Divvy Bikeshare System Support

During my time at Sam Schwartz (now TYLin), I was instrumental in the rollout of the Divvy bikeshare system citywide. I personally helped select the location of dozens of Divvy stations in new expansion areas, and physically surveyed every potential site for conflicts with installation. I traveled throughout Chicago, giving me the opportunity to explore parts of the city that I would otherwise not have found myself in. After surveying each site and recording the location of curbs, street markings, manholes, trees, sidewalks, etc., I uploaded a drawing of the site so the lead engineer on the project could confirm if the station could actually fit in the proposed location. During this process I survey 300+ potential Divvy station locations over my time at Sam Schwartz, both filling my camera roll and giving me deeper insight into the technical side of bikeshare.

While at Sam Schwartz, I also performed analysis on the Divvy system to determine the best way to use underutilized assets. When Divvy began to upgrade all lightweight stations (essentially just a branded bike rack that can only accept e-bikes) to heavyweight stations (regular bikeshare station), I helped determine potential locations that would benefit most from additional e-bike storage and presented the information to Lyft. This gave me exposure to large datasets (there were 6.6 MILLION Divvy rides in 2024 alone), and allowed me to work with unique micromobility data. I developed a love of micromobility work through these project and others for the Divvy system.

Example of a lightweight Divvy Station

Divvy siting slide that was presented to aldermen prior to surveying