Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about CTA

Eyes on the Street: Halsted Street Cyclists Battle Drivers for Bike Lanes

By Steven Vance | May 22, 2014 | 35 Comments

Two readers have contacted Streetsblog to report that many Chicago Transit Authority bus operators and other Chicagoans are driving in Halsted Street’s buffered bike lane, between Division and North. Drivers appear to be taking to the bike lane to avoid queues on northbound Halsted as it approaches the busy three-way intersection at Clybourn and North Avenues. […]

CTA Should Take Cue from London With Automatic Day Passes

By Steven Vance | May 13, 2014 | 12 Comments

Transport for London, that city’s regional transit operator and planning agency, has had a “daily cap” on bus, tram, and train fares since 2005. The fare system stops charging pay-as-you-go riders for trips once they spend a certain amount, which depends on which services you use and zones you visit. This means that you’ll never spend more […]

Regional Transit Needs New Funding to Meet $20 Billion Backlog

By Steven Vance | Apr 2, 2014 | 3 Comments

Transit systems in Northeastern Illinois face a $20 billion maintenance backlog. Now the question is how to pay for it. Governor Pat Quinn’s Northeastern Illinois transit task force has shown some of the possibilities at the region’s disposal, but hasn’t staked out a position on how to secure the necessary revenue to keep Chicagoland’s track, […]

Emanuel, CTA President Come Out Against Unified Regional Transit Agency

By Steven Vance | Mar 18, 2014 | 21 Comments

The transit task force Governor Pat Quinn convened last year after the Metra governance scandal continues to discuss the merits of a single transit authority to replace the Regional Transportation Authority and absorb Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, and Pace. Count Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CTA President Forrest Claypool among the opponents of that idea. Emanuel […]

More State Control Over Chicagoland Transit Is a Bad Idea

By Steven Vance | Mar 13, 2014 | 33 Comments

On Tuesday, the Northeastern Public Transit Task Force, created after former Metra CEO Alex Clifford’s abrupt resignation and the ensuing severance package scandal last summer, issued four different options for restructuring regional transit governance [PDF]. While there’s a lot of variation among the four options, they would all hand more power to the governor. This is […]

RTA Downplays Effect of Service Cuts and Fare Hikes on Stagnant Ridership

By Steven Vance | Feb 28, 2014 | 34 Comments

In a new report [PDF], the Regional Transportation Authority blames weak ridership growth from 2008 to 2012 primarily on economic factors, glossing over the impact of fare hikes and service cuts. During the period covered by the report, CTA ridership grew 3.7 percent, while Metra ridership and Pace ridership each shrank by 6.3 percent. With every CTA […]

To Smooth Out the Blue Line Rehab, Divert Cars From Milwaukee

By Steven Vance | Feb 24, 2014 | 14 Comments

As the Chicago Transit Authority prepares to fix up Blue Line tracks, the agency is warning riders that they’ll face significant delays during the weekends when work is underway. But tens of thousands of transit riders would face less inconvenience if the city cleared some room on Milwaukee Avenue by diverting motor vehicle traffic. The […]

Albany Park to Walgreens: Make a Walkable Store, Not Curb Cuts and Parking

By Steven Vance | Jan 14, 2014 | 60 Comments

Members of Albany Park Neighbors, a grassroots group of local residents, are gearing up to convince Walgreens to change the company’s proposed suburban store design for Kimball and Lawrence to one that will work better for a walkable city neighborhood. Walgreens is proposing to demolish an office building with a Payless Shoe Source on the […]

Blue Line Rehab to Make Only a Single Station Accessible

By Steven Vance | Dec 19, 2013 | 21 Comments

The Chicago Transit Authority will spend $492 million rehabilitating tracks and stations on the Blue Line between the downtown subway and O’Hare airport in an effort to speed service and improve the customer experience. But the project will make only one station accessible to people with disabilities, out of 11 stations slated for a rehab that are […]

A Look at NYC’s Select Bus Service, and Why Ashland BRT Will Be Better

By Steven Vance | Dec 11, 2013 | 14 Comments

Last Sunday, on a trip to New York, I rode the M15 Select Bus Service route on First Avenue in Manhattan. SBS incorporates components of bus rapid transit but it doesn’t rise to the level of real BRT, according to standards laid out by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. Riding the M15 from 14th Street to […]

“Minimal Public Notice” for BRT Hearings? Not By a Long Shot

By John Greenfield | Dec 4, 2013 | 22 Comments

At next week’s open house meetings (see details below) on the CTA’s plan to create fast, efficient bus rapid transit on Ashland Avenue, there will probably be plenty of project opponents grumbling that the agency didn’t do a good enough job of publicizing the events. On Saturday, Roger Romanelli, leader of the anti-BRT group the […]

CTA Applies for Federal Grant to Fund Red-Purple Modernization

By Steven Vance | Nov 21, 2013 | 10 Comments

In a great example of President Obama’s “fix it first” strategy (improving existing infrastructure before building new), the Federal Transit Administration is changing one of its rules to allow the Chicago Transit Authority to apply for a large grant to help fund the $2-4 billion Red-Purple Modernization project. RPM would significantly upgrade some of CTA’s oldest […]

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