Divvy is the bicycle sharing system in the

Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

, currently serving the cities of

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and Evanston. The system is owned by the Chicago Department of Transportation and has been operated by Lyft since 2019. As of Sept 2021, Divvy operated 16,500 bicycles and over 800 stations, covering 190 square miles.

History

In 2007, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley visited Paris, France, where he tested their Vélib' bicycle sharing system and was "greatly impressed". He determined that a similar system would work well in Chicago. After returning from his European trip, Mayor Daley requested proposals from private partners to create a bike share system for Chicago. Two potential operators came forward but submitted plans that would have been too expensive for the city to fund. In May 2012, the City of Chicago awarded Alta Bicycle Share (acquired by Bikeshare Holdings LLC in 2014 and renamed to

Motivate Motivation is the reason for which humans and other animals initiate, continue, or terminate a behavior at a given time. Motivational states are commonly understood as forces acting within the agent that create a disposition to engage in goal-dire ...

) a contract for "the purchase, installation, and operation of a bicycle sharing system". On June 28, 2013, Divvy launched with 750 bikes at 75 stations in an area from the

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north to Berwyn Ave, west to Kedzie Ave, and south to 59th St. A planned expansion of the number of stations in spring 2014 was delayed to 2015 due to supply shortages.

Unionization

In October 2014, TWU (Transport Workers' Union) Local 100 of New York City filed an election petition with the NLRB seeking to represent "almost 70 full-time and part-time workers, including mechanics and truck drivers, who are paid $12 to $16 an hour." The unionization effort came after employees of Citi Bike in NYC, owned by the same parent company Motivate (formerly Alta Bicycle Share), joined TWU Local 100 in September 2014 and alongside similar efforts by employees of Motivate in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

(

Hubway Bluebikes, originally Hubway, is a bicycle sharing system in the Boston metropolitan area. As of July 2021, the system had deployed 393 stations with a fleet of over 3,800 bikes in the 10 municipalities it served. Bluebikes is operated by Motiv ...

) and Washington, D.C. ( Capital Bikeshare).

2019 expansion

In March 2019, Mayor

Rahm Emanuel Rahm Israel Emanuel (; born November 29, 1959) is an American politician and diplomat who is the current United States Ambassador to Japan. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served two terms as the 55th Mayor of Chicago from 2011 ...

proposed a 9-year contract to grant Lyft (owner of

) exclusive rights to operate the city-owned system and receive a portion of the subsequent advertisement revenue. The deal required Lyft to invest to add 175 stations and 10,500 bikes to the system, expand to all 50 city wards by 2021, and add electric pedal bikes which could lock to both Divvy stations and conventional bike racks. Lyft would additionally be required to make annual payments to the city starting at and increasing by 4 percent each year; the city would share in at least in advertisement revenue each year. The proposal passed a Pedestrian and Traffic Safety Committee vote in the City Council on April 8 and was approved by the full City Council on April 10. As of September 2019, Divvy had 608 stations (594 stations in Chicago and 14 in Evanston).

Branding

The name Divvy is a playful reference to sharing ("divvy it up"). Divvy’s light-blue color palette and four stars evoke the Chicago flag. The double Vs in the Divvy logo refer to the shared-lane markers painted on bike lanes throughout the city, and are a nod to how the city prioritizes bike safety, paving the way for new riders. The naming, logo, and brand strategy for the system was developed through a partnership between the global design firm

IDEO IDEO () is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environ ...

and the Chicago brand strategy studio Firebelly Design. IDEO led the project's research, conceptual brand development, and naming phases; Firebelly team led the identity design, communication system and brand guideline phases. The first 4,000 Founding Members received limited edition black keys; regular members received blue keys.

Equipment

Divvy bicycles are utility bicycles with a unisex step-through frame that provides a lower center of gravity and ease of access to a wide range of heights. All bikes are painted "Chicago blue", with the exception of one "unicorn bike": a bright red bike, dubbed #Divvyred. The one-piece aluminum frame and handlebars conceal cables to protect them from vandalism and inclement weather. The heavy-duty

tires A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...

are designed to be puncture-resistant and filled with nitrogen to maintain proper inflation pressure longer. Front and rear flashing LED lights are integrated into the frame, which weighs approximately . Divvy bikes have three speeds, a bell, and a front rack. The bikes are manufactured in the

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region by Cycles Devinci. PBSC Urban Solutions supplies bicycles, docking stations, and payment kiosks for the system. Through the end of October 2014, the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

partnered with Divvy to release five black and red Blackhawks-branded bikes.

History

Unionization

2019 expansion

Branding

Equipment

See also