Divvy for Everyone

Divvy for Everyone in-person enrollment is available at limited locations.

Five days after Streetsblog notified the city about social media reports of a rash of stolen bikes, Divvy says they're on top of the issue.

Now the membership cost goes up incrementally over four years, and people from various public aid programs are automatically eligible.

Regular Divvy membership is now 83.9 percent white, but D4 membership is only 28 percent white.

The new hardware will be used to increase density in communities with a dearth of Divvy, as well as add capacity to popular downtown stations.

The city’s Divvy for Everyone (D4E) equity program, which offers one-time $5 annual memberships to low-income Chicagoans, is a great opportunity for residents to enjoy the the mobility, health, and economic benefits of bike-share. But the big, blue bikes don’t do you much good if you don’t know how to ride or don’t feel safe navigating city streets on two wheels.

A new study concludes that most U.S. bike-share cities, including Chicago, have provided much better access to stations for whites than African Americans. The report is based on fall 2014 Divvy station location data, but the coverage area has greatly expanded since then to include many more communities of color, so it's likely that geographic access has significantly improved. However, it's clear that more work needs to be done in Chicago before the system can be considered truly accessible to African-American and Latino residents.

The bad news: Divvy’s announced today that their annual membership fee will be rising from $75 to $99, starting on February 1. The good news: The bike-share system will be offering a new option of paying for a membership in monthly installments.

The city's Divvy For Everyone program to get low-income and unbanked residents using the popular bike-share system looks to be gaining popularity itself. Yesterday the Chicago Department of Transportation's Divvy For Everyone program manager Amanda Woodall discussed D4E figures at the quarterly Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Council, a public meeting where the city shares its bicycle initiatives.