Divvy Bikes 4+

I live in Chicago, where Divvy has the city’s contract for bike (etc) rental - they’re everywhere. I’d love to use them, but I won’t. Why? They have a perfectly viable business renting bikes, e-bikes, and scooters. Unfortunately, they also seem to want to be in the data mining business: the app collects an enormous amount of your data (it even says so in the App Store listing), and requires you to give them your phone number just to create an account, which is data mining 101 (the phone# let’s data brokers connect that data to other data on you, like your dining habits, or insurance, or employment, or banking, etc.). It’s a scooter rental. Let me just rent a scooter and pay you money for it, and that’s a perfectly fine business model without breaching my privacy. That’s what keeps me from using their service, which is a shame.

Absolutely horrible if you want to rely on it as a form of transportation. If you want to take random rides for fun, I guess it’s fine. Their bikes are insanely heavy and hard to maneuver. The seats are impossible to adjust. The baskets they have are completely useless so you better not have anything that you need to bring with you. The e bikes are kind of good but same basket issue and you can never find them or their batteries are dead. And then there’s the issue of the docks. It’s feast or famine. They either have completely full docks so you can’t lock up the bike you have or there’s no bikes available. I tried using it as my commute to work but the complete lack of dependability on their end meant I was either going to be late or I had to use different transport. And then it’s only financially feasible if you pay for the year which if you only use it occasionally is not worth it. I don’t understand. I’ve used bike shares in other cities and they are leaps and bounds better than divvy. The bikes actually work, they have decent baskets so if you have a bag to tote it’s not a problem, you can actually find the bikes and there’s plenty of docks. Also, be wary of the e bikes because I had a $15 ride recently that was only 5 miles because I happened to be in a higher COL area. Save your money and buy yourself a bike that actually works, take the el, walk, drive. Don’t use divvy.

I’ve been a paid annual member for several years and it seems Divvy is been falling by the wayside. The most pressing issue is that the app incorrectly displays availability of classic and e-bikes at ALL Divvy stations. I went to multiple stations: 1) stated on app 3 e-bikes but station was completely empty, 2) another station 5 classic and 2 e-bikes but just had 2 e-bikes marked for repair and then 3) station also had incorrect availability. This appears to be a systemic issue that has last throughout the day even after reporting it.

Paying annual members should not have to walk 20-30 minutes to multiple stations just to check to see if there is a bike available. What’s the point of having an app if it is completely incorrect. Considering this is a public/private partnership, I’ll be reaching out to appropriate city officials for resolution and awareness of this issue, which I’m sure breeches contractual agreements. Get your act together Divvy!!!