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West Side advocates share bus service woes with CTA board

Jan 28, 2019 | by Julia Gerasimenko

Getting to jobs on time is difficult for many West Side residents who rely on the bus during off-peak hours. Active Trans joined Charles Perry, Director of Organizing at the West Side Health Authority, in testifying before the CTA board in January. We were calling for the transit agency to develop a plan for 50 miles of transit priority streets for Chicago. As one of our Bus Advocacy Community Partners, the West Side Health Authority used mini-grant funds from Active Trans to collect 70 surveys from Austin residents about the quality of local bus service. We shared their stories and copies of the Bus Friendly Streets Report Cards with the CTA Board, highlighting that the 37th Ward received a D...

Tags: Advocacy, Chicago West & Southwest Side, Chicago West Side, transit

Mayoral candidates pledge support for better bus service

Jan 28, 2019 | by Julia Gerasimenko

The leading candidates for mayor of Chicago say they support creating more bus-only lanes and other improvements that would make bus service faster and more reliable. On Tuesday, January 15, nine candidates participated in the Bus Riders Forum organized by the Pilsen Alliance and Active Transportation Now. The forum was moderated by Mary Wisniewski, transportation reporter and columnist at the Chicago Tribune. The Pilsen Alliance is a 20-year-old social justice organization that sees equitable public transportation as crucial to social justice in Chicago. Pilsen Alliance is also one of our Bus Advocacy Community Partners and mini-grant recipients. If you missed the forum, which was held at the Lozano Library Branch in Pilsen, you can watch video of the entire forum here....

Tags: Advocacy, Chicago Central, Chicago North Side, Chicago South Side, Chicago West & Southwest Side, Chicago West Side, transit

Alderman Villegas on board for better bus service

Jan 24, 2019 | by Julia Gerasimenko

After hearing from a group of youth in his ward who are frustrated with the Diversey bus, Alderman Villegas (36th ward) says he’ll work with city agencies to speed up bus service. Active Trans partnered with a group of youth advocates from the Northwest Side Housing Center on a meeting with Alderman Villegas in late 2018. The alderman heard stories from the youth of what slow and unreliable bus service has cost them, such as being late to school and doctor’s appointments. As part of the partnership, the Northwest Side Housing Center received a mini-grant from Active Trans to fight for better bus service in their local community. The group used Active Trans' Bus Friendly Street Report Cards to back up...

Tags: Advocacy, Chicago North Side, transit

Using balance bikes to build relationships in Elgin

Jan 3, 2019 | by Maggie Melin Czerwinski

A group of advocates in Elgin is working to advance the city’s decade-old bike plan and boost bike access for children in low-income parts of the town.Elgin Bike Hub is a non-profit organization working for better biking in the northwest suburban city that straddles both Cook and Kane counties. The group is pushing for the community’s nearly ten-year-old Bikeway Plan to be updated and revised as an active transportation plan that prioritizes equity. The updated plan would map out the community’s vision of a connected and equitable network of low-stress bikeways, trails, sidewalks and transit access.Using a mini-grant from Active Trans’ Bike Walk Every Town suburban advocacy campaign, the Elgin Bike Hub purchased four balance bikes (bikes without pedals that...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Education, Events, North Suburbs

Batavia advocates connect with local businesses

Jan 3, 2019 | by Maggie Melin Czerwinski

A western suburban advocate has been going door-to-door in Batavia educating local business owners and their customers about the benefits of walking, biking and public transportation.Abby Beck of Walk Batavia/Bike Batavia wanted to help businesses in downtown Batavia better understand how walking and biking can have a positive impact on their bottom line.She asked businesses to place little chalkboards on their counters with the message “How did you get here today?” Customers were asked to mark “walk,” “bike” and “other.” For two weeks during the month of July, around 20 downtown businesses participated in collecting data on the chalkboards, which were purchased with the help of an Active Trans Bike Walk Every Town mini-grant.Bike Walk Every Town, our suburban advocacy...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Education, Walking, West Suburbs

