Recently, Tech in Motion: Chicago featured presenters Elliot Greenberger, the Deputy General Manager with Alta Bicycle Share (the operator of the Divvy bike share system) and Scott Kubly, Managing Deputy at the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT). Together they discussed how government and private companies/startups can work together to help better our communities.
If you live in Chicago, there’s no way you could’ve missed the blue bicycles riding around town, and many of you probably live near a docking station where the bikes are parked. Fun fact: the docking stations are solar powered!
The presentations kicked off with Elliot talking about Alta Bicycle Share and his role in the project. He was the Marketing Director for the launch of Divvy, and currently serves as Deputy General Manager overseeing marketing and operations. Divvy boasts 4,000 bikes and 400 stations across the city and is intended to provide Chicagoans with an additional transportation option for getting around the city.
A bike sharing system consists of a fleet of specially designed, heavy-duty, very durable bikes that are locked into a network of docking stations located throughout a city. Divvy bikes can be rented from and returned to any station in the system, creating an efficient network with many possible combinations of start and end points.
Then Scott went on to talk about his role in this. He’s the Managing Deputy Commissioner at CDOT. His focus while at CDOT has been implementing Divvy and installing 100 miles of protected bike lanes, making roads safer through installing speed cameras in Children’s Safety Zones, Bus Rapid Transit, and activating our public space. Prior to joining CDOT, Scott served as Associate Director of the District of Columbia Department of Transportation, managing their transit services, bike sharing and streetcar program.
We then opened up for a Q&A. One of our favorite questions asked was where they saw themselves in 3-5 years, to which Scott and Elliot answered, “Well, to the best of my knowledge, Chicago will still be around.” Another great question was about Divvy’s plans for the bikes during winter. They are maintaining service, just with fewer bikes. They did confirm that an API is in their future, there just hasn’t been enough time to launch it yet. So get those 3rd party apps ready, it’s coming!
After the rousing Q&A, the group stuck around for networking and a quick demo by Lisa Abdilova from Microsoft, our sponsor for the event. She did and awesome job and surprised everyone with free teeshirts!
Overall, it was a great event and we appreciate everyone who came out for it and helped make it awesome! And don't forget to RSVP for Chicago's next event about Engaging Your Startup Community in the Digital Age!