Divvy: City-Owned Bike Share & Open Trip Data
This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.
8 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.
How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page
✎ Updated 22 Aug 2026 Publication date recorded for 10 sources. What changed →
CDOT bought the bikes and docks with federal air-quality money and still owns them; Lyft only operates. Any fare rise above 10 percent a year needs the city's approval, leverage New York never bought.
what does this mean?
The strongest source is the operator's or the city's own reporting — an official report, dataset or press release. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,167 documented projects · 🏙️ 7 more in Chicago · 🚲 Cycling guide · 🚲 Mobility projects
Chicago owns Divvy: CDOT bought the bikes and docks with $18 million of federal air-quality money in 2013 and still owns them; Lyft only operates them. The 2019 exclusivity deal pays the city $77 million over nine years and caps fare rises at 10 percent a year — above that, CDOT must approve. A 45-minute member e-bike ride is capped at $6.
📊 Impact
6.8 million Divvy trips in 2025, the system's highest annual ridership, on a network that reached all 50 wards in 2023 and about 1,136 stations across Chicago and Evanston.
🎓 Lesson
Owning the hardware is what buys a city leverage. Chicago bought its fleet with federal money and can pull any fare rise above 10 percent to the table; New York, which pays nothing, says it cannot touch Citi Bike's prices until its contract ends.
Sources
Show 5 more sourcesShow fewer
Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 8 claims with their sources · the forensic record
Evidence Passport · public beta 8 addressable claims, 10 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The passport is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.
Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 8
The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.
clm-41d0958199cf25c9
quantitative
Chicago owns Divvy: CDOT bought the bikes and docks with $18 million of federal air-quality money in 2013 and still owns them; Lyft only operates them
Sources carrying this claim
clm-263a7f8244de8b17
quantitative
The 2019 exclusivity deal pays the city $77 million over nine years and caps fare rises at 10 percent a year — above that, CDOT must approve
Sources carrying this claim
clm-fbdace8f998558f9
quantitative
A 45-minute member e-bike ride is capped at $6.
Sources carrying this claim
clm-bf5b09648595427f
quantitative
6.8 million Divvy trips in 2025, the system's highest annual ridership
Sources carrying this claim
clm-aef50c10dc630432
quantitative
on a network that reached all 50 wards in 2023
Sources carrying this claim
clm-bb6125b16ab5758f
quantitative
about 1,136 stations across Chicago and Evanston
Sources carrying this claim
clm-2188c4f936284ca5
descriptive
Owning the hardware is what buys a city leverage.
Sources carrying this claim
clm-182bfea984ce0f50
quantitative
Chicago bought its fleet with federal money and can pull any fare rise above 10 percent to the table
Sources carrying this claim
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders
This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.
Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.
sha256:0ae558b6dc1444a0e2f54218e800d92cc2abe765674634611f11df4b749892d4
- 8
- of 8 claims mapped
- 10
- source dossiers
- 3
- publication dates recorded
- 0
- archives linked
- 0
- exact locators
- 0
- content captures hashed
Governance facts carried by the record
- Operator
- Lyft Bikes and Scooters, LLC, under contract to the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), which owns the bikes and stations
- Actor types
- private
- Funding model
- ppp
- Funding description
- Federal CMAQ grant plus city tax-increment financing at launch; since 2019 Lyft capital and sponsorship, with the operator paying the city $6M a year rising 4% annually, $77M over nine years
- Cost
- $18M federal CMAQ grant at launch; $50M Lyft capital investment from 2019
- Ownership
- Not recorded
- Decision rights
- Not recorded
- Exit conditions
- Not recorded
10 source dossiers
Divvy — About (operator)
- Stable source ID
src-467ced0b2e0391bb- Publisher
- Name not classified · divvybikes.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The ownership sentence the entry turns on: 'Divvy is a program of the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), which owns the city's bikes, stations and vehicles.' Also confirms Lyft manages operations, that start-up capital came from federal congestion and air-quality grants plus city tax-increment financing, and the 2016 extension into Evanston.
Chicago Sun-Times — City Council makes Lyft exclusive operator of Divvy for nine years (10 April 2019)
- Stable source ID
src-a71badd3b35d7f7d- Publisher
- Name not classified · chicago.suntimes.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2019-04-10
- Updated
- 2019-04-16
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The contract terms: nine-year exclusivity, a $50 million investment in new bikes, stations and hardware, $77 million to the city over nine years earmarked for transportation projects, and at least $1.5 million a year from advertising. Carries the price-control clause verbatim: 'Lyft would be free to raise bike-sharing rates, but only up to 10% per year. Anything above that must be approved by the Chicago Department of Transportation.'
