So why are women riding Divvy less often than men, and why is women’s share of Divvy trips smaller than their share of overall bike trips in Chicago?Īccording to the League of American Bicyclists’ Women Bike Report, more women than men say they don’t bike because they need to “carry more stuff,” and fewer women than men “say they’re confident riding on all roads with traffic.” The authors also concluded that “in the United States, travel patterns tend to be more complex for women than men, due to childcare and household responsibilities.” The reverse seems to be true in Chicago.Īpproximately 27 percent of Chicago bike commuters are women, and according to the most recent available data (from 2009), women made 24 percent of bike trips nationally. In New York City, where Citi Bike launched in May 2013, students at Hunter College observed that women accounted for 31 percent of Citi Bike riders, compared to about 24 percent of other cyclists, not including delivery workers. This is out of sync with other bike-share systems, which tend to see a greater share of female riders than the cycling population at large. Women make up 31 percent of the membership, but the trip data showed that women made only 21 percent of the trips. Chicago Spectrum was the first to point out that there’s a large gap between male and female Divvy members. Use Transitized’s Divvy Explorer app to get more info about how men and women ride Divvy.ĭivvy’s data release last month raised as many questions as it answered about bike-share use in Chicago.

Here’s a breakdown of all Divvy trips in 2013, including the disproportionate share of trips by men.

Divvy travel