CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Divvy is expanding to the Far South Side.
The Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Gia Biagi, Alderman Howard B. Brookins Jr., and Lyft joined transportation advocates Thursday to announce a major expansion to the city’s ever-popular bike share system, Divvy.
The announcement marks the first step toward a full citywide Divvy expansion, which will include the installation of 66 new Divvy stations that expand the network by nearly 60 square miles on Chicago’s Far South Side. The expansion kicked off Thursday with the installation of the first new station at 83rd Street and South Stewart Avenue, which was the result of extensive community consultation and engagement with local Aldermen, stakeholders, community members and advocates, the city said in a statement.
According to the city, this is just the first phase of a program that will bring Divvy to every Chicago neighborhood by 2021, and will include the addition of 10,500 new electric-assist bikes, which make pedaling easier and have been extremely popular in other cities’ bike share systems.
In coordination, CDOT is also adding 16.5 miles of new bike lanes on the Far South Side, funded partly by sponsorship revenue from Lyft, the system sponsor of Divvy. This builds on the city’s already robust network of 280 miles of on-street bikeways. It also comes after Lyft already awarded 15 grants totaling $100,000 to community groups to increase bike share use in low-to-moderate income communities.
According to the city, data shows in 2019 51 percent of all trips in Chicago were less than three miles, a distance that can be comfortably cycled. Divvy currently has 6,000 bikes, and its 600 docking stations are accessible by about two-thirds of the city's population and contained within about half of the city's geography. Under the expansion plan, Lyft is making a $50 million investment in new bikes, stations, and hardware and is also providing the city with an additional $77 million in direct revenue for transportation improvements over a nine-year period.
An annual membership costs $99 and allows an unlimited number of rides of 45 minutes or less. The Divvy for Everyone program provides heavily discounted, $5 membership for qualifying Chicagoans, including those without a credit or debit cards.