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on Active Trans and topics that
we care about in the region.
Growing up middle class in rural Pennsylvania, Katie Shaw Thompson never imagined life without a car. Now a resident in the City of Elgin, Katie’s opinion on transportation, what’s possible and what should be possible, has shifted. Katie is a proud four-season bike commuter, a mother of two squirrely preschoolers, and an ordained pastor. Over her adult moves from Pennsylvania […]
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The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) should work collaboratively to create a plan for 50 new miles of bus lanes. With only four miles of bus-only lanes, Chicago is lagging other cities across the nation when it comes to prioritizing street space for transit. The #J14 Jeffery Jump has the longest bus-only lanes in […]
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Post image: Great progress towards a continuous Chicago River Trail happened in 2017. As the year winds down, we're grateful to share progress on many fronts and excited about opportunities in 2018 to move the trail closer to a reality. The city added several trail segments and moved forward with development concepts that improve biking and walking along the river. […]
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For years ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft have changed how many people get around Chicago. But, unfortunately, we still lack the data to truly understand the impact from these services. Unlike in other major cities, Uber and Lyft are not required to make their Chicago trip data publicly available. Access to anonymized trip data is critical to understanding how […]
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The Village of Brookfield is now home to one of the first bicycle boulevards in the Chicagoland suburbs! What exactly is a bicycle boulevard? Sometimes termed a “neighborhood greenway,” a bike boulevard is a low-speed street that prioritizes bicycle traffic. Bicycle boulevards use signage, paint and other traffic calming features to create a safer, more comfortable environment for all road […]
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Post image: A privately funded express train service to O’Hare Airport would be an upgrade to our transit system, but it shouldn’t happen at the expense of other regional transit priorities. This week, the city released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for respondents to design, build, finance, operate and maintain express service through a public-private partnership. The RFQ does not […]
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Post image: With more than 125,000 bike trips taking place every day in Chicago, it’s clear that cycling is no longer a fringe activity, but a mainstream mode of transportation. As demonstrated with 100 miles of new bike lanes, a growing number of new trails and new parks like The 606 and Big Marsh Bike Park, and the arrival of […]
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Post image: The Active Transportation Alliance compiles a list of events happening each month along the Lakefront Trail. See what's going on in the month of December so you can better plan your walking, biking or running route. As the temperatures fall heading into winter, there are fewer events to watch out for. For regular updates about the Lakefront Trail, […]
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Post image: State cuts have forced the region’s transit agencies to consider cutting service or increasing fares, due to overwhelming capital and operations needs. Metra’s recently passed budget includes a 25-cent fare increase for all zones and a reduction in service on four lines. Similarly, last week, the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) released its proposed budget, which included a 25-cent […]
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A recent change to the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) fare structure may be contributing to bus ridership declines. In 2013, CTA increased the price of one-, three-, seven- and 30-day passes while maintaining the base fare, resulting in fewer people buying multi-day passes. If you’re not riding transit multiple times per day for the full period, it no longer makes […]
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