Oak Park trustees vote to kill the village's Divvy program

Bad news about Divvy bike-share in this near-west suburb:

https://chi.streetsblog.org/2018/01/17/for-whom-the-bike-bell-tolls...

Views: 457

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on January 18, 2018 at 6:21am

Any idea when the stations will be removed? I'd like to get out there and bike around to see what the station placement and cycling infrastructure is/was like.

Permalink Reply by Brett Miller on January 19, 2018 at 6:09am

I live in Oak Park. I received an email from the village that Tuesday, 01/23 is the last day that you can take or leave a bike at any of the 13 Oak Park stations. I also received an email from Divvy indicating Wednesday 01/24 as the last day the program is active in Oak Park.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on January 20, 2018 at 4:10pm

Wow. That's fast.

Permalink Reply by John Greenfield on January 19, 2018 at 5:43am

According to Divvy general manager Michael Critzon, the bike-share system is working on a transition plan for Oak Park’s 13 stations and 130 bikes. It doesn't sound like the stations will be moved immediately.

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on January 20, 2018 at 7:18am

I have a question.  I keep hearing the term "operating expenses" used with regard to bike-share systems.  My question is, what expenses are included in "operating expenses"?  Do they include the cost of replacing the bicycles and other equipment?  Of upkeep and upgrades of the stations themselves?  I believe that all of the original Divvy equipment, including the bikes, was paid for by government grants.  How long are the bikes supposed to last, and what is the budget for replacing them?  I'm wondering if just referring to "operating expenses" reflects the actual cost of maintaining the Divvy system going forward. 

Permalink Reply by S on January 20, 2018 at 5:18pm

Operating expenses looks like it includes maintenance on the bikes and stations, upkeep, and costs to have the divvy trucks rebalance the bikes as needed as well as other stuff like marketing, IT, staff salaries, etc.

Permalink Reply by Paul Lazzaro on January 21, 2018 at 4:15am

Bikeshare is tough in a suburban environment.  It may work in Evanston because of the large student population and proximity to bike-friendly destinations in Chicago.  Oak Park seems much less connected in this way.

Permalink Reply by ad on January 24, 2018 at 6:53am

I live in OP, and I think there are a few reasons it didn't work out here, even though the density of OP is actually pretty close to some Chicago neighborhoods where Divvy appears to have done okay.  (1) a lot of people cycling in OP are doing so with kids, and Divvy doesn't work for that; (2) Divvy could work for people who want to ride from home to the trains and to the commercial corridors, but the station placement eliminated this option for most in OP; and (3) though OP is less suburban than anywhere besides Evanston, it is still suburban enough that a lot of people drive to get places in OP (again, especially when kids are involved).   Theft is a big issue out here, and many do cycle to the trains, so Divvy could have been a great option if it reached those users (and it didn't in a meaningful way). 

I think the Divvy failure out here is partially about whether bike share works in urban suburbs (though I think it can), but also about whether Divvy was rolled out in the correct manner.  Unfortunately, I think there needed to be a lot more stations, and those stations needed to be in more residential areas, but it's hard to roll out that heavy on an untested area.  Expanding it was the only thing that could have saved it, but hard to justify on the numbers Divvy was registering out here.   

Permalink Reply by Brett Miller on January 24, 2018 at 8:58am

I divvyed from Chicago to an Oak Park dock yesterday (01/23/2018) afternoon. After I docked, I tried to check-out another bike from that Oak Park location and I received an error message. Seems Oak Park docks are now shutdown. Until they physically remove the docks, I wonder if one can continue to return bikes to Oak Park docks? (The Oak Park stations no longer appear on the Divvy system map.) Maybe I’ll try it tonight - in protest, of course! 

Permalink Reply by Brett Miller on January 24, 2018 at 4:32pm

Update 01/24/2018: the Divvy docks in Oak Park (at least the one at Oak Park Avenue and South Blvd) have been cleared of bikes and bagged(?), apparently for removal. I’ll pedal to work in an unnecessarily low gear (on my own bike) tomorrow in tribute to the fallen Divvys of Oak Park.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on January 25, 2018 at 3:54am

Perhaps they're bagged like that so no one tries to dock a bike?

(lol at "unnecessarily low gear"--your tribute is appreciated!)

Permalink Reply by Meg on January 24, 2018 at 1:20pm

I work in Chicago (South Loop) and work in Oak Park. I used to live in Uptown, and biked frequently to work. I must say, I'm not fond of the bicycling infrastructure in Oak Park and can absolutely see how Divvy wouldn't be sustained out there. Heck, I hated biking there on my personal bike. Lack of bike lines along my route, lack of straight streets (holy batman North Ave/Oak Park).

I agree placement of the stations was not ideal.

RSS

Groups

© 2008-2016   The Chainlink Community, L.L.C.   Powered by

Disclaimer  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service