The coming years promise Evanston residents improvements in bike lane infrastructure. But how active is Evanston’s biker community? A multi-year dataset of bikesharing trips operated by Divvy — a public bikesharing system owned by the Chicago Department of Transportation that expanded to Evanston in 2016 — offers part of the picture.
The Daily filtered publicly available data about Divvy trips in order to gain Evanston-specific insights. Here’s what the data reveals.
Of 1,062 total Divvy stations, 12 are in Evanston, all of which have 15 total docks in service. Five additional stops are planned for 2026.
Since the pandemic, overall Divvy usage has spiked, with 2025 recording a record-breaking 6.8 million trips taken. Rides around Evanston account on average for less than one percent of that, with Divvy trips around the city totaling more than 238,000 since 2020.
Every year, approximately two-thirds of bike rides both start and end in Evanston. The other third of rides either started or ended in the city, coming from or riding into Chicago.
In 2025, 34.5% of Divvy trips in Evanston began or ended at Northwestern, suggesting that most Divvy trips around Evanston are by students.
Most Divvy trips around Evanston since 2020 were also taken by people with a Divvy membership.
An analysis of bicycle trips shows that Evanston residents use Divvy for multiple reasons, whether it’s running errands or commuting to and from work.
Evanston’s data aligns with broader trends found across the Divvy dataset. While 2025’s Divvy usage was low compared to previous years, the future addition of bike lanes around Evanston seeks to increase ridership around the city.
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