Chicago Sun-Times — Divvy prices increasing nearly 10% in February (8 January 2024)
- Stable source ID
src-aa40063724982878- Publisher
- Name not classified · chicago.suntimes.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2024-01-08
- Updated
- 2024-01-09
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Shows the cap working as a ceiling the operator rides up to: rises of 'nearly 10% — the maximum yearly hike allowed without requiring city approval', a third consecutive annual increase. Confirms Divvy for Everyone stayed at $5. This source dates the contract 'through 2027'; other reporting on the 2019 amendment implies 2028, so the entry does not assert an end year.
- Claims linked
Divvy — Changes to bike and scooter prices in 2026 (operator)
- Stable source ID
src-c22907b84033ea5d- Publisher
- Name not classified · divvybikes.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Current price schedule, effective 11 March 2026: member e-bikes $0.19 to $0.20 per minute with 'Rides between 31' to 45 minutes capped at $6.00'; classic bikes $0.20 per minute after the included 45 minutes; day pass to $19.90.
- Claims linked
Divvy — Pricing (operator)
- Stable source ID
src-4656709e935f2573- Publisher
- Name not classified · divvybikes.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Full current fares: single ride $1 plus $0.20 a minute, annual membership $143.90 ($99 for new and lapsed riders), non-member e-bikes $1 unlock plus $0.44 a minute, and the $5 Divvy for Everyone annual membership for qualifying residents in Chicago and Evanston.
- Claims linked
Divvy — Data License Agreement
- Stable source ID
src-355a1fd5d16bf193- Publisher
- Name not classified · divvybikes.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The licence deed, and the difference from New York: 'The City of Chicago owns all right, title, and interest in the Data', not the operator. It grants a non-exclusive, royalty-free, limited, perpetual licence for any lawful purpose but forbids hosting, streaming, publishing, distributing, sublicensing or selling the data as a stand-alone dataset, bars data mining, and bars correlating the data with customer identities.
- Claims linked
- Background source; no baseline claim points here
Divvy — System data (operator)
- Stable source ID
src-b178f45afa047f9c- Publisher
- Name not classified · divvybikes.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
What is actually published: monthly trip files with start and end time, start and end station and rider type (member, single ride, day pass), with staff trips and trips under 60 seconds removed, plus a live GBFS station feed.
- Claims linked
- Background source; no baseline claim points here
Sustainability — A Tale of Two Divvys: The Bicycle Sharing System of Chicago (peer-reviewed, 2024)
- Stable source ID
src-d69ed51dbd81e4e9- Publisher
- Name not classified · mdpi.com
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
The independent counterweight, and the source for the $18 million CMAQ launch grant, the 2015 start of the $5 Divvy for Everyone membership and the 2015-16 expansion into Englewood, Humboldt Park and North Lawndale. Its verdict on the Lyft era: the system, 'refocused on more profitable e-bike and e-scooter rentals in privileged neighborhoods, may contribute to systematic exclusion of poorer neighborhoods and less privileged residents of Chicago.'
Block Club Chicago — Divvy to add over 200 stations, from downtown to the Far South Side (17 March 2026)
- Stable source ID
src-3bbc08cac24e2a67- Publisher
- Name not classified · blockclubchicago.org
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- 2026-03-17
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Currency check: 6.8 million Divvy trips in 2025, 'the system's highest annual ridership'; over 200 new or upgraded stations in 2026; unlock fees removed for trips starting in Equity Priority Areas on the far south, south, west and northwest sides; Divvy for Everyone still $5.
- Claims linked
Wikipedia — Divvy
- Stable source ID
src-dd4d32622461e89c- Publisher
- Name not classified · en.wikipedia.org
- Type / language
- web-page · language not classified
- Published
- Not recorded
- Updated
- Not recorded
- Source last checked
- No source-level check date
- Record last verified
- 2026-07-26
- Dossier created
- 2026-08-22
- Retrieved copy
- No local capture recorded
- Archive
- No archived copy linked
- Content hash
- No captured content hash
- Locator
- Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Open the recorded source note
Timeline cross-check: June 2013 launch, the operator chain Alta Bicycle Share (2012-2014), Motivate (2014-2019) and Lyft since 2019, city payments of $6 million a year rising 4 percent, and 1,136 stations across Chicago and Evanston as of November 2025. Note it gives 750 bikes at 75 stations on day one where the peer-reviewed paper says 100 stations; the entry claims neither.
- Claims linked
Known limits of this passport
- Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
- Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
- A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
- The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.
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📎 Cite this project
1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Divvy: City-Owned Bike Share & Open Trip Data” — Chicago, United States. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/chicago-divvy-bikeshare/ (last verified 2026-07-26). Data: CC BY 4.0.
The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.
