John Greenfield

TLDR: Streetsblog Chicago is kicking off our 2026 fund drive, and we need to raise $50K. We hit some rough road this year, and it looked like we might not be able to keep the (bike) lights on in 2026. Read on if you'd like to hear about how the site got saved... for now. And please consider making a tax-deductible donation to keep our sustainable transportation reporting and advocacy running smoothly next year. Thank you!

• "Illinois legislators pass landmark transit funding and reform bill, averting fiscal cliff. What does it mean for riders?" (RTA)

In a recent post, SBC contributor Richard Day argued that it's time to move past rejoicing in the passage of the robust transit reform and funding bill that will save local bus and train service, and start getting to work on optimizing the win. "This is the last, best chance we have to deliver the sort of transformative transit system the region deserves," he noted. "We can’t afford to waste it."

• "Illinois Quietly Rewrote the Rules: Intercity Rail is Now Transit" (High Speed Rail)

• Environmental Law and Policy Center CEO Howard Learner: "Now, let’s focus on making Chicago’s regional transit system work better" (Tribune)

Streetsblog has interviewed just about all the key players in the surprising win for local sustainable transportation, when state lawmakers passed a transit reform/funding bill in the wee hours of October 31, aka the "Halloween Miracle." (Governor JB Pritzker, if you're reading this, call me maybe?)

• Orange you glad the "Halloween Miracle" will let CTA provide 24-hour service on the Orange Line and 20-30 more Frequent Bus Network routes? (Sun-Times)

The film "Power Trip," written and directed by Myron Levin, discusses how films, video games, and automobile ads glamorize the kind of high-risk driving that kills people and tears families apart. While the number of traffic deaths is falling in other affluent nations, American crash fatalities rose to over 40,000 a year, with speed a factor in 30 percent of the cases. "The film is dedicated to the memory of crash victims everywhere, to their grieving families, and to those working to end the slaughter on our roads," its website states.

The October 23 Regional Transit Authority board meeting, in the midst of Springfield's fall veto session on the brink of the transit fiscal cliff, was a contentious affair. It was basically a Spiderman Pointing Circle of people blaming each other for the dire straits Chicagoland transit was facing.

• More coverage of City's plan to buy Greyhound stop, inspired by the Philly station crisis that made Johnson say "I can't go for that" (Block Club, Tribune)