Steven Vance – Page 46

Alderman interview series: Choose the next alderman

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“On Bicycles” contributors John and Greg Borzo are showing off what you can win if you vote for the next alderman to interview. Photo by Serge Lubomudrov.

John has so far published interviews with four Chicago alderman about sustainable transportation in his project to interview all 50. He’ll publish an interview next week with 7th Ward alderwoman Sandi Jackson, upping the count to five. We’re hosting a contest on our Facebook page to choose the next alderman John should interview.

There are 5 randomly selected alderman listed as options and you can add your own suggestion: vote now!

We’ll hold a drawing this weekend, randomly choosing a voter to win one of two books: Bars Across America and On Bicycles.

The aldermen so far:

Chicago bike sharing: Where is it now? and other conversations

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A woman rides a bike sharing bike in Seville, Spain. Women may be an exclusive target market for bike sharing in Chicago where, as a portion of trips to work, make up only 25%. Photo by Claudio Medina.

We’re expecting a bike sharing announcement very soon, within 1-2 weeks. I thought it would have happened by now, as the City gave itself a deadline of the new year. I can only guess how this delay will affect the launch. Before the announcement comes, though, I wanted to discuss a few ideas and concerns. So this isn’t much of an update but more like, “Hey, bike sharing’s still a thing even though you last heard about it in October!”

What is bike sharing?

It’s a new transit system, using durable bicycles that have lights, a few speeds, quality brakes, and a cargo basket, taking you from where you are to anywhere in the network, just like the CTA. You pick up a bike from Station A and drop it off at Station B. You pay a small membership fee for a month or a year, and all trips under 30 minutes are free*.

“Unless you walk to work, there’s simply no cheaper way to go,” said Josh Stephens, 37, of Adams Morgan [in Washington, D.C.]. “The cost savings have been ridiculous.” Washington Post

Continue reading Chicago bike sharing: Where is it now? and other conversations

Grid Shots: 1,000 photos in our Flickr group

Thank you for adding 1,000 photos of sustainable transportation in Chicago to our Flickr group. When you add your photos to our Flickr group, they will appear on the sidebar (scroll down and to the left) as well as on our photos page. And we look there to find photos to lead articles. Here are the latest five that were added.

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Photo of a Metra train on the BNSF track (to/from Aurora, Illinois) by Ben. Continue reading Grid Shots: 1,000 photos in our Flickr group

Mayor’s comments to Chicago Tribune about speed cameras

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Crossing the street shouldn’t be so daunting that you see a cross on the other side. Photo by Gabriel Michael.

I posted Saturday a link to the Chicago Tribune’s article about their interview with Mayor Emanuel. They also published the transcript of that 90 minute talk, which I didn’t see until after publishing the post. I’m not going to stop following the speed camera issue. It’s directly related to street safety and active transportation and I’ve not found good research that shows that speed cameras don’t reduce speeding.

Notice in the third paragraph of the first excerpt that Mayor Emanuel is committing all resources (which I interpret as revenues from speeding tickets issued by the automated speed camera enforcement system) to “increasing public safety for children near schools and parks”. The act, now an Illinois law since last Monday, includes specific directives on how the money can be spent although one of them is extremely broad.

Here are some excerpts from that interview I think are relevant to the discussion of speed camera placement in Chicago. They are not the most key in whether or not we should have cameras, but comment on how the City administration is handling the public information campaign. Continue reading Mayor’s comments to Chicago Tribune about speed cameras

These three Illinois representatives will thankfully oppose the disastrous transportation bill

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Transit and highway, side-by-side, along the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago. The current and proposed funding situations are insufficient for both, as the gas tax is a flat rate that hasn’t changed since 1993. Photo by Eric Rogers.

For the past two weeks, I’ve been reporting on a transportation bill in the House of Representatives that kills funding for transit (which millions of people across the country depend on to get to work) and bicycle and walking infrastructure. There’s evidence that the bill may die on the House floor next week, thanks in part to three Illinois representatives who are voicing their opposition:

Congressmen who represent Chicago’s suburbs finally are weighing in on that transportation bill that’s due to hit the House floor next week, and they don’t like what they see.

In a flurry of statements after several days of quiet review, U.S. Reps. Robert Dold [10th district], Judy Biggert [13th district] and Adam Kinzinger [11th district] — all Republicans — flatly say or strongly suggest that they cannot support the bill drafted by House GOP leadership. From ChicagoBusiness.com.

Continue reading These three Illinois representatives will thankfully oppose the disastrous transportation bill

Weekend open thread: Speed cameras, yea or nay?

Watch this video of a small experiment conducted by Volkswagen in Sweden where people who sped funded a lottery that those who didn’t speed were automatically entered into.

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Watch The Speed Camera Lottery on YouTube.

Will speed cameras successfully reduce speeding and injuries in Chicago? Would you support such a speed camera lottery? Do you ever think the speed camera lottery would “die”, meaning that people would stop speeding and the lottery would no longer have revenue? Continue reading Weekend open thread: Speed cameras, yea or nay?