Divvy Bike Expansion Starting This Week, 25K Trips Already Taken

Get ready to see more of those baby blue bikes riding around Lake View, because the Chicago Department of Transportation says it's revving up Divvy station installation starting this week.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said since starting Divvy in June with just 70 bike kiosks, riders have already taken more than 25,000 trips and ridden an estimated 88,000 miles. Now Divvy staff plan to ramp up the program to 300 stations and 3,000 bikes by the end of summer.

More than 40 of those stations are slated to land in Lake View.

“Chicagoans and our visitors have embraced Divvy as a new transportation option, and we are now ready to expand the system so more people can safely and efficiently travel around the city's neighborhoods,” Emanuel said. “In just two weeks, Divvy has made a significant impact on the way people move around Chicago.”

Lake View’s only station currently installed is right near the Diversey Brown Line station, straddling the border with Lincoln Park. But according to Divvy representatives, the exact dates when Divvy plans to install the additional kiosks this summer is still unclear.

"We're still working on the order, but should have all of the logistical issues cleared up by the end of the week and will put out a list then," a representative with the company said. "We'll be building from the central core of stations on the ground now, and expanding the network into the neighborhoods to the south, north, and west."

Once completed in spring of 2014, Divvy will be in 400 neighborhood locations with 4,000 bikes.

Each Divvy station has a touchscreen kiosk, station map and a docking system that releases bikes using a member key or ride code. Customers can purchase $75 annual memberships or $7 24-Hour Passes, which allow riders unlimited trips in that period. The first 30 minutes of every trip are included in the cost of the membership or pass, and incremental fees apply to trips that exceed 30 minutes.

Annual members use a personal key used to quickly unlock bikes from any station. More than 2,500 Chicagoans have already signed up for Divvy Annual Memberships at DivvyBikes.com.

Of the more than 25,000 bike trips made from June 28 through July 11, more than 6,000 were made by annual members, and 19,000 were from customers who purchased 24-Hour passes. With 3,000 trips made on July 6, each Divvy bike averaged more than four trips that day.