Top 10 biking, walking and transit stories of 2018

Dec 21, 2018 | by Ted Villaire

There were plenty of attention-grabbing developments among the top active transportation stories of 2018. Some of these developments helped make our streets safer and more inviting for people using active transportation, while others were intended to give more people access to better transportation options. Here they are. If we missed an important story, please let us know in the comments below. 1. Lakefront Trail separation. After decades of trail advocacy by Active Trans and our community partners, we were thrilled to see the completion of the project to create separate foot and biking paths along the Lakefront Trail. Work began in August 2016 on select sections and then last year, local hedge fund manager Ken Griffin donated $12 million to the create...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Chicago North Side, Chicago South Side, Chicago West & Southwest Side, Education, Lakefront Trail, North Suburbs, Planning, South Suburbs, Walking, West Suburbs

Safe access to Chicago River Trail advances in 2018

Dec 20, 2018 | by Steve Simmons

The city made exciting progress towards a continuous Chicago River Trail in 2018 with projects breaking ground that'll add 2.6 miles to the growing river trail network.The projects include a new trail at Lathrop Homes, the 312 RiverRun (pictured) and Manor Greenway.As wonderful as these projects are, trails are only useful if neighborhood residents can access them safely and easily.For the past year, our campaign for a continuous Chicago River Trail worked with residents and decision makers in many neighborhoods to advance safe east-west connections for people walking and biking.Along the South Branch, a new vision emerged for better walking and biking in Pilsen, Bridgeport, Brighton Park and McKinley Park. The largest remaining gap in the river trail is a five-mile...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Chicago North Side, Chicago South Side, Walking

New flyover section makes trail safer

Dec 20, 2018 | by Ted Villaire

For decades, people biking, walking and running on the Lakefront Trail have had to face cars whizzing by and poor sight lines at extremely busy street crossings near Navy Pier. Now, thanks to the partial opening of one the most talked about infrastructure projects in Chicago, people on the trail can avoid the most dangerous, confusing part of the Lakefront Trail. The addition of a temporary trail connection to the sidewalk on Lower Lake Shore Drive means that people can now use the Navy Pier Flyover to bypass the intersections of Grand and Illinois Avenues. The newly finished Navy Pier Flyover section will be a big improvement, and more importantly, it moves the project one step closer to full completion...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Chicago North Side, Lakefront Trail, Walking

A transportation agenda for next mayor, city council

Dec 14, 2018 | by Kyle Whitehead

A coalition of 15 community-based organizations joined Active Trans in asking candidates for mayor and city council to support a set of policies that will make it safer and easier to walk, bike and ride transit in neighborhoods across Chicago. The Active Transportation Agenda for Chicago describes how the city's leaders can support policies and projects over the next four years that better connect all residents to jobs, schools, parks, healthcare and other daily destinations. Active Trans and 15 partner organizations sent a letter to candidates for mayor and alderman urging them to support three top priorities from the agenda: Dedicate a $20 million Bike Walk Fund in the city budget for biking and walking projects Establish a 50 percent discounted CTA, Metra and...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Chicago North Side, Chicago South Side, Chicago West & Southwest Side, Walking

Despite improvements, hopes dashed for protected bike lanes on Milwaukee Ave.

Dec 5, 2018 | by Jim Merrell

Newly unveiled plans for the once-in-a-generation reconstruction of Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square feature many exciting improvements for walking, biking, and transit. However, they fail to provide kind of transformative change needed to create safer streets that prioritize people over cars, particularly for people on bikes. In an all-too-familiar story, community concerns about reallocating street space from car parking to protected bike lanes resulted in a watered-down proposal that does not seem destined to move the needle on Chicago’s harmful habit of car dependence. We are encouraging the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) to go back to the drawing board and work closely with community members and other city agencies to create a more comprehensive plan to improve the street...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Chicago North Side, Walking

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