Did Divvy Give Up?

So, this winter I have yet to see any Divvy stations cleared of snow, let alone salted.

I thought this was supposed to be a thing?

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20131025/downtown/what-happens-divvy...

I don't really use downtown stations, so I can't speak to those, but from what I've seen outside of the loop, there is a significant lack of maintenance. *read: no snow removed*

It's not like we've had a snomageddon this winter. What gives? 

Anybody else have any insights here? Do your local Divvy stations get cleared?

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Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on January 13, 2015 at 6:40pm
http://www.thechainlink.org/forum/topics/coldest-day-ever-for-divvy...

Division and Western is cleared, locked and loaded, and ready for battle, leftoverbacon sir !
Permalink Reply by Alisa Hauser on January 14, 2015 at 2:26am

pretty sure the Divvy station at Pierce and Damen in Wicker Park has been cleared. Will double check when I walk past it today.

Permalink Reply by leftoverbacon on January 14, 2015 at 12:37pm

Well, I've been a Divvy subscriber since this summer, and a Divvy user since it went live. I now take at least 2 trips a day. Last winter the snow removal was pretty spot on. This winter, of the several stations that I regularly use, and of the many that I regularly pass, I'd have to say there is at least 4+ inches of accumulated snow @ every station.

While I can remove and dock bikes, the stations can be pretty slippery; not to mention seeing bikes surrounded by snow is psychologically disheartening and de-motivating. I dress in snow boots for my morning and evening commute. If I want to take a quick trip during lunch time, I'll have to either take time to change my shoes, or get them covered in slush and snow while dealing with the dock.

When the system was launched, they said there would be snow removal. I could understand if it took some time to clear if we were getting regularly dumped on w/ snow, but NEVER removing the snow seems just lazy.

Permalink Reply by Rich S on March 4, 2015 at 9:10am

For what it's worth, I just saw a maintenance guy from the Gleacher Center shoveling snow from the courtyard area onto the Divvy bike station. Not enough to block access but it's still irritating to watch and could make it a pain to return a bike. 

I walked up to him and mentioned that people use those and he just shrugged his shoulders. Took a few seconds video of him shoveling the snow and I plan to email it to Divvy. At a minimum so their own people don't get blamed if a rider calls to complain about the station not being clear. 

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on March 4, 2015 at 9:20am

wow. That's not cool. Thanks for sending that to Divvy. I'm sure they will appreciate it.

Permalink Reply by JeffB on March 4, 2015 at 10:04am

I've spoken to people at a couple of businesses that have pushed their snow into the Divvy station. Both responded at first with, "well where am I supposed to put it?", so I told them to put the snow behind the station or to the side of it. One (Floyd's Barbershop on Clark) responded with a non-committal "we'll try", and the other (T Salon on Damen) said "I guess I won't clear it at all" (as if she had in the first place).

I tried pointing out that the station is a place of business, and what they're doing is equivalent to someone piling snow in front of their doorway, but all I got was shrugs. If I had a shovel and more energy, I'd like to do exactly that.

It's frustrating because I actually use Divvy more often in the winter when its sloppy out.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on March 4, 2015 at 10:09am

It is probably difficult for businesses to understand why it is okay for the city to plow snow into a Divvy station but not okay for them to clear the sidewalk by putting the snow in the same place the city does.  When the snow was at its worst, Divvy cleared stations near my house and the city came almost right behind them and plowed the stations in.

Permalink Reply by JeffB on March 4, 2015 at 10:11am

but these were stations that faced the sidewalk and were not plowed under

Permalink Reply by David Lieb on March 5, 2015 at 4:22am

I was passed by a Divvy on the LFP last Saturday night ;-) Lots of excuses, but you don't want to read them.
Mind you I was far more upset 2 minutes later when I got down by the S-Curve and found that the route was impassable from there on out. Could not come up with a route from there down to U of C that I was willing to explore on a cold dark night, so I regretfully turned around and pedaled the 30+ miles home again.

Permalink Reply by Steve Johnson on March 5, 2015 at 6:39am

Just this week I have experienced this same issue all over the Lakeview area.  On Tuesday I had several appts which I got to using Divvy and encountered probably 7-8 stations, all were unshoveled which created challenges redocking the bike. 

The Divvy station on Madison in front of the United Center is probably the worst example I've encountered over the past few weeks - I had to do some serious digging and chipping   in order to redock the bike. The others already there all had their tires frozen in about 2-3" of ice. I returned back 2 more times over the following 2-3 weeks and the situation was basically the same.

I've also noticed that in general the locking mechinsm does not work well during the cold temps.  On several occasions the bike would not lock forcing me to try an alternate dock.

Permalink Reply by Claire Tighe on March 5, 2015 at 7:50am

I've noticed the same thing with the locks. I've had to try so many stations with the same bike for this reason, and eventually just left the bike and hoped that if they charged me $2k for the bike that I'd call and explain...?

Ditto with flat tires -- I know that's winter, so it's really hard to keep them full because of the cold, but still...it's a bummer to get on a Divvy with flat tires and ride through the muck.

Permalink Reply by R.D. Yant on March 5, 2015 at 8:42am

I regularly use the Illinois/LaSalle station, which is supposed to be 31 docks. However only about half have been useable for the past month. Therefore, website and app information is misleading.

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