If we can’t have it, we want it all the more.
That’s what I felt when I looked at the map in the Oak Leaves of the 13 proposed locations for Divvy bike rental stations set to come to Oak Park next year.
I doubt that I will be a Divvy bike user. It’s been many a year since I was a bike rider. I am, alas, addicted to the internal-combustion engine.
But, I didn’t want to think that my neighborhood would be discriminated against when it came to divvying up Divvy station locations.
Maybe I’m always on the lookout for bias since I live in south Oak Park. We south Oak Parkers always are afraid that north Oak Park residents are getting something we aren’t.
It’s irrational, I know, but there you are.
So in those would-be bike stations, I counted three possible locations south of or near the Eisenhower Expressway. Three out of 13. Hmm.
What, I wondered, are the criteria for placing the bike rental stations?
As reported in Oak Leaves, a study by the Active Transportation Alliance would put the majority of Divvy stations near Lake Street, the Eisenhower Expressway or Madison Street. They are intended to be near transit stations, one official said.
A good idea, it sounds like.
But I don’t quite understand how it all would work. If the Divvy stations are huddled near transit stops, how do would-be bike renters get to those transit-stops to rent a bike?
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As for driving to them, where would they park? And using a car to get to a bike rental station seems to defeat the whole purpose.
Bike renting has two parts – getting the bike and leaving the bike. You can’t do one without the other.
Might it be better to place the Divvy stations near the village’s major shopping areas?
But, again, how does a would-be shopper get to those stations if there isn’t a Divvy station near his or her home to rent a bike to pedal to a shopping area?
This is a puzzler. Is the answer “more stations”?
Oak Park can set up just so many bike rental stations with a state grant that also funds expanding the Divvy system in Evanston and some Chicago neighborhoods.
Luckily for me – and for Oak Park, too – it’s not up to me where the Divvy stations should go. That ball is in the village board’s court.
If it will help any, I forgo a Divvy station near my home.
But a nearby Steak ‘n Shake would be nice.
Paul Sassone is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.