Chicago sets record with 11 million trips on Divvy bikes and shared scooters in 2024

CHICAGO (CBS) -- More people in Chicago are using rented bikes and scooters to get around than ever before.

The Chicago Department of Transportation said more than 11 million trips were taken on shared bikes and scooters in 2024, a new annual record.

"Chicago's record-breaking ridership on bikes and scooters highlights our collective commitment to building a greener, healthier, and more connected city," Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a statement.

The total number of 11,028,554 trips includes rides on shared Divvy bikes, alongside rides on shared scooters from Divvy, Lime, and Spin, according to CDOT spokeswoman Erica Schroeder. That's compared to 8,745,481 trips on Divvy Bikes and scooters; and Lime, Spin and Superpedestrian scooters in 2023. Superpedestrian stopped operating shared scooters in Chicago in September 2023.

City officials said Divvy – owned and operated by Lyft – has set new ridership records four years in a row. Divvy had a record 6,681,480 trips on bikes and scooters in 2024, up from 6,603,071 trips in 2023.

Last year, the city launched an effort to add 400 new Divvy stations across the Northwest, Southwest, and Far South Sides over the next few years, in an effort to have four bike-sharing stations per square mile, with the focus on having Divvy stations located near CTA and Metra stations to promote more use of mass transit.

The city also plans to add dozens of new electrified Divvy stations, which can charge Divvy bikes and scooters, reducing the need for city workers to swap out their batteries.

City officials said electrifying just 110 of the city's more than 1,000 Divvy stations could eliminate nearly 80% of battery swapping. That would eliminate 100,000 vehicle miles driven by city workers each year to swap out batteries, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 48 tons per year.

Divvy bikes first launched in Chicago in 2013.

Chicago first tested the use of shared scooters in 2019, but after a deluge of complaints about users improperly parking and abandoning scooters anywhere they pleased, the city launched a second pilot program in 2020, with stricter rules on where to park them. Shared scooters now need to be parked and locked to bike racks, parking meters, street signs, or light poles.