Divvy will offer $3 single-ride passes and more

Divvy is changing up ride costs and trip times in the hopes of attracting more users, according to the city bike sharing program.

Beginning on February 1, Divvy will offer $3 single rides for a 30-minute trips between two stations. By providing this alternative, the bike share program aims to capture new riders that might be put off by the current $9.95 24-hour pass or $99 yearly membership.

A new $15 Explorer Pass will replace the 24-hour pass. Divvy will also throw out the 30-minute trip limit and complicated overage pricing for something much simpler.

Bikers with the Explorer Pass can take up to three hours leisurely biking without checking into a station during the 24 hour cycle. If you haven’t docked the bike after three hours, it will cost $3 for every additional 30 minutes. That charge is standard across all fare options.

The cost of annual membership remains the same, although members will now get 45 minutes instead of 30 minutes for trips between stations.

Last year Divvy tested out a payment method that allowed bikers to purchase passes with their Ventra card. While there’s no word on that yet, Divvy does expect to see that change this year.

The announcement comes just a week after Oak Park decided to ditch Divvy and end the program in their community, according to news from the Chicago Tribune. Residents and local officials cited low ridership as one of the reasons and thought the program was money down the drain.

In Chicago though, Divvy has some pretty hardcore riders. Last year’s top rider was Kerdia Roland, who biked a mind-boggling 6,275 miles mostly making food deliveries. The rest of Divvy riders ended up biking 7.3 million miles (that’s 293 trips around the earth) in 2017.

• Divvy bikers took a record number of trips in 2017 [Curbed Chicago]
• Introducing new ways to ride February 1st [Divvy]
• After less than 2 years, Divvy bike sharing to end in Oak Park due to low ridership [Chicago Tribune]