Category: News

A Groupon for CTA

[flickr]photo:7222793938[/flickr]

One of the CTA’s nicer stations.

Soon you’ll be able to buy a 3-day pass on Chicago Transit Authority via Groupon. Groupon is purchasing 250,000 passes at $7.53 each and will resell them to Groupon buyers for $9, down from the $14 retail price. The pass allows unlimited rides on CTA buses and trains for 72 hours from the first use. From the press release:

Groupon has 36.9 million active customers and close to 900,000 daily page views, allowing CTA an opportunity to advertise to a national and international audience. Emails will appear in a member’s daily deal for Chicago and when visitors search for travel deals on the internet retailer.

The discounted rate will encourage more people to use CTA’s 3-Day pass, which offers a better value than the pay-as-you-go option. The CTA Groupon will also cultivate new riders and eventually capture permanent local customers, expanding the current ridership base.

In addition to gaining additional ridership, CTA will receive customer information that will help CTA reach out to customers to help encourage further use of the system.

Per the terms of the agreement, Groupon and CTA can agree to offer an additional 250,000 passes for the same price within the next 12 months. This agreement does not affect the availability or price of 3-Day passes at existing sales locations.

Continue reading A Groupon for CTA

WGN TV’s bike lane map transforms Chicago into Copenhagen overnight

[flickr]photo:7179023187[/flickr]

Don’t be fooled by the bike lane map that WGN TV displayed yesterday morning on television. There’s a stark difference between the lines on that map, which denotes the location of all bikeway types (a part of transportation infrastructure, with pavement markings) and recommended bike routes (not a part of transportation infrastructure, without pavement markings), and the lines you see on the ground (a large portion of which are faded). A superimposed “bike lane” sign and the single color representing the aggregated bike lanes, marked shared lanes, and recommended routes, make it seem as if there are more bike lanes than actually exist.

Chicago doesn’t provide an up-to-date online map, but occasionally updates the bikeways geodata on its open data portal (which I used to create the right side map of the above image). The City is short 20 miles of protected bike lanes for the first year of four (25 miles per year, 100 miles total), which ended May 16, 2012.

Watch the TV segment filmed at a spinning class at the Bean – as part of Bike to Work Week – or read the partial transcript below. Continue reading WGN TV’s bike lane map transforms Chicago into Copenhagen overnight

Gimme shelter: pedestrian improvements to Congress Parkway

[flickr]photo:7332529160[/flickr]

New crosswalk with pedestrian refuge island at Congress and Dearborn.

[This piece also appeared in Checkerboard City, John’s weekly transportation column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets in print on Wednesday evenings.]

Folks who walked to the Printers Row Lit Fest last weekend were a little less likely be killed by cars than in previous years. The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) is currently wrapping up the $18 million Congress Parkway Reconstruction Project, from Wells Street to Michigan Avenue. The rehab has already brought a slew of pedestrian safety improvements, including new pedestrian refuge islands, making it safer, easier and more pleasant to walk across and along the massive street that forms the southern boundary of the Loop.

Construction on Congress began in October 2010 and the road reopened to traffic on May 15, just in time for the NATO summit. CDOT expects the final tasks, including finishing planter medians and installing decorative trellises and lighting, will be done by June 30.

Congress has long been an iconic Chicago street, but it has also been a major barrier to foot traffic. Originally called Tyler Street after tenth U.S. President John Tyler, the name was changed to honor the U.S. Congress after Tyler became unpopular because he joined the Confederacy during the Civil War. The road originates as a freeway at the Circle Interchange, the junction of the Dan Ryan, Eisenhower and Kennedy Expressways, and then continues east to become an eight-lane surface road at Wells Street, dumping high-speed traffic into the street grid.

Continue reading Gimme shelter: pedestrian improvements to Congress Parkway

Comment of the day: Would CTA’s Dan Ryan Red Line closure “go down” in the north side?

[flickr]photo:226734306[/flickr]

The 63rd Street Red Line station will become accessible in the CTA’s “Red South Track Renewal Project” closure in summer 2013. 

A commenter on the Riders for Better Transit Facebook page, responding to their question about what Chicago Transit Authority passengers think of the transit agency’s plan to shut down the Dan Ryan portion of the Red Line for 5 months of track replacement, stated “I think this NEVER would go down for the Northbound Red Line”. Here’s the project summary:

Starting in Spring 2013, the CTA will rebuild the tracks along the south Red Line, from Cermak-Chinatown to 95th/Dan Ryan—a project that will provide faster, more comfortable and more reliable service for Red Line riders.

Here’s one reason why: The number of passengers who use the “North Side Main Line”, as the north side section of the Red Line is sometimes referred to, is greater than the State Street subway section (as a whole), or the Dan Ryan section (as a whole and as an average per station). Continue reading Comment of the day: Would CTA’s Dan Ryan Red Line closure “go down” in the north side?

Celebrating our approaching one-year anniversary with another contest

[flickr]photo:7213164864[/flickr]

We want more readers. We want these three reading Grid Chicago, and getting involved in making sustainable transportation in Chicagoland better.

Grid Chicago launched with this article on June 17, 2011. At the time of this publishing we’ve written 351,597 words in 444 posts. We want to grow the number of Facebook likes from the current 640. This is a great place to promote our articles, but it’s also been the home of many sideline discussions. We want 1,000 Facebook likes by June 17, 2012, so we’re giving away more stuff.

The prizes are your choice of one of three books or a Planet Bike accessory:

To enter to win, just answer our question on Facebook:

What project that opened in 2012 or will open later in the year are you most looking forward to?

We’ve listed four options, but you can add your own. If you don’t already “like” us on Facebook, you’ll have to do so to answer the question. As of 13:22 and since the question was posted over 18 hours ago, “more protected bike lanes” is winning. I’ve added a couple more options to get people thinking.

Update June 18 at 17:48: The winner is Aidan Dixon, please contact Steven, steve @ stevevance.net. We gained 43 new “likes”. We’ll be running more contests as times goes on. 

Calling 311 to report dangerous taxicab drivers works

Taxi driver I testified against

The taxi driven by the man who harassed me and against whom I testified in an administrative hearing.

This is the story of my being harassed by a taxi driver while cycling in downtown Chicago the day before Thanksgiving in November 2011. I was riding from Grant Park to meet my mother and sister for lunch at Xoco (449 N Clark). It’s also a set of loose instructions on curbing car culture.

The article is divided into three sections: the incident, the hearing, and the results. I am not revealing the taxi driver’s name or cab number: he’s already had his hearing and received due process; additionally, he may not always drive the same cab number. On the day of the incident, November 25, 2011, he leased his cab from the Chicago Carriage Cab Corp.

If you feel unsafe from the behaviors of a taxi driver, call 311 immediately after composing yourself and ask to file a complaint against a taxicab driver. You must have the time, location, and taxi number. If your immediate safety is threatened, call 911 first.

Incident

This is the description I submitted to the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, who regulate public chauffeurs.  Continue reading Calling 311 to report dangerous taxicab drivers works