Before Divvy bike-share launched, Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch was skeptical Loop professionals would use the systems for short trips and errands. “Will businessmen put their briefcases in the basket on a Divvy bike and ride to meetings, risking sweat stains on expensive suits just to save a couple of dollars on a taxicab and possibly save a tree from pollution?” he wrote.
Last week Steven Vance posted a slideshow that proves that salarymen are, in fact, pedaling the bikes in professional attire, with several shots of guys in suits riding Divvy, taken from afar. Yesterday I buttonholed real, live businessman Chris Neidhart, wearing a nice suit on one of the blue cruisers at Congress and Wabash, and asked him for a little info.
John Greenfield: What do you do for a living?
Chris Neidhart: Banking
JG: What kind of trip are you doing?
CN: I was dropping my kids off at the Shedd Aquarium with my wife and I needed to get to work quickly, so I hooked up with a Divvy bike.
JG: What part of the Loop do you work in?
CN: In the central Loop, LaSalle and Madison.
JG: Cool, thanks a lot.
