Gov. Quinn Invests $3 Million in Divvy Program Expansion into Chicago and Suburbs

Lee Edwards | As of Thursday, October 2, 2014


Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn recently announced a $3 million state investment in the Divvy bicycle-sharing program that will install 700 new bikes and 70 docking stations in Chicago, Evanston, and Oak Park neighborhoods.

Created by the Chicago Department of Transportation in 2013, Divvy is Chicago’s bike-sharing system, with 3,000 bikes and 300 stations across the city. Divvy is intended to provide Chicagoans and visitors with an additional transportation option, and leverages Chicago’s public transit system to help commuters complete the first or last few miles of their trip.

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Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn.

“We’ve worked hard to make Illinois the most environmentally-friendly state in the nation and that includes boosting access to green transportation throughout our state,” said Quinn. “The Divvy program has proven to be a successful and innovative way to commute, navigate congested city streets and explore vibrant Chicago communities. Expanding Divvy outside of the city limits mean fewer cars on the roads and gives more residents and visitors the fun opportunity to take a ride.”

Divvy is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It is designed to be used for short point-to-point trips or as alternative option for multimodal commutes. Users can pick up a bike from a self-service docking station and return it to any other station nearest their destination

Prior to the governor’s investment, Divvy announced that by the spring of 2015, 175 stations and 1,750 bikes will be added to Chicago’s south, west, and north sides as part of its on-going expansion effort. In total, there will be 475 stations spanning 87 square miles making the Chicago service area the largest in North America. The new Divvy stations will be located as far south as 79th St., as far west as Pulaski Rd., and as far north as Howard St.

“Divvy has been a tremendous success, but Chicago’s bike share system will be even better when more areas of the city are served,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “As we expand Divvy to more Chicago neighborhoods, we welcome Governor Quinn’s plan to extend this popular program to neighboring towns for more people to travel in a fun, affordable and healthy way.”

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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel welcomed Ill. Gov. Quinn’s recent investment into the Divvy bike share system as Divvy announced recently that it will expand its bikes and bike stations to new communities in the Chicago area.

The investment will cover 50 new docking stations and additional bicycles in Chicago’s Garfield Park, Austin, Rogers Park, West Rogers Park and other communities. Oak Park will receive 12 docking stations and Evanston will get eight. The new equipment will be installed next year. Chicago is providing $550,000 and Evanston and Oak Park a combined $200,000 in local match to the state’s $3 million investment, for a total of $3,750,000.The expanded bike-sharing program is a public-private partnership between the state of Illinois, City of Chicago, Evanston, Oak Park, and the bike share company, Alta.

“I would like to thank Governor Quinn and the Illinois Department of Transportation for helping to make bike transportation accessible to all Evanston residents,” said Evanston Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl. “Biking not only lowers our collective carbon footprint, it supports healthy, sustainable living, and that’s good news for the whole community."

Earlier this year IDOT released its first Bike Transportation Plan which encouraged the use of more bike-sharing programs such as Divvy to help create a more sustainable multimodal transportation system in the state.

In a recent survey, 76 percent of members have used the bike share system to get to and from a public transit station.

For more information on the Divvy program and a map of station locations, visit www.divvybikes.com.

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