Category: Events

Kidical Mass video

[flickr]photo:4510272245[/flickr]

Photo of a family participating in Kidical Mass by Sherry Keating. 

If you’re a Chicago parent and you want to cycle with your children, I invite you to check out Kidical Mass, “Critical Mass for the smaller set”. It’s a monthly, slow bike ride starting at Palmer Square Park (3064 W Palmer Blvd) for families. The next ride is December 10, 2011, at 10:30 AM.

Marisa Paulson published an introductory video at The Northwest Passage, embedded below. The video features short interviews with three Logan Square parents talking about why they ride in Kidical Mass.

[vimeo]32180233[/vimeo]

Watch the video on Vimeo. Elizabeth Bartom posted more photos.

Chicagoans offer tips to keep the pedals turning this winter

[flickr]photo:6344526493[/flickr]

Gin Kilgore rides with her son Miguel Burton-Kilgore. Photo by Martha Williams.

[This article also runs in Momentum magazine.]

It’s November and days are getting shorter and colder. If you live in the Upper Midwest or the Northeast, sleet, slush, snow and ice are just around the corner, so maybe you’re thinking about mothballing your bike for the next four months.

Instead, Gin Kilgore suggests you give cold-weather biking a spin. She helped found Bike Winter, a Chicago-based grassroots organization that promotes all-season cycling, with offshoots in St. Louis, Missouri, and Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin. “Winter biking helps you stay active and in the sunshine all year, which is so good for the body and mind,” Kilgore says. “And it sure beats shivering at the bus stop.”

Continue reading Chicagoans offer tips to keep the pedals turning this winter

Martha Williams celebrates a year of two-wheeled fashion photography

[flickr]photo:6332981799[/flickr]

Martha Williams. Photo by Emma Arnold from the local street fashion blog Trés Awesome. All other images by Williams and featured on Bike Fancy.

Last year Time Out Chicago photographer Martha Williams began taking pictures of well-dressed people on bicycles and posting them on her blog Bike Fancy. She buttonholes good-looking cyclists she encounters while cruising the city, shoots portraits and interviews them about their rides and outfits, why they enjoy bicycling and their ideas for making Chicago more bike-friendly. Continue reading Martha Williams celebrates a year of two-wheeled fashion photography

CTA 5000-series train cars to begin service on the Pink Line

Mayor Emanuel and Chicago Transit Authority president Forrest Claypool announced Tuesday, November 8, 2011, at the Midway Orange Line station the beginning of revenue service for the 5000-series train cars – they debuted on the Pink Line Wednesday. They’ll show up later on Green Line, with the Red Line after that.

Here’re CTA’s photos from the event:

[flickr]photo:6326376353[/flickr]

CTA President Forrest Claypool speaks at the unveiling of new railcars, joined by RTA Chairman John Gates Jr. (back); Vice President, La Pocatiere-Plattsburgh Business Unit, Bombardier Transportation, North America Marc Boucher and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (far right) next to railcar 5055.

[flickr]photo:6326375599[/flickr]

Train operator Joseph Anguiano points out some of the new features of the 5000-series train car.

[flickr]photo:6327127180[/flickr]

View of new flooring and two wheelchair positions (bike positions?) on the new cars.

View the full photoset. Check out CTA Tattler and ChicagoBus.org for more information.

WBEZ’s Jerome McDonnell talks bike commuting at Active Trans’ annual member meeting

[flickr]photo:6328197166[/flickr]

Monday night I joined dozens of Active Transportation Alliance members for the annual member meeting at the American Dental Association offices, 221 E. Chicago. At the event Active Trans staffers reviewed the advocacy group’s many milestones in 2011.

Some of the highlights: this year the organization promoted the Sustainable Transportation Platform to Chicago mayoral candidates and heavily influenced Rahm Emanuel’s decision to include protected bike lanes, the Bloomingdale Trail and a large-scale bike share system in his transition plan. In 2011 Active Trans also launched the Riders for Better Transit and Neighborhood Bikeways campaigns. Continue reading WBEZ’s Jerome McDonnell talks bike commuting at Active Trans’ annual member meeting

There is no typical CTA rider

[flickr]photo:6324432405[/flickr]

Javier Perez, trustee of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241, speaks while Gregory P. Longhini, Assistant Secretary of the Board, moderates. 

I’m writing this article just two hours after getting home from the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) second budget hearing. It was held from 6 to 8 PM at its headquarters, 567 W Lake Street. The hearing is where you gain a good understanding of how changes in the way the organization charges for or provides service will affect people.

It’s also where you learn that there is no “average” Chicago transit user. Passengers who use CTA have extremely diverse needs, geographic origins and destinations, jobs, incomes, and beliefs about who should run public transit service and how it should be run.

Not a single person disagreed that it is a necessity to have a “good” transit service in Chicagoland – many speakers stressed the importance of having transit in the region. They showed up because they want the CTA to maintain its current service and even expand service. They showed up because the CTA is important to them. Continue reading There is no typical CTA rider