Chicago Approves $50-million Divvy Bike Share Program Expansion

The Chicago City Council approved a $50 million expansion of the Divvy Bike Share Program that will see Divvy stations in all 50 wards of the city by 2021. 

The expansion was included in a proposal from Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) to amend the existing contract with Divvy operator Motivate International Inc., now part of Lyft, Inc., to modernize and expand the city’s bike share system. Divvy will begin expanding its service area this summer and will cover the entire city within three years.

Lyft will become the new sponsor of the system and will be investing $50 million in new bikes, stations and hardware. The city reports the expansion will provide it with an additional $77 million in direct revenue for transportation improvements over a nine-year period and says the agreement represents a total of $127 million in direct benefits to the city, plus additional indirect benefits including expanded programming and reduced financial risk.

“My administration has made it a priority to create a variety of high-quality, reliable transportation options to get Chicagoans and visitors where they want to go,” said Mayor Emanuel. “While the Divvy program has expanded substantially since its launch in 2013 and helped make Chicago the best bike city in America, the City Council has seized the opportunity to create a modernized system that creates increasing annual revenues for the city while ensuring all 50 wards have access to bike sharing.”

In additional expanding the Divvy system to all 50 wards by 2021, the expansion includes the addition of 10,500 bikes and 175 stations. As a result, the expanded system will have approximately 16,500 bikes and 800 stations. All new bikes will be electric pedal-assist bikes and have hybrid locking capabilities, so they can be locked at a Divvy station or to a regular bike rack. The city says the growth of the bike share system will create more than 200 additional jobs with Divvy in Chicago.

Lyft will also offer a job training program for youth and ex-offenders; expand the Divvy for Everyone program for low-income customers and pilot an adaptive bike sharing program for people with disabilities.

“CDOT is very pleased to be building on our partnership with Lyft to deliver on our commitment to expanding our popular Divvy system to the entire city,” CDOT Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld said. “The proposed amendment builds on the strong foundation of Divvy today, to ensure we have a growing, modern system with the latest technology, to give Chicagoans and visitors alike an affordable, convenient and high-quality option for getting around.” 

Under the agreement, the city will maintain ownership of the current capital equipment. Lyft will continue to operate Divvy with equipment owned by the city, as well as new equipment purchased by Lyft. The city will maintain control over significant fare pricing changes and any new fare products or promotions, and Lyft will continue to be accountable for meeting service quality standards. The amendment does not extend the existing term of the Divvy contract, which has nine years remaining. Divvy will remain the exclusive bike share system in Chicago and the city will not license or permit any additional bike share operations during the term of the agreement. The city will maintain oversight of the performance of the Divvy contract through a set of ridership and equity targets and the city will retain its ability to assess financial penalties if Lyft does not meet its targets.