The city announced today that the Divvy bike-share system is approaching its ten-million trip milestone, which would put it in an elite club of U.S. systems that also includes New York’s Citi Bike and Washington D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare. As of today, the Chicago bike network has racked up over 9,985,000 trips.
"Whether it be the train, bus, taxi, car sharing or bike sharing, the city of Chicago offers residents and visitors a variety of high quality transportation options to get them where they need to go," said Mayor Emanuel in a statement. "This significant milestone is a testament to both Chicago's bike sharing system and the infrastructure investments we've made to make it safer and easier to bike across the City.
The District’s bike-share system launched in 2010, Citi Bike went online in May 2013, and Divvy debuted a month later. This year Divvy added 1,050 new bikes and 100 new docking stations in 2016, mostly on the south and west sides, as well as in the suburbs of Oak Park and Evanston, bringing the grand total to 5,800 bicycles and 580 stations. Not surprisingly, Divvy has seen a 14 percent increase in trips in 2016 over last year, with over 3.5 million trips taken so far this year.
In order to track the coming milestone, Divvy has created a countdown clock that can be viewed at www.DivvyBikes.com/10million. The website will be updated every five minutes, displaying the total number of trips taken as it approaches it ten-millionth trip. To celebrate this milestone, Divvy will be awarding the ten-millionth rider with a free year of membership, plus three free annual memberships to give away to others.
In 2016, the most popular Divvy station destinations in Chicago were:
Streeter Dr. & Grand Ave. (Navy Pier)
Lake Shore Dr. & Monroe St.
Theater on the Lake (Fullerton Beach)
Lake Shore Dr. & North Blvd.
Clinton St. & Washington Blvd. (Ogilvie Station)
Michigan Ave. & Oak St.
Millennium Park
Clinton St. & Madison St.
Canal St. & Madison St.
Canal St. & Adams St. (Union Station)
The most popular Divvy stations in Evanston were Benson Ave. & Church St. and Sheridan Rd. & Noyes St., and the most popular Divvy stations in Oak Park were Marion St. & South Blvd. and Forest Ave. & Chicago Ave.
It’s sunny and 36 degrees Fahrenheit right now in Chicago, ideal conditions for a brisk winter bike ride, so why not do your part to help our city join the elite ranks of the bike-share decamillionaire’s club? If you feel like it, take a Divvy selfie or another shot with a bike-share vehicle in it during your trip and post it on Twitter with the hashtag #DivvyMillionaire, and tag @StreetsblogCHI and @DivvyBikes. If we get a good collection of photos, we’ll run them in a future post. Happy riding!
