Category: Transportation

After zero public input on protected lanes so far, community meetings are on the horizon

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Photo by Joshua Koonce. 

I was recently quoted in the Chicago News Cooperative and The New York Times about protected bike lanes. I said, “There’s been zero public outreach on where the bike lanes should go“. I think it’s a powerful statement.

I will describe how that’s true now and how that’s expected to change in the near future. Continue reading After zero public input on protected lanes so far, community meetings are on the horizon

Grid Shots: Inside the train stations

When I saw this fisheye photo from Clark Maxwell of the Ogilvie Transportation Center (500 W Madison St) interior, I knew the next Grid Shots topic.

[flickr]photo:4566250267[/flickr] Continue reading Grid Shots: Inside the train stations

Progression of bike sharing RFP: deadline is approaching

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Madison, Wisconsin, has a B-Cycle bike sharing system. B-Cycle is likely to submit a proposal. Photo by Jeramey Jannene. 

Updated October 16, 2011, to add more information about the station selection task order and provide it for download. 

Proposals for Chicago’s large scale bike sharing system are due to the City of Chicago on or before October 25 – that’s 12 days away! The request for proposals (RFP) was issued on September 21, 2011. I and 29 others attended the pre-proposal conference a week later at City Hall (121 N LaSalle St) on September 28 to meet with Jacoby Radford, contract negotiator with the Department of Procurement Services (DPS), Scott Kubly, the head of the bike sharing project at the Department of Transportation (CDOT), and Ben Gomberg, Bicycle Program coordinator (CDOT).

It seemed that the purpose of the meeting was to get know who vendors would be working with at the City and who they would be up against in the proposal process. Some new information was provided, and Scott explained the City’s aims in building a bike sharing system. But any answers given by the City to attendees were “not official”. Questions had to be submitted in writing after which the City would respond with an RFP addendum. Continue reading Progression of bike sharing RFP: deadline is approaching

Rahm’s budget proposal and bike lanes

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There might be peace in the downtown streets if Mayor Emanuel’s budget is approved by City Council. He proposes a parking garage fee to discourage driving on weekdays. 

I’m reading the live transcript of Mayor Emaneul’s speech to City Council to introduce the “features” of his administration’s 2012 budget proposal. The speech was later emailed to people who signed up for the campaign mailing list. This article will be updated as I find new information.

The interesting stuff?

Congestion

“On a typical workday our central business district is jammed with people which makes it harder to do business, so I’m proposing that downtown congestion premium of $2 per day only on weekdays for parking garages and lots downtown and in River North. We would use this new revenue to invest in new and existing stations, and bus rapid transit stations, expand bike lanes, and other efforts to reduce congestion in the downtown area.”

Excellent! Now will this revenue go to a trust fund so that the revenues can only be spent for this purpose? If not, I surely hope that your budget and spending is transparent where we can see how much the City collects from this fee and how much is spent on those congestion-fighting initiatives.

More on this from the press release:

Congestion Premium for CTA: $28 million

On a typical workday, our Central Business District is jammed with vehicles, which makes it harder to do business.  Our streets are crowded, roads in need of repair and pollution created by drivers is unhealthy for Chicagoans.  Suburban drivers who use city services and infrastructure need to help pay the costs for these things.   The congestion fee is an incentive for drivers to take public transportation or pay more to park downtown.

  • Impose a “congestion premium” on all drivers parking in downtown parking garages and lots on weekdays of $2 per occasion, for a total fee of $5 on the top tier rate. ( $3 on weekends).
  • Impose weekly parking fees where the cost is $60 and above, (tax increase from $15 to $25) and monthly parking where the costs is $240 and above (tax from $60 to $100).

Parking garage owners will not like this.

Heavy vehicles will cost more for drivers

“It’s estimated that 80% of the damage to Chicago’s streets is caused by a small share of heavy vehicles like trucks and SUVs. We are proposing a modest increase for heavy vehicles that do the most damage. If you drive a standard size or small car, the cost of your city sticker will stay at $75. 75% of Chicagoans will see no increase. Heavy vehicle owners will pay $135 for a city sticker, up from $120. Some of the additional revenue will go to fill an additional 160,000 potholes in 2012, nearly a 40% increase over this year.”

