Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about CTA

Metra and Pace Maintain Support for Illiana at the Expense of Transit

By Steven Vance | Oct 18, 2013 | 20 Comments

Yesterday, 11 members of the Metropolitan Planning Organization policy committee, including Metra and Pace, voted to add the Illiana Tollway to the GO TO 2040 regional plan. This enables the Illinois DOT and Indiana DOT to move forward with the project approvals necessary to receive federal funds. It also sets the stage for huge sums to […]

Will Transit Reps Repeat Their Misguided Support for the Illiana Tomorrow?

By Steven Vance | Oct 16, 2013 | 9 Comments

Funding for major Chicagoland transit projects will be at stake tomorrow, when regional representatives convened by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning vote on whether to move forward with the Illiana Tollway. Even though approving the Illiana will jeopardize CTA and Metra improvements by adding competition for the same pot of funds, all four Chicagoland […]

Metra and Pace Vote For Transit-Crushing Illiana Tollway in Advisory Meeting

By Steven Vance | Oct 8, 2013 | 87 Comments

Chicago-area transportation organizations are poised to shoot themselves in the foot and harm the region by allowing the Illinois Department of Transportation Department to squander limited transportation infrastructure funds on the $2.75 billion Illiana Tollway. On Friday the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s transportation committee voted to recommend moving forward with this wasteful, destructive project, […]

Ventra Balance Transfer Events Exclude Chicago Card Plus

By Anne Alt | Oct 7, 2013 | 92 Comments

I recently attended a Ventra balance transfer event at Marquette Park. At these community events, CTA staffers are on hand to read the balance on residents’ existing farecards and transfer it to a Ventra card. It was an enlightening experience – but not in a good way. Critical bits of info about the transition process […]

Except for Pawar, Ashland Aldermen Sit on the Fence When It Comes to BRT

By Steven Vance | Oct 3, 2013 | 76 Comments

Ashland Avenue BRT could be a transformative project for Chicago, demonstrating the benefits of re-orienting streets to prioritize transit and walking. Projected to nearly double bus speeds, improve reliability, attract new riders, and improve pedestrian safety, Ashland BRT could potentially be the first world-class bus project in America, designed to a standard that would receive the […]

Debating Bus Rapid Transit With the Ashland-Western Coalition

By Lindsay Bayley | Sep 4, 2013 | 76 Comments

Guest contributor Lindsay Bayley lives with her husband in the Noble Square neighborhood, steps from the future Ashland bus rapid transit corridor, and is a year-round bicycle commuter. She works as a senior planner with the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), specializing in parking policy. The views expressed here do not represent CMAP’s stance […]

For Some College Students, Ventra Rollout Begins Today

By Steven Vance | Aug 5, 2013 | 14 Comments

The Chicago Transit Authority’s revenue director, Eric Reese, hosted a gaggle of reporters on Friday to show off the Ventra “outreach bus” and demonstrate, for the first time, a Ventra vending machine. Ventra is set to replace the current fare media for CTA and the Pace suburban bus system, including all passes, Chicago Card/Plus, and […]

IDOT Still Has Time to Make Peoria Street Great

By Steven Vance | Jul 19, 2013 | 5 Comments

As part of the Circle Interchange project, the Illinois Department of Transportation will rebuild many of the bridges around the confluence of three highways. One of them is the Peoria Street bridge, a vital connection that links two college buildings and West Loop residences north of the Eisenhower Expressway to the University of Illinois at Chicago […]

Eyes on the Street: The Red Line Without Tracks

By Steven Vance | Jul 15, 2013 | 11 Comments

Friday will mark two months since the Chicago Transit Authority began overhauling and upgrading the Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line. The reconstruction is quite visible: A little more than one month into the project, all of the tracks had been removed, and work on the stations was plain to see. The CTA reported last week […]

New York’s Experience Shows Ashland Bus Lanes Won’t Cause Carmaggedon

By Steven Vance | May 23, 2013 | 12 Comments

Converting a travel lane in each direction on Ashland Avenue to center-running bus lanes, greatly improving transit performance on the corridor, won’t lead to Chicago’s own version of Carmageddon (which actually never materialized). Data from New York City’s Select Bus Service on First and Second Avenues – where two travel lanes gave way to bus […]

Train in Vain: An Attempt to Win the ‘L’ Racing Crown Before the Red Rehab

By John Greenfield | May 20, 2013 | 6 Comments

[This article also ran in Checkerboard City, John Greenfield’s weekly transportation column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets in print on Wednesday evenings.] Two Saturdays ago on National Train Day, my transit-racing brother-in-arms Danny Resner and I tried to write a new chapter in the saga of competitive CTA riding, AKA the ‘L’ Challenge. […]

Adapting Car-Share Ads to Market Bike-Share

By Steven Vance | May 7, 2013 | 14 Comments

On a recent trip on my “other bike,” AKA the ‘L,’ I spotted two advertisements promoting Zipcar that could have easily been converted into advertisements for bike-share. Car-share and bike-share serve different purposes, but there’s also some overlap — car-share providers want to capture some trips that you could also make on a public bike. […]

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