Divvy

The Evanston City Council on Monday approved a proposal to apply for federal funds through the Transportation Alternatives program to pay for a minimum of seven Divvy bike sharing stations (map) in the adjacent suburb. A staff memo to the council [PDF] recommended that Evanston make an agreement with the City of Chicago to collect revenues and maintain the system on behalf of Evanston using the existing contract between Chicago and Alta Bicycle Share. Evanston would pay Chicago if there were any shortfalls in covering operating costs.

The Chicago Transit Authority's revenue director, Eric Reese, hosted a gaggle of reporters on Friday to show off the Ventra "outreach bus" and demonstrate, for the first time, a Ventra vending machine. Ventra is set to replace the current fare media for CTA and the Pace suburban bus system, including all passes, Chicago Card/Plus, and reduced fare cards. The new technology will enable faster boarding -- speeding up buses especially -- and lower the CTA's costs.

[This article also appeared in "Checkerboard City," John's column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.]

Rahm Emanuel celebrated the one-month anniversary of the Divvy bike-share system at a ribbon cutting this morning for a new docking station at Fosco Park Community Center, 1312 South Racine. The mayor announced that with 117 stations scheduled to be online by the end of the day, Divvy will become the fourth-largest public bike system in the country, after New York City’s Citi Bike, Washington D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare, and Minneapolis’ Nice Ride.

Steven Vance is the self-described “data geek” at Streetsblog Chicago, but even a right-brained type like myself couldn’t help but be intrigued by some recently revealed stats and charts about Divvy bike-share use patterns. Chicago Department of Transportation Deputy Commissioner Scott Kubly shared them during a talk at last week’s Complete Streets Symposium, hosted by CDOT, the CTA and the professional group the Intelligent Transportation Society, which kind of sounds like an '80s synth-pop band.

As of this Monday, 3,157 annual members had signed up for Divvy bike-share, putting Chicago between the initial growth rate of systems in Washington, DC, which started with 49 stations in September, 2010, and New York City, which started with a little more than 300 stations on May 27.

32nd Ward Alderman Scott Waguespack is a key independent voice at City Hall. Most famously, when Richard M. Daley was ramming the disastrous 2008 parking meter contract through City Council in a mere three days, Waguespack was perhaps the only alderman to actually read the thick document. He led the opposition to the deal, and was one of only five council members to vote no.

Last month I talked to Scott Kubly, deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, about the city’s efforts to make sure the new Divvy bike-share system benefits all Chicagoans, including those in low-income neighborhoods and/or communities of color. Surveys in bike-share cities like Washington, D.C., and Denver have shown that use of their publicly-funded systems has been skewed towards a disproportionately white, affluent demographic. Kubly says CDOT is committed to making sure Divvy ridership better reflects our city’s ethnic and economic diversity.

In its first weekend of operation, Divvy bike-share saw 4,123 trips. Annual members accounted for 78 percent of the trips from Friday to Sunday, with the rest coming from people who purchased 24-hour passes (which cost $7). The five most popular starting stations were all downtown and near the lakefront and coincided with the five most popular destination stations, just in a different order. They were: