Anne Alt
Recent Posts
DoBi Is Done for the Moment — Share Your Thoughts on the Pilot Via a CDOT Survey
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Meanwhile, Mayor Emanuel announced that -- one way or another -- bike-share will be expanded to include the entire city, thanks to a grant from the Bloomberg Foundation.
CTA and Metra Headaches Are Making Transit a Less Viable Option on the Far SW Side
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Badly planned bus stops at the 95th Street station and poor off-peak Rock Island Line service are among the problems.
A New Bikeway on Middle Randolph From Michigan Avenue to Lakefront Trail
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These buffered lanes with bollards offer a new option for commuters.
The New Divvy Bikes App Is Handy, But There’s Room for Improvement
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Improving the bike route directions and making the app accessible to people with colorblindness would be a plus.
Big Marsh Is a Hit With Local Cyclists, But It’s Still Challenging to Bike There
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Sunday’s grand opening for Big Marsh bike park and nature reserve was a long-anticipated celebration. If you’re not familiar with Big Marsh or its history, Streetsblog’s John Greenfield previously covered the plans and the challenges of accessing the site by bike. I started my day by biking to the Pullman Porter Museum to meet up […]
Dozens of Residents Showed Up for This Week’s South Side Bikeways Meetings
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After poor turnout from locals at last month’s two West Side bikeways hearing, with a total of only five area residents attending, there was a much better turnout at the two South Side meetings this week. The input sessions are part of a strategy by the Chicago Department of Transportation to improve bike equity for […]
Divvy Bike-Share Hopes Expanded Area, Outreach Also Expands Appeal
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The December meeting of the Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee included lots of news about the future of the Divvy program. Ever since the bike-share program launched on June 28, 2013, 3.1 million users, including 23,177 annual members and many daily users, have biked over 6.6 million miles starting at 300 stations. A previously planned expansion […]
City Has 83 Miles of Better Bike Lanes, Will Surpass 100 Mile Goal in 2015
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The Chicago Department of Transportation has nearly reached Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s much-ballyhooed goal of building 100 miles of buffered or protected bike lanes during his first term. CDOT staff at last week’s Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting said that they’ve striped 83 miles of the better bike lanes so far, and plan to surpass the […]
South Siders Deserve Pedestrian Gates for Metra Grade Crossings Too
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How many deaths and serious injuries will it take before Metra decides that protecting pedestrians at South Side grade crossings is as important as protecting the motor vehicle occupants sitting next to them? This week, 11-year old Alex Zepeda lost his leg when he was struck by a Metra train approaching the Blue Island-Vermont station […]
Ventra Balance Transfer Events Exclude Chicago Card Plus
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I recently attended a Ventra balance transfer event at Marquette Park. At these community events, CTA staffers are on hand to read the balance on residents’ existing farecards and transfer it to a Ventra card. It was an enlightening experience – but not in a good way. Critical bits of info about the transition process […]
Bike Access on Metra: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
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Anne Alt is president of the Chicago Cycling Club and works in the Law Offices of James Freeman, a sponsor of Streetsblog Chicago. When legislation encouraged by then-Lt. Governor Pat Quinn allowed non-folding bikes on Metra trains for the first time in 2005, it was a long-sought victory for Chicago area cyclists. Gaining a new […]