At Transport Chicago panel, bike-share program veterans discussed “The Good, the Bad, and the Rebalanced”
Last week’s Transport Chicago conference included panel discussions and presentations on a wide range of progressive and sustainable transportation issues in Chicagoland. One session was entitled “The Good, the Bad, and the Rebalanced: Honest Lessons & Opportunities from Bike Share Expansion in Chicago and the Region.”
Most of the stories shared by the panelists – David Powe from the Chicago Department of Transportation, Sarah Fiorito from the City of Evanston, Remel Terry from the mobility justice nonprofit Equiticity, and Ryan Ruehle of the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways – were positive. Bike-share use and interest is growing in Chicago neighborhoods and suburban communities alike.
Powe, who until recently oversaw Divvy for CDOT, provided a brief history of the bike share system. It launched in 2013 and grew dramatically during the COVD-19 pandemic, when Chicagoans needed safe means of transportation and more opportunities to get outside. To meet growing demand since 2020, CDOT has installed hundreds more new stations with thousands of docks across more neighborhoods, and ridership has continued to boom.
Last year, Divvy introduced reduced-price $99 memberships for new and lapsed members whose income level exceeds the limit for $5 Divvy for Everyone memberships, which helped attract even more members. That helped Chicago reach a new record of almost 13 million Divvy and e-scooter-share trips in 2025.
All Divvy stations recently received electrical upgrades, allowing them to charge the system’s electric bikes, which Powe said had the largest recent growth in ridership: 20 percent year-over-year. “We say we’re the fourth-largest transit system in Chicagoland after Pace,” he half-joked.
Powe said the current bike share question before CDOT is “How big can Divvy get?” with affordability and access as central concerns. Annual negotiations with Lyft, the bike-share concessionaire, create pricing constraints and necessitate the membership model to guarantee a base level of income for the system. Powe said his department is also considering how to make sure the public way stays clear of devices, and that docks and devices remain where people need them as the system grows.
Fiorito then spoke about Evanston’s modest but growing rollout of Divvy. The suburb currently has 14 bike-share stations and 240 bikes, and plans to add 17 more stations. She said there’s a need to better educate users about how the program works; safe riding practices; and appropriate parking of e-Divvies outside of stations. The latter means using the electric cycles’ built-in cable locks to secure them to curbside racks or poles, as opposed to “free locking” them in the middle of sidewalks.
Fiorito also called for regional coordination of bike-share programs. “Tiny municipalities shouldn’t be negotiating with a massive company like Lyft,” she said.
To address some of these issues, Evanston is piloting a rider education program with students in the District 65 school system. The City has also updated its Bike Plan, and the new version will be released later this year.
Remel Terry then shared the vision for Equiticity’s GoHub project, currently planned for the Lawndale neighborhood. The GoHub will be a physical building offering a mixed fleet of bikes, cargo bikes, e-bikes, e-scooters, and shared electric vehicles to meet the various needs of residents, along with staff to assist, answer questions and build trust. Terry said that while Equiticity supports the work of Divvy and considers it a valuable resource, the station-to-station model, with a 45-minute time limit before late fees kick in on non-electric bikes, doesn’t work well for many low-income South Siders.
The GoHub will offer a low-to-no-cost membership and provide educational resources like safety training and guided rides. Terry said the GoHub vision includes workforce development with youth training on how to be bike and EV mechanics.
The final presentation by Ruehle was an overview of the Cook County Bike Share Feasibility study. He explained the County’s methodology for identifying areas “primed for bike share.” These included areas with robust transit, and ample destinations and points of interest. Ten zones were identified and the top five were selected as places to implement Divvy.
Ruehle said the County looked at similar suburban bike-share expansions in the Boston and Washington, D.C. metro areas for comparison. The final report will be published later this summer, and then planning for implementation will start.
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