Chicago Bike Sharing System
Sam Schwartz, North American subsidiary of GPO Group, was retained by the City of Chicago’s Department of Transportation to plan and design the city’s bike sharing system. The planning process began with an analysis of the ideal service area and station densities, based on neighborhood characteristics. Individual station locations were selected based on criteria including safety factors, connectivity to transit, user experience, system operation, funding availability, advertisement value, and impact on pedestrian mobility, among others. The Divvy bikeshare program launched in 2013 with 300 stations and 3,000 bikes.