearth of Divvy."

"The expansion, which will grow the system to about 620 stations and 6,200 bikes, is being funded by a federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement grant plus Divvy revenue," adds Greenfield. More details are available in the original article.