Category: Transit

Commuter ales: take a car-free road trip to these Metra-friendly brewpubs

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Photo by C. Blatchley

[This article also appears in Active Transportation Alliance’s Mode Shift newsletter.]

A cozy brewpub serving house-made craft beer and hearty fare can be the cornerstone of a thriving retail district, and a magnet for out-of-towners seeking memorable drinks and eats. That’s especially true when the brewery is located a short walk from, or even right next door to, a commuter rail station. Chicagoland is fortunate to have a growing number of snug brewpubs a stone’s throw from Metra stops, making them ideal destinations for a car-free suburban safari. Here’s a guide to some of the best ones, including feedback from the staff about why brewpubs and transit go together like beer and pretzels.

Continue reading Commuter ales: take a car-free road trip to these Metra-friendly brewpubs

Grid Bits: State of the Union address, transit news

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Photo of a Blue Line train at UIC-Halsted. This train has the oldest cars in the system, noticeable with their “butterfly doors” that are inaccessible to people using wheelchairs, or customers with bicycles. Photo by David Wilson.

In this edition of Grid Bits, five transit stories, and an update on President Obama’s State of the Union address last night. First, the transit news.

(1) CTA overtime

The Chicago Transit Authority uses an employee’s overtime work to calculate their pension amount, and analysis from the Chicago Tribune finds that the CTA reports overtime in an odd way: Continue reading Grid Bits: State of the Union address, transit news

Chicago ‘L’ hangman game

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Michael Jantzen, a Washington, D.C. programmer and photographer whose photos I’ve published here, sent me a link to his Chicago ‘L’ hangman game he created after Transportation Camp there last weekend. (I went to Transportation Camp in San Francisco in March 2011.) The game features the Chicago Transit Authority’s 143 rail stations.

Play it now!

Some are going to be really easy, like “87TH” in the screenshot above. I guess I should have refreshed the page and taken a screenshot of a more difficult station!

New CTA rail stations planned

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Rendering of the new LaSalle Mezzanine at Clark/Division. PDF with additional renderings.

Editor’s note: This post was written by Grid Chicago contributor and Network member Kevin Zolkiewicz. 

Rahm Emanuel joined top brass from the CTA and CDOT this morning to announce the completion of the Grand station on the Red Line (City of Chicago press release). That project had been ongoing for nearly five years and it’s nice to see it finally completed. But the big news today wasn’t Grand, but rather announcements of upcoming station work.

On the renovation front, Clark/Division will be the next Red Line subway stop to see a massive overhaul. That station opened in 1943 and hasn’t changed much since. The rehab of the station will involve the construction of a completely new mezzanine at LaSalle. Construction on that station will begin in March with completion scheduled by March 2015. Continue reading New CTA rail stations planned

Insight into how CTA built Train Tracker by Text

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CTA passengers wait for trains in the Loop. Photo by Jim Watkins. 

Last week I excitedly announced the launch of the Chicago Transit Authority’s new system to get predicted arrival times for trains by text messaging (also known as SMS). I thought that the messaging syntax and the station codes were amusing but clever.

I emailed Tony Coppoletta, the CTA’s manager of external electronic communications manager, to ask about how the codes came to be, as well as upcoming Train Tracker features and the capabilities of SMS communications. Coppoletta directs how they reach their customers and partners with information about CTA services through digital means.  Continue reading Insight into how CTA built Train Tracker by Text

CTA launches train tracker with text messaging

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Grab your phone right now and send the message “CTATRAIN THOR” to 41411. Or send “ctatrain logs” to the same number. Wait a moment.

Clever, right? Continue reading CTA launches train tracker with text messaging