Divvy Coasts Onto Chicago Streets

"To hear the Chicago Tribune tell it, people who used the city’s new Divvy bike-share system on its first day of operations last Friday experienced nothing but headaches," writes John Greenfield. "But on Sunday, I rode a Divvy to all 68 of the new docking stations, and witnessed only a few problems, most of them minor. I also spoke to plenty of satisfied customers, and walked away from my 12-hour, 40-mile odyssey mostly unscathed."

"During my 'Tour de Divvy' on Sunday, the vast majority of bike-share users I encountered seemed generally pleased with the service," says Greenfield. But the author also details his own experiences with full and malfunctioning stations. New York's Citi Bike service suffered from some of the same problems.

"After interviewing a few disgruntled customers on the launch day, the Trib’s Jon Hilkevitch had written, 'Chicago’s federally funded Divvy bicycle-sharing program rolled out on Friday, and the shared experience some customers came away with was frustration,' adds Greenfield. "But my grand, if grueling, saga from station to station wasn’t frustrating. I had a blast."

Perhaps functionality is in the eye of the beholder.