Upcoming hearings

The first budget hearing will begin at 9 AM on Wednesday, October 19, 2011.

The public hearing will begin at 11 AM on Wednesday, November 2, 2011.

Notes

Rahm also said, “All all these reforms will be guided by principle, by pragmatism, and by progress. Not politics.”

The state of transit trackers in Chicago

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A CTA passenger waits for a train in the snow at Belmont Brown Line station. Photo by Mike Priorie. 

Knowing when your bus or train is about to come can help you make better decisions. “Do I have enough time to get coffee from the shop across the street?” “Can I pack my own lunch today?” “If I miss this bus because I can’t find my good shoes, how long will it be to the next one”? I’m sure we’ve all asked ourselves these questions*. The Chicago Transit Authority’s transit tracking services can help with the answers. Continue reading The state of transit trackers in Chicago

Comparing three Android transit tracker apps

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Transit Tracks makes it very easy to find stops near you, and doesn’t place restrictions on how many appear in the map. 

I reviewed only the free versions. Updated October 19, 2011, to add a third transit tracker app.

Chicago Transit Tracker Lite Transit Tracks TreKing 4 Free
Pros
  • Locates nearest bus stop
  • Shows system alerts from CTA
  • Shows current temperature
  • Shows time of last update
  • Locates ALL nearby bus stops using your GPS
  • Has a more logical method to manually select bus stops and train stations
  • Allows you to group favorite stops/stations
  • Has better aesthetics – easier to read favorites listing
  • User swipes the screen to show the opposite direction bus or train
  • System map shows the familiar Google Maps and allows user to select nearby bus stops and train stations
  • When no more service, reports “No running buses”
  • Pro version offers Metra schedules and Pace bus predictions (I didn’t test this)
  • Very logical method to select your bus stop or train station (this is called a “trek”)
  • Lets you save a custom name for a specific stop or station (but gives predefined name)
  • Allows you to group saved stops/stations
  • Quick Treks feature locates nearby stops and stations
  • Pro version has a trip planner (“Trek Planner”)
  • Move, rename, or delete groups by holding your finger on the group (very easy)
  • It appears you can set alerts in the pay version that tell you when to get off the bus/train, or when the bus/train is about to arrive
  • In the pay version you can add time to the prediction so you’re less likely to miss a bus/train if it’s early
Cons
  • Only displays a single nearby bus stop in free version using your GPS
  • Shows ads in free version
  • Favorites listing appears in a confusing way
  • Shows ALL system alerts, and not ones relevant to my favorite routes
  • System map loads a CTA website
  • When no more service, reports “No arrival times”
  • To add a favorite stop manually, text search function works in unexpected way
  • To add a favorite stop manually, the choices are confusing. There are 4 choices for Addison-Blue, one for each possible terminus (Forest Park, Jefferson Park, O’Hare, UIC)
  • Does not retrieve system alerts from CTA
  • Does not show temperature
  • Does not show time of last update
  • Shows ads
  • When you first select CTA Trains as the system you want to track, a huge list of confusing caveats shows up. I don’t think they’re all true.
  • Method to select your trip route takes a lot of time
  • Selecting a “To Stop”, which is optional, doesn’t change anything
  • Shows ads
  • Quick Trek feature in free version limited to 1/8th mile (one block)
  • There isn’t a function you do without the app showing a popup to tell you about the pay version
  • Map nearly useless in free version: it will only show bus stop with ID 1
  • Map nearly useless in free version: it will only show bus route with route 1, Indiana/Hyde Park
  • Map in free version doesn’t show bus location in real-time
  • “Trek Planner” in free version only shows trip from your location to Sears Tower or Navy Pier – your choice!

On grouping: One group could be for the stops/stations you use to get to work and the other group could be for the return trip.

My recommendation: Transit Tracks. It’s very hard to review TreKing 4 Free because it seems most features are only available in the pay version.