Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about transit

With Seattle Transit Funds Under Siege By State Legislators, the Governor Rides to the Rescue

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 5, 2017 | No Comments

Things are looking up transit riders in Washington, where Democratic Governor Jay Inslee fended off attacks on transit funding. But in Ohio, Republican Governor John Kasich delivered a blow to transit service with a stroke of his veto pen.

Atlanta has nine parking spaces (nine!) for every car. A tax on parking could fund both transit and below-market housing. Image via ThreadATL

What If Atlanta Taxed Parking to Keep Housing Affordable?

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 3, 2017 | No Comments

A tax on parking could generate funds for affordable housing and transit in Atlanta. The question is whether the city has the political appetite to enact it.

An All-Too-Rare Idea to Improve Transit: Put People Who Ride Transit in Charge

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 30, 2017 | No Comments

It's hard to improve transit service if the people who oversee transit policy don't know what makes for good service. And yet, agency boards are often dominated by political hacks with little or no transit expertise -- many don't even know what it's like to ride the transit systems they oversee. Dallas is trying something different.

Indianapolis has a big downtown, but the bus network is not set up to serve it well, and compact development is scarce in the rest of the city. Photo: Evan Walsh/Wikimedia Commons

Can Transit Work Well in a Sprawling City Like Indianapolis?

By Yonah Freemark | Jun 22, 2017 | No Comments

Transit service in Indianapolis is scarce and very few people use the existing system. A key reason for these lackluster outcomes is the city's sprawling pattern of development.

Atlanta’s Raising $2.5 Billion to Invest in Transit. Will It Be Money Well-Spent?

By Yonah Freemark | Jun 2, 2017 | No Comments

The city seems to have learned from mistakes like its mixed-traffic streetcar and is looking to give future transit lines dedicated rights of way. Still, there are many more decisions ahead that will determine whether the city spends $2.5 billion in new transit revenue well or not.

"Are you here illegally?" is not a question that Twin Cities transit police are supposed to ask. Image: Ricardo Levins Morales/Facebook

Riding Transit Should Never Be a Pathway to Deportation

By Stephen Miller | Jun 1, 2017 | No Comments

A sad story has been unfolding over the past few weeks in the Twin Cities, where a transit fare enforcement stop led to a man being deported. The officer who initiated the stop, Andy Lamers, has since been fired, but it was too late for the passenger, Ariel Vences-Lopez, 23.

A re-election campaign ad last year for Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez promised "more rail lines." Now, he seems more enamored with self-driving cars. Image: Carlos Gimenez/YouTube

Miami’s Future Should Be Transit and Walking, But the Mayor’s Focused on Robot Cars

By Stephen Miller | May 26, 2017 | No Comments

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez is in charge of executing an ambitious transit expansion plan -- but lately, in a spectacular example of missing the point, he's been talking up autonomous cars as the ultimate transportation solution.

Trump’s Budget Is a Disaster for Transit, and His Infrastructure Plan Is a Gift to Wall Street

By Stephen Miller | May 24, 2017 | No Comments

The Trump administration's fiscal year 2018 budget, released yesterday, includes severe cuts to federal transit funding. Next stop: Congress, which will consider the president's proposal before it passes a budget over the summer.

Transit does not exist to make gridlock disappear for drivers. Image: Sound Transit

Don’t Judge Transit By the Gridlock on Nearby Roads

By Stephen Miller | May 18, 2017 | No Comments

Transit can be a success without making car trips faster.

Currently, streetcars get bogged down down in private car traffic on King Street, Toronto's busiest surface transit route. A new plan would divert private vehicles out of the path of transit. Photo: booledozer/Flickr

Toronto Has a Plan to Clear the Way for Streetcars Stuck in Traffic

By Stephen Miller | May 15, 2017 | No Comments

Toronto's busiest surface transit route could get a big upgrade as part of a year-long pilot project -- if it clears the Toronto City Council this summer, where suburban interests have a history of rejecting transit initiatives.

Even though they weren't asked for it, consultant Kimley-Horn drew a fantasy map that would involve new projects designed and built by firms like Kimley-Horn. Image via CATS

Charlotte Transit Has Problems That Expensive Fantasy Maps Won’t Fix

By Stephen Miller | May 10, 2017 | No Comments

Kimley-Horn, a multinational consulting firm looking to plan the next phases of the Charlotte area's rail expansion, also has ideas for new rail lines above and beyond the region's long-term blueprint -- projects that would be designed and built, naturally, by multinational consulting firms like Kimley-Horn. Trouble is, the firm's fantasy exercise does nothing to address the real challenges facing Charlotte's transit network.

Indy's Red Line BRT was one of the transit projects spared from cuts in Congress's budget. Image: IndyGo

House and Senate Decline Trump’s Request to Gut Transit Funding, For Now

By Stephen Miller | May 2, 2017 | No Comments

Yesterday, Congress came out with a funding package that keeps the government operating until the end of September. Officially, it's known as the omnibus appropriations package for fiscal year 2017. Unofficially, it's a Republican Congress ignoring the wishes of President Donald J. Trump, and for transit projects around the country, it's what amounts to good news these days.

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