Author: Steven Vance

Zipments shipping marketplace may change local goods delivery

Part 2, interview and chat with Brandon, now published. 

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Brandon Gobel riding his Bullitt on Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square.

While reading my friend Mikael’s Copenhagenize blog, I saw a video featuring a guy in Chicago who delivers goods around town on a Larry vs. Harry Bullitt (a Danish Long John-style cargo bike).

Chicago? Cargo bike? I had to know more.

The courier is Brandon Gobel, a former tractor and semi-truck driver in Ukrainian Village; the video was created by Zipments. Brandon rides a John Player Spezial Bullitt from Splendid Cycles – Chicago has its own dealer – and uses Zipments to find courier jobs.

Continue reading Zipments shipping marketplace may change local goods delivery

Grid Shots – Kennedy edition

All three of today’s Grid Shots photos come from Eric Rogers and feature the Kennedy “Expressway.”

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Passing Blue Line trains. With the Chicago Transit Authority’s new 5000-series train cars, the Blue Line will get the Pink Line’s 2600-series cars, to replace the butterfly doors (the oldest car in the system). Read more about the distribution on Chicago-L.org.

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A Blue Line train races traffic. 

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Stand over a Chicago highway for five minutes and you’ll quickly realize that the traffic never ends. This is the Kennedy Expressway (I-90/94) near Montrose. 

As always, we invite you to add your photos of sustainable transportation in Chicagoland to the Flickr group.

Grid Bits: Tolls rising, BRT on Western, Andersonville needs bike parking

Grid Bits is a new series I’m experimenting with – it comes in the same vein as Grid Shots. While Shots features photos our Flickr group contributors take, Bits is a collection of abstracts on diverse topics around Chicagoland. Each paragraph is a new story.

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Photo of project advertisement in front of the future Oakton Street station.

Continue reading Grid Bits: Tolls rising, BRT on Western, Andersonville needs bike parking

Open discussion: What suggestions do you have for bikes on trains?

Update: Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) blogged a new report about this connection. I haven’t read it yet, though. 

I am passionate about the nexus of bicycling and transit, and I’ve written often on Steven Can Plan about how bikes are stored on trains in the United States and around the world. When I travel, I look at this relationship closely.

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Bikes on the subway in Seoul, South Korea. Photographer unknown. 

Recently I’ve had several discussions with people (the latest while volunteering at Pitchfork Festival in early July 2011) about getting bikes on the South Shore Line that goes to Indiana. What I’ve learned is that it will probably take an act of legislation to make this happen, as well as a reconfiguration of the trains. This is what forced Metra to change its policies, but they caved before the legislation passed. Continue reading Open discussion: What suggestions do you have for bikes on trains?

Wicker Park(ing): Chicago debuts its first on-street bike corral

This is the first post co-written by both Grid Chicago bloggers. 

Last Friday’s ribbon cutting for the new on-street bicycle racks at Milwauke/North/Damen in Wicker Park, the first in the city, was a bittersweet occasion for John.

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A bus and cyclist pass by Chicago’s first on-street bike parking corral in Wicker Park on Friday, July 29, 2011. 

As many Grid Chicago readers know, both John Greenfield and Steven Vance are veterans of the Chicago Department of Transportation’s (CDOT) Bicycle Program who worked on parking projects. Around 2004 the owner of Andersonville’s Cheetah Gym, 5248 N Clark, approached John about getting a 12-bike rack, which the bike program had in stock, installed in a car parking space in front of his business and even offered to pay for planters to protect the bikes from cars. Continue reading Wicker Park(ing): Chicago debuts its first on-street bike corral

Grid Shots for the last day of July 2011

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Bicyclist under the shadows of the ‘L’ structure in Lakeview, at Roscoe and Clark Streets. Photo by hetrickm. 

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Bicyclists wait at the stoplight in the crotch of Milwaukee, North, and Damen Avenues. Photo by Mike Travis. 

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A passenger waits for the CTA train at the Roosevelt L station. Photo by Eric Rogers. 

Add your photos to the Grid Chicago pool.