April 14, 2014

Divvy Breaks Single Day Record with 10,866 Trips on Saturday

Warm Weather, Growth in Users Help Beat Previous Best as Users Travelled 32,000 Miles

Mayor's Press Office    312.744.3334

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced today that Divvy, Chicago’s bike share system, broke its single-day record with 10,866 rides on Saturday, beating the previous highest tally set in September by 201 rides. Annual members accounted for 3,821 trips, 24-hour users took 7,045 trips and together they pedaled more than 32,000 miles on Saturday.

“Divvy continues to grow as a transportation option, and as the seasons change to warm weather, we expect even more Chicagoans and visitors to use this transit option for getting around the city,” said Mayor Emanuel. “Chicagoans and visitors took advantage of the warm weather on Saturday to travel by bike.”

In addition, 8,779 trips for an estimated 20,000 miles were taken on Friday. Divvy averaged 4,794 trips on Saturdays and 4,273 trips on Fridays during 2013.

The most popular stations include:
• Streeter Drive and Illinois Street, with 375 start trips and 436 end trips,
• Theater on the Lake, with 310 and 315
• Lake Shore Drive and Monroe Street, with 284 and 322
• Michigan Ave. and Oak Street, with 253 and 276
• Lake Shore Drive and North Ave., with 204 and 207

Last week, Divvy released 700 bikes that were in winter storage back into the system at its 300 stations.

In just nine months of operations, Chicagoans and visitors to the city have taken more than 950,000 trips and have collectively ridden an estimated two million miles, passing the milestone last week.
In an effort to encourage more Chicagoans to try Divvy for the first time or purchase an annual membership, Mayor Emanuel declared that April 21-27 would be “Divvy Week” in Chicago. During that week, all daily passes would be discounted to $5. Chicagoans who sign up for new annual memberships would receive Chipotle gift cards, and other prizes and promotional discounts would be made available to current Divvy members.

“We’re excited for the season ahead. Divvy wasn’t even a transit option last April, so this is our first spring,” said Elliot Greenberger, general manager of Divvy. “We’ve already developed a devoted group of annual members, but we anticipate a lot more residents and visitors giving us a try now that they’ve had a chance to see the system at work and the weather improving.”

The spring weather comes as Divvy celebrates an estimated two million miles ridden since it launched just over nine months ago on June 28, 2013. In that time, 952,152 trips have been taken by more than 15,568 annual members and 146,204 24-hour pass holders. In the first week of April alone, riders took more than 25,000 trips as temperatures rose above 40 degrees.

In a recently conducted survey, Divvy annual members said they were highly satisfied with Chicago’s new bike share service, and claim to save an average of more than $760 a year on commuting expenses by riding a bike rather than using cars, taxis or other forms of transit.

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