Friday, August 23, 2013

Divvy Bikes Come To Uptown

courtesy of Real Kitchen's Facebook page
Divvy bike sharing is here in Uptown!  The solar-powered stations are springing up literally overnight, as did the one in the picture, outside Real Kitchen at Montrose and Clark.  (If you haven't checked out Real Kitchen, you should jump on a bike and get over there.)

You can read all about Divvy here.  The bikes are rented in 30-minute increments.  The stations started out in the downtown area, but now are spreading throughout portions of the city, roughly from the lakefront to Western, from 6500 North to 6300 South.

There's already a controversy, with a Wrigleyville couple suing the city for installing a Divvy station in the street in front of their home.  In this article, all the Uptowners interviewed seem to like the idea of Divvy, even in close proximity to where they live.

Uptown Divvy Stations: click to enlarge
If you're a Divvy rider, you need to bookmark this link:  http://divvybikes.com/stations.  It shows the stations that are online (blue), the proposed stations (yellow), and how many bikes and slots are available at each station at any given time.  A screen shot is to the right, showing Uptown's currently active stations at Sheridan & Montrose, Clark & Montrose, and Irving Park & Sheridan, although they're popping up like mushrooms, so keep an eye peeled.

If you'd like to suggest a Divvy station location, do it here.

Happy trails!

13 comments:

  1. I would like to see a Divy station at Lawrence and Broadway. This would be a great way to connect North Uptown with Andersonville. It would be awesome to jump on a Divy, ride up to Aville or Lakeview, and then zip on back to Uptown. AND, in the future, wouldn't it be great to see traffic move the other direction?

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  2. It looks like Uptown will be well covered with stations once they all get installed. Divvy is an exciting program, and it's nice to have the convenience of a bike in the city, without the hassle of trying to get it on and off the train/bus. Plus $75 for the year is very reasonable.
    My only complaint is just the daily price. It's not too crazy, but if you combine it with the new daily CTA price then public transit + Divvy for 24hours is $17. I used (and loved) the bike-sharing programs in London and Paris last year and I think the daily pricing was £1 and €2 respectively. Anyways, exciting times for Chicago. Just a little ironic that last year Emanuel's response to CTA increases was Chicagoans can chose to drive, and this year it's the roll-out (pun intended) of one of the largest bike-sharing programs in North America.


    http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-11-26/news/chi-emanuel-on-cta-increases-not-fare-hikes-chicagoans-can-choose-to-drive-20121126_1_fare-increases-fare-hikes-sewer-rate-increases

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    1. You're right, a day pass is much cheaper in Paris and London. I think one reason it's more expensive here is because there are fewer stations and bikes for now. In Paris they have over 20,000 bikes! If it were so cheap here, with only 3,000 bikes this year, the people who buy annual memberships may encounter lots of empty docks if more tourists buy passes. So for now, the price is a little higher.

      That's why I feel it's so "expensive." I also feel like many tourists may forgo the CTA in favor of Divvy. It's cheaper and soon it will cover even more ground!

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    2. I knew the bike-sharing in Paris was big, but I had no idea it was that big! I think you're probably right, a smaller program needs to have higher prices if it has fewer users. At least they have kept the annual price surprisingly low. Unfortunately, even if $7 per 24 hours is warranted now, I have trouble imagining Divvy ever lowering the price as users increase, but who knows. Rightly or wrongly Chicago seems to feel that it's a good idea to gouge tourists (Emanuel's reasoning when 1 and 3 day CTA passes almost doubled and O'hare became $5 was that it would mainly effect tourists so it must be ok).

      Anyways, thanks for the reply. You might be right about tourists favoring Divvy. If they see enough people using the program perhaps they will brave our traffic. My experience using bike-sharing as a tourist has led me to believe it's one of the best ways to see a city.

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  3. Stash and Sean Haas, there's a link to a CDOT page where people can suggest Divvy stations. Not sure if you can "plus one" suggestions at the locations you mention, but it's worth a try.

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  4. Lawrence & Broadway is getting a Divvy station. Just look at the map.

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  5. Lawrence and Sheridan is there as a pending location too! I was surprised to see how few there were in Andersonville and imagine that map changes fast.

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  6. Check out the Android app for real-time bike availability on the go. The divvy website map is a little cumbersome for some phones. It's not an official divvy app, but works very well.

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  7. I only worry it is sending so many riders into traffic without helmets.

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  8. My only worry is all those riders are being sent into traffic, riding in which they may be unfamiliar, without helmets.

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