Tag Archives: Advocacy

Ride hailing is increasing congestion

Aug 30, 2017 | by Active Trans

Recent reports out of San Francisco and New York City find that ride-hailing companies like Lyft and Uber are contributing to increased traffic congestion and could be hurting transit ridership.The San Francisco study found that ride-hailing vehicles travel approximately 570,000 miles within city limits on a typical weekday.This accounts for 20 percent of all local daily vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and includes both in-service and out-of-service mileage. Ride-hailing trips are concentrated in the densest and most congested parts of San Francisco, including along major public transit lines, and operated extensively on neighborhood streets.The study authors worked with researchers from Northeastern University to develop software that collected data from the Lyft and Uber applications over time, a work-around due to the lack...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Walking

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Better trail connections in DuPage County

Aug 15, 2017 | by Active Trans

Several of our supporters recently attended DuPage County’s public meeting about changes coming to the Illinois Prairie Path. We are happy to report that the county is proposing a new side path called the Eola Connector (see image) to improve trail connectivity between the Aurora Branch of the Illinois Prairie Path and several other nearby paths and destinations.The Eola Connector proposal includes a 10-foot, paved, multi-use path along Eola Road to connect the Aurora Branch to the Batavia Spur, the DuPage Technology Corridor Trail, and Metea Valley High School and its shared-use path. The proposal also includes the widening of the Eola Road bridge over Interstate 88 to accommodate the multi-use path. Once the design is approved, the county will...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Planning, transit, Walking, West Suburbs

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More protected bike lanes coming to Evanston

Aug 11, 2017 | by Active Trans

Evanston is on move with installing more protected bike lanes on its streets.Earlier this summer, the City of Evanston began construction of a two-way barrier protected bike lane along a 1.9-mile stretch of Sheridan Road and Chicago Avenue. The bike lane is part of Evanston’s Sheridan Rd.-Chicago Ave. Improvement Project.Phase one of the project included the recently completed protected bike lane on Chicago Avenue. Phase two, which is currently in progress, involves extending the bike lane north along Sheridan Road to Lincoln Street.Expect road closures at several intersections along Sheridan Road between August 7 and 21 while pavement construction is in progress.In addition to the bi-directional bike lane, which will be separated from traffic by a concrete barrier, the project...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, North Suburbs, transit, Walking

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1st grade transportation advocates of Summit

Aug 7, 2017 | by Active Trans

First graders from Graves Elementary School in the Village of Summit are on a mission to improve their community and their walk to school. Hundreds of kids in this southwest suburb walk to school every day. While the young students enjoy their commute, they also encounter barriers that need improvement. In April of this year, a first-grade class sent Mayor Sergio Rodriguez a letter (see below) asking for a meeting and requesting that the village work on improving the pedestrian bridge that offers one of the few connections between the north and south sides of Summit, which is separated by railroad tracks. The bridge (pictured left) is used by hundreds of students each day to get to and from school,...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Education, South Suburbs, transit, Walking

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Truck safety ordinance is a step forward

Jul 6, 2017 | by Active Trans

UPDATE: The ordinance requiring city contractors to install low cost safety equipment on large trucks was approved by City Council on July 26, 2017. Active Trans commends this step towards making Chicago safer for all._______________________________________Last week, the Chicago mayor’s office announced the introduction of a truck safety ordinance to city council as part of its renewed Vision Zero initiative.The announcement represents the city following through on one of the commitments in the recently released Vision Zero Action Plan to eliminate all traffic fatalities in Chicago by 2026.Contractors will be required to phase in the installation of safety equipment, starting on January 1, 2018, with full compliance required by January 1, 2021. The city is also committing to the same standards...

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

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Prepaid bus boarding pilot program expands

Jun 26, 2017 | by Active Trans

In an effort to speed up local bus service and reverse bus ridership decline, CTA is unveiling faster boarding at two more bus stops.Starting June 27, riders will be able to pay their fare while waiting for a bus and quickly board the following routes:•Southbound #135 and #146 buses at Inner Drive/Belmont(6:30 a.m.–9:30 a.m., weekdays)•Southbound #29 and westbound #69 buses at the 69th Red Line station(3 p.m.–6 p.m., weekdays)Before boarding a bus from the designated boarding area or corral, customers will pay their fares to a CTA staffer who will have a mobile Ventra reader.The CTA began testing prepaid bus boarding at the Belmont station on the Blue line and at the Madison/Dearborn Loop Link station downtown in the summer...

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

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Why Uber won’t replace public transit

Jun 22, 2017 | by Active Trans

Uber hasn’t had a great 2017 so far — what with employee allegations of a culture of sexual harassment, evidence that the company has been systematically deceiving government inspectors, and a lawsuit claiming that it stole autonomous vehicle technology from Google.Nevertheless, the company remains the most celebrated tech disruptor du jour, and its seemingly ever-growing customer base has convinced many people that it represents the future of urban transportation.And in fact, it (or something like it) may have a large role to play for years to come. But it will be as a partner to traditional transit services like buses and rail — not a replacement, as some have predicted.Why? Three reasons: Equity, money and geometry.Perhaps the most obvious objection...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Walking

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Vision Zero Action Plan focuses on reducing vehicle speeds

Jun 12, 2017 | by Active Trans

Today’s release of a Vision Zero Action Plan lays a strong foundation for the city to achieve its goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2026.The three-year plan shows the city is serious about preventing crashes and making our streets safer for everyone, especially the most vulnerable people who are walking and biking. Now we need to make sure our elected officials at every level of government provide appropriate funding support for the city to meet its ambitious goals.We're advocating at the local, state, and federal levels for more safe streets funding, especially for infrastructure projects on streets that have long been identified as high-crash corridors. Redesigning these streets will be pivotal to bringing down our unacceptably high numbers of...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Planning, transit, Walking, zero vision

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Los Angeles ‘signals’ the way to better bus service

May 22, 2017 | by Active Trans

Chicago should look to the West Coast as it considers investing more to speed up local buses.Seventeen years ago, when Los Angeles County decided to give its buses priority at traffic signals, the buses experienced huge gains in speed and reliability. The county has a massive bus system that accounts for a majority of all public transportation trips.Through surveys and communications with bus riders, the transit agency learned that existing local and limited-stop service was too slow and unreliable. The Metro Rapid service (LA’s limited-stop bus service) sought to address these shortcomings through the introduction of service that would improve operating speeds, reduce passenger wait and dwell times, and broaden service dependability. The most beneficial improvement proved to be traffic signal...

Tags: Advocacy, Education, Planning, Walking

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Prepaid, all-door boarding is working in San Francisco

May 17, 2017 | by Active Trans

In 2012, San Francisco’s MUNI transit system implemented a revolutionary concept to America’s bus systems – pre-paid, all-door boarding for all of its street vehicles, including buses and trolleys.Bus riders could now enter through any door of any vehicle at any time and tap their transit card on a reader that’s adjacent to the door to verify payment. Riders who don’t have transit cards could pay their fare before boarding and carry a receipt on board for proof of payment.The goal was to increase bus speeds and reduce bus waiting time at bus stops. As Chicago looks for ways to improve bus service throughout the city, we can look to San Francisco as a strong example. Like all other bus systems...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, Planning, Walking

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