Tag Archives: Bus

Our journey towards better transit requires unity and action

Mar 19, 2024 | by Ted Villaire

As our region’s transit system faces unprecedented funding and service challenges, a powerful movement is underway, driven by the collective voices of those who know we deserve better service from our trains and buses. Our recent gathering at the Transit is Essential Town Hall, held at the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church in the Douglas neighborhood, showed the transformative power of people connecting and sharing their stories. It was a moment when about 90 individuals from diverse walks of life—students, commuters, parents, and seniors—came together to hear about one another’s personal experiences and the challenges they face with our current transit system. The stories shared were poignant, painting vivid images of the struggles that come with unreliable public transportation. ...

Tags: Advocacy, Bus, transit, Transit Equity

Mayor Johnson should make 2024 the Year of the Bus

Jan 3, 2024 | by Julia Gerasimenko

At the Active Transportation Alliance, we often hear from Chicago transit riders who are fed up with buses that are unreliable and often delayed. Indeed, it’s a major barrier that keeps many people from using buses. Slow buses that are undependable ensure that people will find other ways of getting around the city. Thankfully, we know how to fix this problem — and the solution is very do-able. Countless examples in other cities have shown that bus priority infrastructure is the most cost-effective intervention when it comes to improving the experience for riders and operators. With confidence in the CTA at what seems to be an all-time low, the agency could use a boost to its reputation. Prioritizing buses on...

Tags: Bus, transit, Transit Equity

CTA takes a step toward greater transparency

Aug 7, 2023 | by David Powe

We commend CTA’s recent initiatives to improve service and elevate transparency with the launch of an even more robust interactive performance dashboard, as part of its “Meeting the Moment” plan. This forward-thinking initiative responds to the calls from riders and advocates for more transparency and reliable service. As a part of its Meeting the Moment plan, CTA's performance metrics report has evolved into an info-packed interactive visual dashboard that is updated monthly. This newest version of the dashboard provides riders with a 13-month operational history alongside key performance indicators that include: Service delivery performance, filtered by rail line and bus route Bus and rail operator hiring and attrition statistics Status of elevators and escalators Instances of bus and rail...

Tags: Bus, transit

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

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

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

Congressional leaders urge state to consider climate and equity impacts

Mar 16, 2022 | by Kyle Whitehead

A group of eight Chicago area Congressional leaders sent a strong message to Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) about how to spend newly available federal funds: factor climate change and racial equity into all of your funding decisions. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García led the effort behind the letter delivered to Gov. Pritzker and IDOT. It was co-signed by Reps. Sean Casten, Danny Davis, Marie Newman, Mike Quigley, Bobby Rush, Jan Schakowsky, and Brad Schneider. Active Trans and seven other regional advocacy groups provided support to the letter. All of these leaders worked hard to develop and pass last year's $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law. Now they want to make sure their legislation has the intended impact...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, biking, Bus, Chicago, Equity, public transit, transit, Transit Equity

Chicago must advance equity and sustainability with new federal transportation funds

Nov 22, 2021 | by Kyle Whitehead

The Infrastructure Investment in Jobs Act (IIJA) provides a historic opportunity for the Chicago area to move beyond car-centric planning and advance racial and environmental justice through transportation investments. Now we need to make sure regional leaders take advantage of this opportunity. We can’t afford to see these funds go to wasteful roadway projects that only worsen the inequity in our regional transportation system. This week Active Trans joined a coalition of 12 civic and environmental advocates that is calling for our transportation agencies in the region to develop an inclusive and transparent approach in determining which projects to put forward for newly available federal funds. This inclusive and transparent approach should center the projects' impacts on racial equity and climate change. Following are excerpts from the letter, which was...

Tags: Advocacy, Bicycling, biking, Bus, Chicago, legislation, public transit, transit, Transit Equity

New analysis highlights racial disparities in Chicago area transit access

Jun 17, 2021 | by Kyle Whitehead

A new tool illustrates how longstanding patterns of segregation and discrimination in public policy have caused transit access for Black and Brown residents to lag behind access for White residents. The Transit Equity Dashboard, produced by the national foundation TransitCenter, maps and quantifies the disparities in transit access caused by segregation and discrimination in land use and transportation policy. TransitCenter helps fund and support local transit advocacy organizations like Active Trans and the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT). The COVID crisis made racial inequities in public health and economic status very plain. Good transit helps address these disparities by opening up access to jobs, education, medical care, and other necessities. But disparities in transit access linked to race and economic...

Tags: Advocacy, Back on the Bus, Bus, Equity, Fair Fares Chi, Fair Fares Chicagoland, public transit, Transit Equity

Belmont Cragin youth urge CTA board to upgrade bus service

Feb 16, 2021 | by Active Trans

Two community youth leaders pressed the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) board at the February meeting on service and cleanliness issues, earning commitments from CTA leadership that they would work to address their concerns. Minerva Garcia and Yalinette Rivera are youth organizers from the Belmont Cragin Youth Leadership Council, a part of the Northwest Side Housing Center. Both Minerva and Yalinette testified at CTA’s February board meeting. Minerva is a junior at Northside College Prep and Yalinette is a junior at Lincoln Park High School. They both face long commutes on transit to reach their schools from their homes in Belmont Cragin. Belmont Cragin is a working-class community with a majority Latinx population that includes many immigrants and one of the highest ratios of youth compared to...

Tags: Advocacy, Back on the Bus, Bus, Bus report cards, Chicago, chicago north west, covid-19, public transit, transit, Transit Equity

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