Imagine if the CTA, a public transportation system that’s subsidized by taxpayer dollars, were mostly serving wealthy white folks. That would be bullshit, right?
To its credit, CDOT has recently taken steps to address Divvy’s equity problem. When the system added 175 more stations last summer, many of them went to low-to-moderate-income, predominantly African-American and Latino communities on the south and west sides.
Last week I took out one of the big blue bikes and set out for the heavily African-American communities of West Garfield Park and Austin, the first neighborhoods to get docks in this round of installations. I wanted to get local perspectives on whether west-siders are likely to use Divvy.
From the conservatory I rode south in the Central Park Avenue bike lane, past the gold dome of the Garfield Park field house and the green space’s shimmering lagoons. I checked out the station at Central Park and Fifth Avenue, kitty-corner from Leif Ericson elementary. Although you have to be 16 to use Divvy and the station sits next to a vacant lot, the Harvest Homes affordable housing development is under construction on another lot nearby, so the bikes could be useful for future residents.
Luke said he’s not interested in becoming a Divvy member because he owns two bikes and a car. I explained that even if you have your own bicycle, bike-share is handy for all kinds of trips where you want to pedal part of the way but not all of it.
Rob told me he’d considered checking out a Divvy recently when he needed to travel across the Loop, but had decided to walk instead. “I really don’t like the design of the bikes,” he said, referring to the step-through frame. “They look like girls’ bikes. And I’m not into the baby blue.”
