Bike-sharing programs are all the rage in major U.S. cities, but none have got it quite right the way Chicago has. In an announcement Tuesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said that the city's bike-sharing program, Divvy, will become available to low-income residents for $70 off — that is, it will cost only $5 total for a year of use. The city will even throw in a free helmet for the first 250 applicants.
The hope is that the usual bike-share riders — who tend to be wealthy, college-educated, white men — won't be the only ones taking advantage of eco-friendly transportation. But the new discounted price isn't all that makes Divvy's bikes more accessible. Unlike New York's program, Citi Bike, Divvy's stations aren't confined mainly to the wealthier neighborhoods. Divvy is the largest bike-sharing program in the States, with its service area stretching as far north as Chicago's Touhy Avenue, as far south as 75th Street, and as far west as Pulaski Road.
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