Could dockless bike share disrupt Chicago?

The American dockless boom got rolling in Seattle this summer after the city’s traditional bike-share system, Pronto, tanked due to low ridership, blamed on a relatively small number of poorly located stations, plus a local helmet law. Currently San Francisco’s Spin and Beijing’s Ofo as well as LimeBike, in San Mateo, California, each have more than 2,000 bikes in the city, with plans for expansion. (Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s former senior adviser David Spielfogel is a board member with LimeBike, and former Chicago Department of Transportation commissioner Gabe Klein, who oversaw the 2013 Divvy launch, joined Spin’s board earlier this month.) In comparison, Divvy currently has about 6,000 cycles and 580 stations.
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