Beyond Chicago – Page 22

A car-free exodus to Zion

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Camping in Illinois Beach State Park.

[This piece also ran in Newcity magazine.]

There’s a bunch of state parks near Chicago accessible by commuter rail and/or bicycle including Indiana Dunes, Chain O’ Lakes and Kettle Moraine. But the easiest, oddest camping trip you can take without a car is a weekend excursion to Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, hometown of the band Local H, near the northeast corner of the state. Continue reading A car-free exodus to Zion

The state of transit trackers in Chicago

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A CTA passenger waits for a train in the snow at Belmont Brown Line station. Photo by Mike Priorie.

Knowing when your bus or train is about to come can help you make better decisions. “Do I have enough time to get coffee from the shop across the street?” “Can I pack my own lunch today?” “If I miss this bus because I can’t find my good shoes, how long will it be to the next one”? I’m sure we’ve all asked ourselves these questions*. The Chicago Transit Authority’s transit tracking services can help with the answers. Continue reading The state of transit trackers in Chicago

Comparing three Android transit tracker apps

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Transit Tracks makes it very easy to find stops near you, and doesn’t place restrictions on how many appear in the map.

I reviewed only the free versions. Updated October 19, 2011, to add a third transit tracker app.

	Chicago Transit Tracker Lite	Transit Tracks	TreKing 4 Free
Pros	Locates nearest bus stop Shows system alerts from CTA Shows current temperature Shows time of last update	Locates ALL nearby bus stops using your GPS Has a more logical method to manually select bus stops and train stations Allows you to group favorite stops/stations Has better aesthetics – easier to read favorites listing User swipes the screen to show the opposite direction bus or train System map shows the familiar Google Maps and allows user to select nearby bus stops and train stations When no more service, reports “No running buses”	Pro version offers Metra schedules and Pace bus predictions (I didn’t test this) Very logical method to select your bus stop or train station (this is called a “trek”) Lets you save a custom name for a specific stop or station (but gives predefined name) Allows you to group saved stops/stations Quick Treks feature locates nearby stops and stations Pro version has a trip planner (“Trek Planner”) Move, rename, or delete groups by holding your finger on the group (very easy) It appears you can set alerts in the pay version that tell you when to get off the bus/train, or when the bus/train is about to arrive In the pay version you can add time to the prediction so you’re less likely to miss a bus/train if it’s early
Cons	Only displays a single nearby bus stop in free version using your GPS Shows ads in free version Favorites listing appears in a confusing way Shows ALL system alerts, and not ones relevant to my favorite routes System map loads a CTA website When no more service, reports “No arrival times” To add a favorite stop manually, text search function works in unexpected way To add a favorite stop manually, the choices are confusing. There are 4 choices for Addison-Blue, one for each possible terminus (Forest Park, Jefferson Park, O’Hare, UIC)	Does not retrieve system alerts from CTA Does not show temperature Does not show time of last update Shows ads	When you first select CTA Trains as the system you want to track, a huge list of confusing caveats shows up. I don’t think they’re all true. Method to select your trip route takes a lot of time Selecting a “To Stop”, which is optional, doesn’t change anything Shows ads Quick Trek feature in free version limited to 1/8th mile (one block) There isn’t a function you do without the app showing a popup to tell you about the pay version Map nearly useless in free version: it will only show bus stop with ID 1 Map nearly useless in free version: it will only show bus route with route 1, Indiana/Hyde Park Map in free version doesn’t show bus location in real-time “Trek Planner” in free version only shows trip from your location to Sears Tower or Navy Pier – your choice!

On grouping: One group could be for the stops/stations you use to get to work and the other group could be for the return trip.

My recommendation: Transit Tracks. It’s very hard to review TreKing 4 Free because it seems most features are only available in the pay version.

Switching priorities: Giving $27 billion to national transit instead of roads

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A Metra train passes over a congested highway in Chicago.

Congress is “debating” (it doesn’t always seem like a debate but a shouting match full of poorly chosen words) President Obama’s American Jobs Act right now; the latest news is that the Senate has rewritten the bill to add a new 5% tax on income above $1 million. The bill also includes allocations and competitive grant funding for capital* infrastructure projects, for Amtrak, transit, and road (which would include a tiny bit for bicycle and pedestrian projects) and bridge repair and other types. Read the Act.

Infrastructurist has an idea on how that money could be distributed differently:

Take Obama’s latest proposed jobs bill, which includes $27 billion for immediate spending on highways and bridges, and around $9 billion for rail. Clearly, that’s a huge tilt. What about changing that ratio of fund distribution, on the basis that nearly every large city is currently working to introduce transit? In other words, what if we gave $27 billion to transit, and $9 billion to roads?

It’s already been shown that bike lanes and transit projects provide more jobs for the dollar than road building.

Bicycling infrastructure creates the most jobs for a given level of spending: For each $1 million, the cycling projects in this study create a total of 11.4 jobs within the state where the project is located.

…road-only projects create the least, with a total of 7.8 jobs per $1 million. (Reuters)

We’re for giving transit the funding priority.

*In some cases the bill allows for 10% of the money received to be used for operating expenses.

Grid Bits: UP-North construction to restart, taxi drivers and street safety, new CTA Loop station

John and I are still gathering information for our Open Streets article, which will be co-written and published Tuesday. Also on Tuesday is another public meeting about the Bloomingdale Trail, where the designers and consultants will showcase the results of this past weekend’s open house and charrettes (I went on Saturday). I will publish an article about the Tuesday presentation on Thursday, October 6. There are five stories in this edition of Grid Bits.

Streets

(1) Taxi drivers

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Click on the photo to read the photographer’s caption. I found this by searching on Flickr for “stupid taxi chicago” in order to find people’s opinions. Photo by Nick Normal.

The Chicago Tribune reported on September 23, 2011, that many of the tickets Chicago police give to taxi drivers are dismissed in court. When a taxi driver receives commits three moving violations in one year, they risk having their chauffeur’s license not renewed. Continue reading Grid Bits: UP-North construction to restart, taxi drivers and street safety, new CTA Loop station

Weekend events: two ciclovías, two Bloomingdale Trail charrettes, and two bike rides

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A car-free Ridge Avenue in Evanston, Illinois. Photo by Esther Chicago.

It’s a busy weekend for bicycling events and the next step in the Bloomingdale Trail design process. The weather forecast on AccuWeather.com shows sunny and 60°F on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Open Streets
10 AM to 3 PM
1 N State Street

Enjoy the ultimate urban playground as State Street opens for pedestrians only to play, walk, bike and enjoy healthy recreation in the heart of the Loop on a seven-block stretch of State Street, from Lake Street to Van Buren Street, into an urban playground for all ages, Saturday, October 1, from 10 AM to 3 PM.
Continue reading Weekend events: two ciclovías, two Bloomingdale Trail charrettes, and two bike rides