Home / Blog / Advocacy

Tag Archives: Advocacy

Groundwork begins for an e-bike incentive program

Mar 9, 2023 | by Maya Norris

Electric bicycles could have the potential to encourage more people to hop on two wheels as their primary mode of transportation, but their high costs remain a deterrent for many. That’s why Active Transportation Alliance and Ride Illinois are advocating for an e-bike incentive program in Illinois — the first type of program in the state that would offset the cost of purchasing an e-bike. Such a program could go a long way in harnessing the rising popularity of e-bikes and reaping the benefits of reducing greenhouse gases and other pollutants, reducing traffic congestion, and offering healthy, affordable mobility. Given the growing popularity of e-bikes, right now is a good time for exploring an incentive program: E-bikes outsold cars 2:1...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, e-bikes

Better bus service is a crucial election issue

Feb 14, 2023 | by Courtney Cobbs

The Active Transportation Alliance is part of the Safe Streets for All, Transit That Works coalition that is working to educate Chicago voters for the municipal elections on February 28 and April 4. The coalition developed a platform based on concerns and wishes for Chicago’s transportation landscape. While the platform covers a range of topics surrounding sustainable transportation, two of the top concerns of the platform are unreliable bus and rail service and slow bus service. Given the CTA operator shortage, it’s crucial for the CTA to attract and retain new transit operators. The Safe Streets for All, Transit That Works election platform recommends better compensation and schedules that allow for operators to have a healthier work-life balance. Providing restrooms...

Tags: Advocacy, Bus, transit

RTA’s plan for the future needs more details

Jan 12, 2023 | by David Powe

The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) recently released its draft strategic plan, Transit is the Answer, for public comment. The RTA coordinates the Chicago region’s transit system (CTA, Pace, and Metra), oversees its financing, and coordinates regional planning for public transportation in Northeastern Illinois. Active Transportation Alliance joined forces with a handful of local nonprofits to send a letter to the RTA on ways to improve the 80-plus page draft plan. Co-signatories were Access Living, Elevated Chicago, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Equiticity, High Speed Rail Alliance, Illinois Environmental Council, Metropolitan Planning Council. Each of the organizations that signed the letter were involved in the process leading to the publication of this draft plan. While we offered support for the principles...

Tags: Advocacy, CTA, metra, Pace, RTA, transit

Red Line Extension takes major step forward

Dec 15, 2022 | by Active Trans

This week a key hurdle has been cleared to bring high-quality rapid transit to Chicago's far South Side. Chicago City Council’s approval was nearly unanimous for a “transit TIF” that leverages the property value realized from investments already made in places like the South Loop and Chinatown. This local TIF (tax increment financing) funding provides the match funding needed to unlock the investments from federal sources. Once completed, Chicago’s major north-south L line will extend to the southernmost neighborhoods and fulfill a decades-old promise. The 5.6-mile extension will begin at 95th Street and head south to 130th Street, hitting four new stations along the way. There is broad community support for the project, bolstered by the understanding that extending CTA’s...

Tags: Advocacy, Chicago South Side, Transit Equity

Commuters Take Action presses CTA to improve unreliable service

Dec 8, 2022 | by Maya Norris

Commuters Take Action has only been around since April 2022. But in that short period of time, the resident-led advocacy organization has made a name for itself, representing a movement of frustrated commuters fed up with the slow and unreliable service of the Chicago Transit Authority’s buses and trains. Micah Fiedler, Olivia Gahan and Fabio Göttlicher co-founded Commuters Take Action after experiencing long waits and service gaps during their own commutes on the CTA’s buses and trains. Active Transportation Alliance recently recognized the vital work that the trio is doing by honoring them with an Advocate of the Year award at our recent annual member meeting. We specifically wanted to recognize their effort to cast spotlight on the problem of...

Tags: Advocacy, Bus, transit, Transit Equity

Bus priority zones needed near the planned casino

Dec 5, 2022 | by David Powe

Bally’s Corporation, an international gambling company, is planning to build a $1.7 billion casino on the southeast corner of Chicago Ave. and Halsted St. The City of Chicago is currently in the process of gathering community feedback on this massive project that promises to dramatically increase vehicular traffic on two of the city's busiest bus routes and along major bike and pedestrian corridors. Many people in service industries depend on transit to commute to their jobs in this area. Without improvements to bus service in this area, their trips will be delayed by the thousands of visitors to the casino every day. We are concerned that people taking the bus, using the sidewalk, or biking to the temporary...

Tags: Advocacy, Chicago North Side, Transit Equity

Shining a light on outstanding volunteers and advocates

Dec 2, 2022 | by Ted Villaire

Active Transportation Alliance members recently met to reflect on accomplishments in 2022, discuss what lies ahead, and elect a handful of people to the organization’s board of directors. The event, attended by 175 people, also provided an opportunity to recognize the outstanding advocates and volunteers in our midst. For our advocacy awards, we honored four different grassroots groups that are mobilizing people across the city. These groups are actively making our movement stronger with their effective organizing and smart campaigning as we look to 2023. These are the groups that received our Advocate of the Year awards: Access Living & Better Streets Chicago’s Plow the Sidewalks campaign The Plow the Sidewalks campaign is calling for sidewalk snow removal to...

Tags: Advocacy, members

Regional planning agency ignores destructive effects of road expansion projects

Oct 18, 2022 | by David Powe

Despite nearly 450 people speaking out against a series of roadway expansion projects, leadership at our regional planning agency approved plans to add nearly 300 lane miles to our region’s roadways. As roadway expansion plans are being stopped in the name of racial equity, climate change, safety, and fiscal responsibility, it was disheartening to see the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) give the green light to local road expansion projects as part of its updated regional plan. The road expansion projects were approved by CMAP's Executive Board and Policy Committee as part of an updated version of ON TO 2050, which outlines regional planning priorities over several decades. Including the road expansion projects in this plan means they will...

Tags: Advocacy

City council hearing puts CTA problems front and center

Sep 20, 2022 | by W. Robert Schultz III

Active Trans recently joined with allies to mobilize around a city council hearing that shined a light on CTA’s recent service shortcomings and reliability problems. Before the hearing, a press conference was held by aldermen, transit worker unions, and several organizations, including the Active Transportation Alliance. The same day our allies at Commuters Take Action rallied outside the CTA board meeting. All these efforts together resulted in greater visibility for the serious issues currently afflicting our transit system. WHERE'S THE CTA PRESIDENT? When the Chicago City Council Committee on Transportation and the Public Way convened its long-awaited hearing on current CTA issues, many participants were dismayed that its president, Dorval Carter Jr., failed to appear. In the parlance of post-pandemic...

Tags: Advocacy, Bus, transit

CMAP’s road expansion plans contradict its own policies

Sep 7, 2022 | by David Powe

In recent months, the Active Transportation Alliance has been urging our regional planning agency to stop giving the green light to road expansion projects that are intended to alleviate congestion, yet end up worsening not just congestion, but climate change, safety, and equity. At a recent hearing held by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), Active Transportation Alliance’s Director of Planning David Powe provided testimony on behalf of more than 400 people who responded to an action alert asking leaders to oppose the harmful and destructive roadway expansion plans. “Evidence shows that adding lanes to expressways and arterial streets does not result in long-term congestion relief for people driving,” said Powe at the hearing. “This is because new capacity...

Tags: Advocacy, Equity

1 of 33next ›