equity

In 2012, the city of Chicago, the Active Transportation Alliance, and hundred of residents made a major effort to ensure the Streets for Cycling Plan 2020 would create a bike network with convenient access for all Chicagoans, regardless of who they are or where they live.

About a month ago, the Better Bike Share Partnership announced a $75,000 grant to the city of Chicago to launch the “Divvy for Everyone” campaign, a strategy to increase bike-share access and ridership among low-income residents. At the time, Chicago Department of Transportation officials declined to discuss the details of the program, but BBSP’s grant program manager provided info about the plan from CDOT’s grant proposal, and I shared it with Streetsblog readers.

“We work to create a city of Chicago where no matter who you are or where you live, you are able to enjoy all the benefits biking can offer,” states the Two Wheels, One City Call to Action. This online pledge to build a more diverse local bike culture was released last week by Slow Roll Chicago, the Active Transportation Alliance, the Chicago Cycling Club, and endorsed by over a dozen community organizations. These groups are also hosting two bike rides with a focus on diversity as part of Chicago Bike Week: tonight’s Two Wheels, One City Ride and Friday’s Rolling Spokes Ride.

Planning a useful, equitable, and financially sustainable bike-sharing system in a big, diverse city like Chicago is no easy task. You have a finite budget, and therefore a limited number of cycles and docking stations to work with. You want to provide access to the system for as many people as possible, and you’re certain to get complaints from residents and politicians whose neighborhoods don’t get bikes. However, if you spread the available stations across too large a service area, there will be poor station density and the system won’t be convenient to use.

“With all the challenges we’ve had with the equipment supplier, it’s gratifying to finally see the new Divvy stations on the ground,” said Chicago Department of Transportation assistant commissioner Sean Wiedel regarding the city's current bike-share expansion. “People are obviously clamoring for Divvy, so it’s exciting to be able to meet that demand.”

[This piece originally ran in Checkerboard City, John’s column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.]

[Streetsblog invited Olatunji Oboi Reed, president of Slow Roll Chicago, to share his perspective on our city’s bicycle equity challenges.]

Black bike advocates Oboi Reed, Peter Taylor, and Shawn Conley recently started an important conversation about the need for more bike resources in low-income African American communities on Chicago’s South and West Sides. At a recent Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Council meeting, they presented an open letter to the city, state, and local advocacy groups, asking that bike infrastructure, education, and encouragement be provided in a more equitable manner. Read the full letter here.

A group of African-American bike advocates says they want to do whatever it takes to make sure more black Chicagoans have a chance to enjoy the health, economic, and social benefits of cycling. They've called for the city and state, as well as other advocacy groups, to commit to a more equitable distribution of bike facilities and education to low-income, African-American communities on the South and West Sides.