Chicago Cycling Club president Anne Alt is collecting information from Chicagoland residents about their how they combine bicycling with Metra trips, for a survey that will be open until next Wednesday. She explains the survey's purpose:
Allowing bikes on Metra has been a huge boost to cyclists and sustainable transportation in the metro area. Unadvertised service cuts (in terms of available space) have impacted Metra's ability to deliver the access that was previously available and still implied by advertised bike capacity. Other changes (better conductor familiarity with Metra policy on bikes, reduced number of blackout dates) have resulted in some improvements to bike access.
"I wanted to get a better sense of how much access has been affected on various lines, and what other passengers’ experiences have been," Alt said. She'll use the survey results for an upcoming article we'll publish on Streetsblog.
