Divvy Bikes

In Chicago for three days during decent weather, so these bikes are a great option. The bikes are super fun to ride. I have run into multiple problems in the first 24 hours with this app misleading me into purchasing either an annual pass or a day pass that does not actually cover the bike rides. The annual pass button popped up at my first ride in a place that appeared to be me agreeing to begin a ride. The app developers have created a deceptively and problematically frictionless purchase process; They are fronting more expensive upgrade products with without fully disclosing what you were buying or ensuring that that is what you really want. I had the same experience with a day pass the next morning. I understood that I was buying a day pass at least that would cover all my bike rides for the day, which was perfect since I am only in town for few days. The problem is the app does not clearly delineate between what are called “classic bikes,” and “E bikes” the latter of which are still charged in addition to the day pass. Although the physical product of writing, what turns out to be the Bike is actually really positive, this is a major issue of buyer beware and predatory app design. I had no trouble finding bikes they were charged and worked. Sometimes finding a dock was really annoying and you still get charged if you bring it to a docking station and park it there if the docks are full.

I went to Chicago for a weekend getaway. Had about a 2 hour walk from the union station to our hotel so thought “why not try out Divvy and explore Chicago”. I chose a bike that I guess wasn’t working properly and my SO chose the only scooter at that divvy station. The scooter worked great, however, the bike seemed to be struggling with pedaling. We decided to go park them at the next divvy station after a mile that took me an hour to ride since the bike wasn’t functioning correctly. It wasn’t locking in so I contacted CS and it seemed to stop the timer(so I thought). Fast forward to the next day and my card was charged $110 for a broken bike that I rode for 1 mile and for only 1 hour. I tried contacting CS and they toyed me around saying ”you’ll receive an email 24-48 hours to help with your issue”. To no surprise, no email was sent to me. I then went and opened up another chat and was given the same bull$hit. I decided to not be so kind after that and threatened that I would not be referring them to anyone else, and that they will not be getting a 5 star rating from me. It was about 30 minutes later that I finally got an email regarding that a refund of $97 has been sent back to me. All in all, I did not have the best experience and almost thought I was just out the full $110 for a NOT great ride. They were about to get a one star rating from me but since I got my refund (after having to be not so nice), I decided to give them a 3 star considering my SO enjoyed himself on the scooter. Save yourself the hassle, don’t use divvy, or at least the divvy bikes!

Absolutely horrible if you want to rely on it as a form of transportation. If you want to take random rides for fun, I guess it’s fine. Their bikes are insanely heavy and hard to maneuver. The seats are impossible to adjust. The baskets they have are completely useless so you better not have anything that you need to bring with you. The e bikes are kind of good but same basket issue and you can never find them or their batteries are dead. And then there’s the issue of the docks. It’s feast or famine. They either have completely full docks so you can’t lock up the bike you have or there’s no bikes available. I tried using it as my commute to work but the complete lack of dependability on their end meant I was either going to be late or I had to use different transport. And then it’s only financially feasible if you pay for the year which if you only use it occasionally is not worth it. I don’t understand. I’ve used bike shares in other cities and they are leaps and bounds better than divvy. The bikes actually work, they have decent baskets so if you have a bag to tote it’s not a problem, you can actually find the bikes and there’s plenty of docks. Also, be wary of the e bikes because I had a $15 ride recently that was only 5 miles because I happened to be in a higher COL area. Save your money and buy yourself a bike that actually works, take the el, walk, drive. Don’t use divvy.