Category: Transportation

Kidical Mass video

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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.

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

Talking transportation with former Milwaukee mayor John Norquist

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John Norquist – photo courtesy of the Congress for the New Urbanism

Whenever I visit Milwaukee I’m impressed by some of the more progressive aspects of its urban planning, like the many well-preserved old buildings, bike-and-ped-friendly bridges, the Milwaukee Public Market and the vibrant riverfront. Much of the credit goes to John Norquist, who served as mayor from 1988 to 2004, when he left to take his currrent post as president and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). Continue reading Talking transportation with former Milwaukee mayor John Norquist

Innovative financing for transportation infrastructure, notes from a seminar

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The Metropolitan Planning Council graciously provided me with a free entry to a seminar in October about infrastructure funding and financing at their office at 140 S Dearborn. The seminar featured Rob Puentes of the Brookings Institution, Illinois Senator Heather Stearns, and Dr. Paul Hanley a professor at the University of Iowa. They talked about three innovative ways to fund construction of highways, airports, transit, and other capital-intensive projects: the surface transportation bill (Puentes), public-private partnerships (Stearns), and distance-based taxing (Hanley).

This article will be presented in two parts: presentations from Puentes and Stearns today, and Hanley on Friday. It is my intention that by presenting that discussion to readers, you can learn about some of the ways infrastructure in the United States is paid for.

Continue reading Innovative financing for transportation infrastructure, notes from a seminar

CTA announces open fare system to come in 2014

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If the backside of your Chase Bank credit/debit card has the “blink” text and logo, you’ll be ready for Open Fare.

Soon you’ll be able to pay for a trip on Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) buses and trains with your credit/debit card (provided it has an embedded wireless chip) and NFC-enabled cellphones. Currently all four credit card processors (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover) offer cards with contactless chips – they use RFID technology. The Samsung Nexus S is the only widely available cellphone with an NFC chip. This is all part of an upcoming system called Open Fare. It’s not the same as the regional fare payment system that Pace, Metra, and the CTA are legislated to provide by 2015 (where one fare payment method works on any transit vehicle, often called “universal fare”*). Continue reading CTA announces open fare system to come in 2014

Chicagoans offer tips to keep the pedals turning this winter

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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

Bicycling in Chicago, a view from the south side – part 1

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Bicycling on 76th Street, a recommended bike route under the Skyway and several railroad viaducts, and some of the poor conditions described below. Photo by Eric Rogers. 

Editor’s note: Anne Alt writes about cycling on the south side of Chicago, in two parts. -SV

Five years ago, I moved from Rogers Park to Beverly when my husband and I bought a house. I’d spent a fair amount of time riding on the south side, but didn’t fully appreciate how much more difficult it would be to ride to other south side destinations until I started doing it from here on a regular basis.

What’s different about riding on the south side? Continue reading Bicycling in Chicago, a view from the south side – part 1