[Steely Dan]

It looks like Chicago's Divvy bikeshare will FINALLY get its long-awaited expansion next spring. if other large systems don't expand before then, it should make Divvy the largest bikeshare system in the nation in terms of bikes/stations, with a planned total of 4,750 bikes/475 stations. but more exciting to me than just the raw bike & station numbers is the increase in service area from 48 sq. miles to 87 sq. miles of the city.

Divvy bike-share expansion delayed until spring
By Jon Hilkevitch, Tribune reporter

Chicago's Divvy bicycle-sharing program plans to add 175 stations and 1,750 bikes in the spring, the city will announce Thursday, a behind-schedule expansion that will extend the program as far north as Touhy Avenue and as far south as 75th Street.

The expansion, originally planned for this year, was delayed because of the bankruptcy of a company that supplied equipment to a Divvy contractor.

Montreal-based Public Bike System Co., or Bixi, announced in January that it was filing for bankruptcy protection.

The Chicago Department of Transportation said at the time that Divvy's daily operations and expansion plans would not be affected, but city officials have since said the contractor, Alta Bicycle Share Inc. of Portland, Ore., has had problems acquiring new equipment since the Bixi bankruptcy.

"Alta is in the final stages of vetting multiple supplier options, all of whom have committed to spring delivery time frames,'' CDOT spokesman Pete Scales said Wednesday.

Divvy has grown to more than 2.3 million individual trips since the bike-share program was launched in June 2013, city officials said Wednesday.

The Divvy program currently has 300 docking stations and 3,000 bicycles. The original plan called for ramping up to 4,750 bikes and 475 stations this year, with the expansion extending Divvy stations to Touhy Avenue on the north, 75th Street on the south and as far west as Pulaski Road. The program initially focused on the downtown area.

full article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...821-story.html