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Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on May 15, 2017 at 4:42am

Last Friday, I was riding through Lincoln Park and met these ladies on their Divvy bikes. Of course, I had to take a pic of the Blackhawk Divvy (first one I'd seen) and we talked a little about their visit, the bikes, and their weekend plans. 

The lady on the Blackhawks Divvy is from Chicago and taking her out-of-town friend around the city. Riding a bike is the perfect tourist option for a sunny Friday afternoon. As we talked, they mentioned they went with the 24-hour "unlimited" option. And that's where it can get confusing for people that aren't familiar with the overage fees which reminded me that the 24-hour pass, usually reserved by people from out-of-town, is most commonly penalized with overage fees.

The two ladies had no idea there was a 30-minute limit. They got caught on the language of "unlimited" for 24-hours and didn't realize they needed to check in their bikes every 30 minutes. I'm wondering if this is why so many tourists receive overage fees. The language may be confusing. I must admit, I was confused back when I first learned about the 30 minute limit for an "unlimited" pass because it didn't seem intuitive to me (and the language contradicts itself).  

The website does have a lot of language that speaks to the 30-minute ride limits but there are a few pages that don't mention it as clearly:

https://www.divvybikes.com/how-it-works

It may be a bit of a stretch but given the historic overage with the 24-hour pass, I do wonder if there's an opportunity to communicate the 30-minute limit a little more effectively.

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Permalink Reply by Argonne69 on May 15, 2017 at 5:37am

I agree that there is a lot of confusion. Whether one has a 24 hour pass, or a yearly membership, rides are limited to 30 minutes. Signage could be clearer.

I think Divvy is missing an opportunity for a true 24 hour unlimited pass. Of course they'd have to charge more, but it would beat nickel and diming people to death.

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